Work in Progress: Audio feedback

I tried audio feedback to whole group before and the response was positive. I also know it was listened to as the student's feedback comments were about the “erm’s” in the recording cause  - but they listened to it!

So, I have tried it through Grademark with finalist assignment feedback for around 40 students for individual assignment feedback.

Pros

- it is quick to do the actual feedback

- didn’t involve me writing or typing

-felt more natural to me.

-second marker was complimentary about it.

Cons

- restrictive on where it can be done as it needed somewhere without many distractive noises and couldn’t be done in an open-plan office.

Evidence

- only one student commented and that was positive.

- the feedback was looked at (not sure it was listened too) as evident by the tracking information in turnitin.

Thoughts

-would have been nice to have had more feedback

- would also have be nice to know whether the feedback was actually played or the feedback was just opened.

Previous work: http://apslandt.blogspot.co.uk/2010/01/audio-feedback.html 

Turnitin – Introducing Voice Comments!!

Turnitin – Introducing Voice Comments!! by Adel Gordon on MAY 17, 2012 
Taken from:
http://blogs.northampton.ac.uk/sage/2012/05/17/turnitin-introducing-voice-comments 




 You can now easily add audio feedback to student’s work! Tutors now have the ability to leave a voice comment in GradeMark to give students additional substantive feedback that is clear, engaging, and easy to understand. With just a few clicks, instructors can quickly record a detailed voice message and attach it to a paper. This new GradeMark feature is especially useful in disciplines where written assignments are graded primarily on content vs. writing skills (such as science lab reports). Also, adding a voice comment gives you the opportunity to more fully explain your feedback. With voice comments, students can hear the content of the message, and more importantly, the context of the feedback and tone of the tutor’s voice. To add a voice comment, go to the General Comments area in GradeMark, and click the microphone at the top of the right section. You will be asked to allow access to the microphone the first time you use it. 

learning dialogues conference, 13th May 2010

The School of Science and Technology has four presentations at the forthcoming Teaching and Learning Conference in a number of areas.

These are:
Soft skills for scientists; not a soft option
Andrea Duncan, Department for Enhanced Learning, Teaching, Achievement and Employability, and Rashmi Dravid, School of Science and Technology, The University of Northampton


Problem Solving and Creativity in Engineering: conclusions of phenomenographic study of novices and professionals
Jonathan Adams, School of Science and Technology, The University of Northampton



PowerPoint is just the start
Scott Turner, School of Science and Technology, The University of Northampton
Initial Experience of using Audio Feedback
Scott Turner, School of Science and Technology, The University of Northampton

Details of the conference can be found at: http://www2.northampton.ac.uk/learningteaching/conference10/programme


Registration is free to members of the University of Northampton staff and can be done through: http://www2.northampton.ac.uk/learningteaching/conference10/registration

Audio Feedback

Recently I have been 'playing' with giving feedback to students and other members of staff as audio files. Trying both making recordings using either handheld recorders or Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/). I was trying it as part of the Sounds Good project (http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/usersandinnovation/soundsgood.aspx)
The first attempt looked at giving a summary assessment feedback as an audio file, alongside individual written feedback to a group of first year students. It end up being about four minutes and was definitely more detailed than it would have been if I had written it. It had an unexpected outcome. It was recorded using a handheld recorder and my first time doing it, the volume varied as my hand moved. Some of the student's thought this was amusing, but they must have listened to it to know!
Second area was giving feedback on staff portfolio for a lecturer training course. It is good for this as the level of detail expected was quite high and one member of staff's portfolio was electronic so seemed appropriate. It was quicker and for me I feel I gave more detailed feedback.
Currently I am using it to give feedback on group work again to first year student and storing it in the groups own area on NILE.
Audio feedback is not new but it was fairly new to me and I would recommend it as something to try. A good place to start is perhaps the recent A Word In Your Ear 2009 Conference (http://research.shu.ac.uk/lti/awordinyourear2009/) or the Case Study produced for the Engineering Subject Centre.

Turner S (2009)"Initial experience of using audio feedback for general assignment feedback" A Word In Your Ear 2009 Sheffield Hallam University, 18 December 2009 pg 12. Audio file discussing this can be found at: http://research.shu.ac.uk/lti/awordinyourear2009/audio/013-turner-Initial-experience.mp3