# From First Draft to Final Insight: A Multi-Agent Approach for Feedback Generation

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.04869 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.04869/

## Key facts

- Cited by 5 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Placed in Educational agents and math problem solving, one of 16 directions in LLM agents and tool use.
- Builds on 8 of its 36 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 8 May 2025.

## Placed in

- LLM agents and tool use / [Educational agents and math problem solving](https://mlsanity.com/agents/educational-agents-and-math-problem-solving/)

## Builds on (most cited first, 8 of 8)

- [Chain-of-Thought Prompting Elicits Reasoning in Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.11903/) (2022)
- [Retrieval-Augmented Generation for Knowledge-Intensive NLP Tasks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2005.11401/) (2020)
- [A Survey on Hallucination in Large Language Models: Principles, Taxonomy, Challenges, and Open Questions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.05232/) (2023)
- [A Systematic Survey of Prompt Engineering in Large Language Models: Techniques and Applications](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.07927/) (2024)
- [Verbosity Bias in Preference Labeling by Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.10076/) (2023)
- [Generating High-Precision Feedback for Programming Syntax Errors using Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.04662/) (2023)
- [Open Source Language Models Can Provide Feedback: Evaluating LLMs' Ability to Help Students Using GPT-4-As-A-Judge](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.05253/) (2024)
- [From MOOC to MAIC: Reshaping Online Teaching and Learning through LLM-driven Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.03512/) (2024)

## Built on by (most cited first, 5 of 5)

- [Automatic Large Language Models Creation of Interactive Learning Lessons](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.17356/) (2025)
- [AI-Mediated Feedback Improves Student Revisions: A Randomized Trial with FeedbackWriter in a Large Undergraduate Course](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.16820/) (2026)
- [REFINE: Real-world Exploration of Interactive Feedback and Student Behaviour](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.29142/) (2026)
- [CODE-GEN: A Human-in-the-Loop RAG-Based Agentic AI System for Multiple-Choice Question Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.03926/) (2026)
- [LLM-based Multimodal Feedback Produces Equivalent Learning and Better Student Perceptions than Educator Feedback](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.15280/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Producing large volumes of high-quality, timely feedback poses significant challenges to instructors. To address this issue, automation technologies-particularly Large Language Models (LLMs)-show great potential. However, current LLM-based research still shows room for improvement in terms of feedback quality. Our study proposed a multi-agent approach performing "generation, evaluation, and regeneration" (G-E-RG) to further enhance feedback quality. In the first-generation phase, six methods were adopted, combining three feedback theoretical frameworks and two prompt methods: zero-shot and retrieval-augmented generation with chain-of-thought (RAG_CoT). The results indicated that, compared to first-round feedback, G-E-RG significantly improved final feedback across six methods for most dimensions. Specifically:(1) Evaluation accuracy for six methods increased by 3.36% to 12.98% (p<0.001); (2) The proportion of feedback containing four effective components rose from an average of 27.72% to an average of 98.49% among six methods, sub-dimensions of providing critiques, highlighting strengths, encouraging agency, and cultivating dialogue also showed great enhancement (p<0.001); (3) There was a significant improvement in most of the feature values (p<0.001), although some sub-dimensions (e.g., strengthening the teacher-student relationship) still require further enhancement; (4) The simplicity of feedback was effectively enhanced (p<0.001) for three methods.