Investigating the use of audio for providing feedback to students
soundsgood.org.uk
Dr Philip R. Davies
School of Chemistry
Dr Dai John
School of Pharmacy
Dr Chris Miles
School of Psychology
Project Aims
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Student Feedback
“Project” reports typically 3-4 pages of text in sections.
Investigate the use of audio to improve
timeliness and effectiveness of feedback to
students
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Easy to use interface
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Compare different sound recording packages.
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Investigate the possibilities and practicalities
for efficient and rapid dissemination of audio
feedback from tutor to student
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Audio files can be saved in
many accessible formats.
MP3 format widely
recognised and very
compact.
Create expertise within the participating
departments to facilitate dissemination
throughout the University.
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Typical file sizes: 250kByte
per minute.
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Straight forward editing of
files to remove “…umms and
…errs”!
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Practical Details
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Built in sound recorder for Windows gives awful
quality and unsuitable.
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“Audacity” clearly superior to other sound
recorders. Freely available for PC/Mac & Linux
at: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
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Good quality headphones eg,
Plantronics Audio 650 USB £20
Extensive investigations failed to find a way to
record and embed audio files at specific points
in a word document.
Automatic dissemination of audio files by
recognition of filenames could not be
achieved with Groupwise, Lotus notes
Blackboard or any other software
available to us.
Emailing files individually through
Blackboard proved the most effective
method of dissemination.
Plantronics Audio 650 USB headphones
Staff Reflections
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There was a strong (but not unanimous) liking for the audio
marking.
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Students liked the increased detail that was possible
“It is useful to hear the process of thought for marking of the work.”
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Some students struggled to find means to listen to the recordings –
listening in the university computer rooms was not considered
acceptable.
Essays, typically 10 pages of text.
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Students found little advantage in audio marking.
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Connecting comments with essay sections proved difficult since
comments could not be embedded in the text.
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Giving an overall mark at the end of the verbal transcript is
pedagogically sound but students wished to assess comments in
the light of the overall mark.
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"Once the software had been downloaded onto my desktop I
was away……decided not to use the editing function, leaving
my speech in its natural state with a few ummhs and aahhs.”
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Marking process takes a little longer but this is balanced by
the higher quality of feedback.
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Very effective means of giving high quality feedback;
increased confidence in the allocation of marks.
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Less convenient – marking is effectively confined to the
office. Most of us save marking for evenings at home, cafes
or train trips.
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There is a reluctance to engage the headphones & software;
the less technically minded put this down to technophobia.
Those of us who love technology have to admit that we are
simply more self conscious about the marking.
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Audio marking provides an excellent means of conveying high
quality feedback to students in a time effective manner.
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Some technical issues must still be overcome (Windows 7 may
allow the complete replacement of Windows media player)
Despite vigorous sales efforts – take up has been slow
amongst colleagues.
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Audio feedback is less convenient for staff and to some extent
students too – this will prove a barrier to its widespread adoption.
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Conclusions