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The main objective of this chapter is to show the importance of feedback in favouring quality in online learning processes. From the students' point of view, feedback helps them to regulate their own learning and this is why feedback is a key element in asynchronous and distance learning. The chapter is divided into two parts. The first presents an exhaustive theoretical review of the research on feedback carried out over the last 20 years. In this review, two types of research are clearly identified: those that study the effects of feedback on learning, and those that focus on characterising feedback, basically considering students' perceptions and opinions. As a result of this review, in the second part of the chapter a specific definition is given of the concept of feedback in online teaching and learning processes. Three dimensions of feedback analysis are considered: functional, semantic and structural dimensions, which enable both university teachers and researchers to design high quality feedback that promotes students' regulative learning in non-classroom environments. The functional dimension refers to the specific role of feedback within the framework of educational activity. The semantic dimension refers to the content of feedback. Based on the literature, there is general agreement on considering two components of feedback content. The verification component of feedback linked to errors and correct responses, and the elaboration component linked to improving the assignment in hand and information for going deeper into the subject matter, i.e. the formative character of the feedback. The structural dimension refers to the specific form feedback acquires in a particular context. In relation to this dimension some categories are identified which must be taken into account in online environments - for example, the agents participating in the feedback processes, the virtual space in which they take place, the time factor which determines them or the length of these processes. The responses to these questions will enable us to formally characterise feedback. These analytical dimensions are useful instruments for designing feedback in online environments and for evaluating the quality of students' feedback in terms of promoting the regulation of distance learning.

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Within the constructivist framework of online distance education the feedback process is considered a key element in teachers' roles because it can promote the regulation of learning. Therefore, faced with the need to guide and train teachers in the kind of feedback to provide and how to provide it, we establish three aims for this research: identify the presence of feedback according to the regulation of learning required; characterise this feedback according to content (i.e. the meaning of feedback); and, finally, to explore possible relationships between feedback and the results of the teaching and learning process (i.e. students' satisfaction and final grades). The results for a sample of 186 students, taking nine courses at the Open University of Catalonia, are discussed in the light of feedback, which is considered a central element in university teaching practice in online environments. We conclude that, in general, the presence of feedback is associated with improved levels of performance and higher levels of satisfaction with the general running of the course.

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