College instructors and the digital red pen: An exploratory study of factors influencing the adoption and non-adoption of digital written feedback technologies

This exploratory study examined a diverse set of college instructors’ (N = 215) perceptions regarding the pedagogical use of digital written feedback, via a mixed-methodological online survey. The majority of the sample were adopters of digital written feedback, providing eight strengths and six weaknesses for doing so, as well as additional insight on digital written feedback “diets” (i.e., amount, frequency, and duration). Adopters differed from non-adopters in their preferences for digital written feedback to email, handwritten, and video feedback. Adoption decisions were significantly predicted by instructors’ perceived ease of use of the technology and by perceived benefits to students.