Let me start this assignment with an answer to the questions that has plagued me since the beginning of Update 4. What exactly is meant by the words “recursive feedback”?

The word recursive, when used in the context of mathematics or linguistics, is defined as “relating to or involving the repeated application of a rule, definition, or procedure to successive results.” In computing, which would seem to apply equally to the role of e-learning, recursive is defined as “relating to or involving a program or routine of which a part requires the application of the whole, so that its explicit interpretation requires in general many successive executions.”^[1]

Those are a lot of words for what should be a simple concept. The Latin root of the word recursive, recurs, provides a simpler definition. Recurs means “returned” – reportedly from the verb recurrere, meaning “run back.”^[1] So, in my view, recursive feedback means to continuously review old concepts while gradually adding new concepts in.

An example of this would be a series of computer typing tests. The first test might use just letters that the left hand would type. The second test might use left- and right-hand letters. The third test might use a combination of left- and right-hand letters, along with numbers. And the fourth test might combine all three with the punctuation found on the keyboard's top line.

Let's give this recursive exercise a try.

First, type all of the letters that use your left hand by following this simple recursive exercise.

Caption: Start typing using your left hand, starting with the keys you can easily hit with your left pinky, and move your way across the letters on the keyboard.

The exercise would continue for the right hand, before adding numbers and top punctuation. Finally, using the recursive framework, learners would roll out the lessons they've learned above into words that can be typed first with the left hand, then the right, then both combined across the keyboard.

Caption: Type out "A dear rat jumpin' across the floor is equal to 1 + 0!" using your left hand for the first three words, your right for the next, and then a combination of both to complete the sentence.

Did this gradual integration of new concepts help you better understanding the task “at hand”? The gradual addition of new concepts, when incorporated with concepts already tried, should give the learner a higher level of cognition on where their small bits of learning fit into the bigger picture.

Additionally, this method gives learners the ability to have in-progress feedback – since they can judge their own typing against the correct results on the screen. I submit that this is a method I call self-formative assessments, allowing learners to check their learning in real-time. This method of gradual integration is used quite frequently in coding schools, where students are first shown exactly what a snippet of code should look like when it's done. The first-time learner simply types the code as shown, and only gradually learns how that code is used to run an API or design a webpage before they begin coding on their own.