86 Factors influencing teachers’ use of digital student feedback to improve their teaching 5.1 INTRODUCTION Collecting student perceptions of teaching quality is one possible way to evaluate teaching quality. Students’ teaching quality ratings can be given to teachers as feedback on their lessons. This feedback can be used for their professional learning, which, in turn, can positively impact the quality of their teaching (Berger et al., 2013; Gärtner, 2014; Kane et al., 2010; Timperley et al., 2007). Student perceptions of teaching quality can be collected by means of tools such as the Impact! digital feedback tool, which measures the degree to which students think that the lesson that just ended matched several characteristics of effective lessons. In previous research into the use of the Impact! tool (see chapter 4 of this dissertation), we found considerable variation between teachers in the effects of using smartphone-assisted student feedback (the digital Impact! tool) on the improvement of teaching quality. Most teachers did not improve the quality of their teaching (as perceived by students) sustainably on their own. A relevant question, therefore, is what factors known to affect data use in general influence teachers’ use of digital student feedback to improve their teaching. From the data-driven framework for school improvement (Schildkamp & Kuiper, 2010) and other research on data use in schools (Datnow & Hubbard, 2015, 2016; Hoogland et al., 2016; Keuning et al., 2016; Schenke & Meijer, 2018; Schildkamp & Datnow, 2019; Schildkamp & Poortman, 2015), we know that several factors can stimulate or hinder the use of feedback data in general. For instance, such data use requires a positive attitude towards data, knowledge and skills for using the data, and organizational support from schools in a context that stimulates professional learning (Fraser, 2007; Guskey, 2000; Hargreaves & Fullan, 2012; Kelchtermans, 2001; Muijs et al., 2014; Timperley, 2008). In this study, we explored teacher and student perceptions of the importance of such factors when teachers receive smartphone-assisted student feedback that they could use to improve the quality of their lessons. Our research question thus is: What are teachers’ and students’ perceptions of the influence that factors known to affect data use in general have on teachers’ use of digital student feedback to improve their teaching? 5.2 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK In general, when student feedback is used to improve teaching quality, it is assumed that students’ perceptions can provide valuable information about their teacher’s teaching. Fraser (2007) argued that the improvement of teaching
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