Inclusive Learning and
Teaching Automatic Control and
Systems Engineering - Using digital audio
Abstract:interventions
to enhance the student
learning experience
L1 ACSE students were given their own digital audio recorders in the first semester
and encouraged to independently record a variety of learning situations and
interactions within the department. Students were then able to use the recordings to
enhance, support and personalise their learning in a self directed way that suited
their individual learning styles and needs. A student commented ‘At University, you
need to take responsibility for your own learning and so you need to find what works
best for you’.
General Description:
This project highlights the impact and potential of audio interventions on the general
student population and is linked to a project at Sheffield Hallam University which has
focussed on the impact of audio intervention on students with English as an
additional language and students with learning disabilities. In both projects, the
students were supported and encouraged to playback and listen to these recordings
to; reflect, refresh their memory, re-engage with their thoughts, deepen their level of
learning and enhance their learning experience. In summary, it is hoped that the
project will serve as an exemplar of how student generated audio can be embedded
into the curriculum and the benefits it can bring.
Aims:
The project aimed to educate and encourage the students to record learning
interactions wherever they occur in or outside the class-room to enhance student
engagement and their learning experience. Students were encouraged to playback
the recordings of learning interactions and use them in ways that would support their
individual needs in terms of learning styles, assessment requirements and
clarification and feedback considerations.
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Intended outcomes:
The project has:

demonstrated that recording and listening back to a variety of learning
interactions using digital audio can enhance the learning experience for all
students, and provides an easy, accessible and valued method of support;

led to the development of a list of learning situations that can be recorded
and a list of ways that audio recordings can be used based on information
from focus groups of students (made available to students via MOLE);

led to the development of a protocol and guidance documentation for when
conversations/learning situations can be recorded, replayed and shared
appropriately;
Context:
The project targeted 50? L1 BEng and MEng undergraduate students in the
Department of ACSE, based in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of
Sheffield. The project was led by Dr Anthony Rossiter, Director of Learning and
Teaching and supported by Alison Griffin, Project Leader Learning Teaching Services
and formed part of the University’s overall Inclusive Learning and Teaching project
led by DLTD Dr Elena Rodriguez Falcon and Marie Evans (LeTS). The project is also
linked to a similar project at Sheffield Hallam, which is being led by Anne Nortcliffe,
Teaching Fellow for Assessment and Feedback, Faculty of Arts, Computing,
Engineering and Science.
Resources:

Each student has been provided with a digital audio recorder that they will
keep at the end of the project so they can continue to develop their use of
digital audio interventions to enhance their learning. Recorders cost £35 each;

This project focussed on students generating their own recordings of learning
interactions, rather than lecturer generated audio resources such as podcasts,
'audio notes' and 'audio feedback;

Students decided which situations they would record and also how they would
use the audio recordings to support their learning. This led to the creation of
an online resource based on focus group discussions which made students
aware of the full range of possibilities to enhance their learning, as identified
by their peers.
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
As part of the initial introduction to the project, students were asked to sign
an agreement which outlined a protocol for using audio recording equipment
and the parameters in which the recordings may and may not be shared.

The project has been evaluated by two focus groups which involved 28+ **
students and these were co-ordinated and conducted by LeTS staff.
Issues:
Advice

In a situation where many students are likely to be recording, eg, guest
lectures, consider producing a single recording available to all students via
MOLE;

Students recognised that this was a tool to supplement and enhance their
learning and planned to download visual learning resources such as lecture
notes and slides to compliment their recordings;

Because of the frequent use of equations and symbols in calculations, students
emphasised the importance of visual learning and recordings were not always
helpful;

Students were clear that recording lectures was not a substitute for note
taking as students would still take notes when listening back to lectures. In
fact students emphasised that note taking would become more focussed and
targeted than a lecture situation where students tended to write everything
down. Taking notes retrospectively allowed students to consider the entirety
of the lecture first.
Changes

Ensure recorders are available from the beginning of semester 1, so students
can start to use them from the outset and they become an integrated part of
learning in the department.
Benefits:

Audio recorders were being widely used by all students who were able to
tailor use of the recordings to support their individual learning needs;

Students were sharing recordings with their peers where they had received
guidance from tutors on the best way to approach a piece of assessment;
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
There were additional benefits for students with English as an additional
language to listen back to learning situations at their own pace, this was
especially helpful if the speaker had a foreign accent;

Students reported clearing up misconceptions when they listened back to
their recordings without having to approach academic staff for clarification.

A student commented that ‘there was a time when I thought I had lost it and
I felt like some part of myself was missing because I was so used to using it.
When I found it I was really happy’.
Lead academic : Anthony Rossiter
LeTS Alison Griffin
Evaluation:
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