Evaluations: Projects using audio feedback
Project: Providing general feedback on a multiple choice exam using audio. Dr Bill Dixon (School of Sociology and Criminology)
In answer to the questions below Dr Bill Dixon (School of Sociology and Criminology) provides a description of his experiences of using audio to provide general feedback to all students on a module in relation to a multiple choice exam.
- In the project what technology and /or process did you use to provide feedback to students?
I wanted to provide generic feedback in an accessible format to first year students on an MCQ exam. I recorded a sound file in MP3 format using a very simple recorder provided by the STAF project and uploaded it to the module section (CRI-10010 Understanding Crime) on the KLE.
- Prior to the project how would you normally provide feedback to students?
In previous years I had provided written generic feedback in the form of a Word document posted on the KLE. I was disappointed by the number of students accessing this feedback and given up doing so in 2009/10.
- Did you find providing feedback was more or less efficient than the process normally used?
Yes. Although the process was new to me and I made several false starts wit the recording, it took me no more than an hour to record and upload a 17 minute sound file. Writing a Word document covering the same ground has taken me up to 2 hours in the past.
- Did using the technology allow you to provide richer or more detailed feedback to students when compared with the ‘normal’ process used?
It is hard to say whether the feedback provided in the sound file was richer or more detailed but it may well have seemed to be more immediate and personal. But I have no hard evidence to support this hunch.
- Do you think that the students benefited from the change in feedback process? (Why? What is your data?)
With roughly similar numbers of students registered on the module the total number of visits to the audio file in 2010/11 from the date of release to 27th May was 52. The corresponding number of visits to the Word document made available in 2008/9 was 29 over the same period.
- From your perspective, what were the main advantages of using this process to produce feedback?
From my perspective the strengths of this process are the sense of immediacy (perhaps even intimacy) that a sound file provides and the time saved in creating such a file rather than a written document.
- From your perspective, were there any disadvantages to using this process to deliver feedback?
None.
- How do you think the process used could be improved to make it easier to use?
No – like most things, practice will make the process (more) perfect.
- Will you continue to use the intervention in your teaching practice? If not, what would need to change for you to adopt the intervention as current practice?
I would certainly use a sound file to provide generic exam feedback again. Since using this technology to record feedback I have also used it to record an entire lecture which was then uploaded to the KLE.
Using Audio for Feedback on Assessments
David J. McGarvey
School of Physical and Geographical Sciences (Chemistry), Keele University, Staffordshire ST5 5BG
Introduction
During the previous 18 months I have provided individual audio feedback to 1st and 2nd year undergraduate Chemistry students on a variety of assessments (posters, laboratory reports, laboratory diaries) with the aim of providing richer, more detailed and more comprehensible individual feedback than is possible within the same timeframe using written feedback. My initial trialling of audio feedback employed a laptop with an internal microphone and freely available software1-2 enabling the production of mp3 files. However, within the past 12 months the provision of audio feedback to students has been greatly facilitated by the use of a handheld digital mp3 voice recorder funded by the JISC STAF project3. Table 1 summarises details of the cohorts and assessments for which audio feedback has been provided.
| Module | No. of students | Assessment | Submission | Feedback | Date |
| CHE-10036 | ~70 | Poster | Hard-copy | Mp3 file delivered individually to students via the VLE using a dummy assignment within WebCT | January 2010 |
| CHE-20004/6 | ~36 | Laboratory Diary | Hard-copy | Mp3 file delivered individually to students via the VLE using a dummy assignment within WebCT | March 2010 |
| CHE-10035 | ~100 | Laboratory Report (Word-processed, 1000 word) | Electronic via VLE (Turnitin Assignment) | Word document with highlighted sections/areas using blank comments (see Figure 1) plus mp3 file delivered individually to students via the VLE using a dummy assignment within WebCT | December 2010 |
| CHE-20004/6 | ~30 (~50% of cohort) | Laboratory Report (Word-processed, 1000 word) | Electronic via VLE (Turnitin Assignment) | Word document with highlighted sections/areas using blank comments (see Figure 1) plus mp3 file delivered individually to students via the VLE using a dummy assignment within WebCT | March 2011 |
Table 1. Summary of assessments and cohorts f
or which audio feedback has been provided.
Figure 1. Extract from an assessed laboratory report that accompanies audio feedback via an mp3 file
Student Feedback
The following is a summary of the key points that students have highlighted in relation to audio feedback:
- None of the students had received audio feedback previously.
- Many students highlighted the thorough, in-depth and detailed nature of the feedback in comparison with written feedback.
- Many students commented positively on the feedback being more ‘personal’ than written feedback.
- Many students commented that the audio feedback was more comprehensible/understandable than written feedback.
- A significant number of students commented that in comparison with written feedback, it was more difficult to return to particular comments with audio because the comments cannot be seen.
- A significant number of students said they wanted to ask questions whilst listening to the audio feedback, but couldn’t do so at the time of listening.
From bespoke questionnaire data audio feedback was received very enthusiastically by the majority of students for the reasons stated above, with only a very small minority being uncomfortable with this form of feedback. It remains to be seen whether significant proportions of students will request audio feedback in preference to written feedback having had experience of both.
Tutor Feedback
- The use of digital audio for feedback on assessments is both technically and practically straightforward to implement and provides a low cost alternative to written feedback on both hard-copy and electronic assignments.
- The feedback provided to students via audio is richer and more detailed than is possible to provide via handwritten/typed feedback within the same timeframe.
- With a little experience it can save tutor time, but this is likely to be assessment and tutor dependent. Interruptions are more disruptive.
- Transmission of files to students involves uploading individual files one by one to the VLE, but this is also true of typed electronic feedback.
- Two colleagues in Chemical Sciences have also trialled audio feedback after learning of my experiences.
Dissemination
My experiences of using audio for feedback have been disseminated internally at Keele and at the following external meetings/events:
Talks
HEA Physical Sciences Centre/Royal Society of Chemistry, ‘Variety in Chemistry Education Conference’, University of Loughborough, 2nd -3rd September 2010
Tutor and student experiences of audio feedback on assessments (Oral Presentation)
http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/physsci/events/detail/2010/vice_2010
HEA Physical Sciences Centre, ‘More Effective Assessment and Feedback’, University of Leicester, 16th February 2011
Using Audio for Feedback (Invited talk)
http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/physsci/events/detail/2011/more_effective_assessment_feedback
Publications
With my colleague Katherine Haxton, the following article (there is another on screencast feedback led by Katherine) is currently undergoing peer review for publication in the HEA Physical Sciences Centre publication ‘New Directions’.
McGarvey D J, and Haxton K J, Using Audio for Feedback on Assessments: Tutor and Student Experiences. Submitted to Higher Education Academy, Physical Sciences Centre, ‘New Directions in the Teaching of Physical Sciences’ (2011).
Funding
Our (Katherine Haxton and David McGarvey) experiences of the use of technology to enhance feedback to students and the support of the JISC STAF project formed part of the case for a successful proposal for Development Project Funding to the HEA Physical Sciences Centre to use screencasting to achieve better teaching:
£4735 HEA Physical Sciences Centre Development Project Funding: ‘Making time for active learning through the use of screencast pre-lectures’ Katherine Haxton and David J McGarvey
http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/physsci/projects/detail/development_projects_2011/mcgarvey
References
- http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ (date accessed May 2011)
- http://audacity.sourceforge.net/help/faq?s=install&item=lame-mp3 (date accessed May 2011)
- http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/bcap/keele.aspx (accessed May 2011)
Video evaluation of experience
http://tinyurl.com/projectstaf-eval-davep1
http://tinyurl.com/projectstaf-eval-davep2
Project: – Providing audio feedback to Third year students in Psychology, (Dr Nicky Edelstyn School of Psychology, Keele University)
In this recording Dr Nicky Edelstyn discusses her experiences of providing audio feedback to third year students in her special interest group. The feedback was delivered to the students through our institutional VLE via a private discussion journal. The experience from a student’s point of was quite positive the following comments on audio feedback are noted below.
“Audio feedback worked fine. I really liked feedback being presented in this way, and I feel I’ve got a lot more out of it than just reading a feedback sheet.” “I liked the audio feedback as sometimes written feedback can be misunderstood or hard to read. However, I think there were some issues in the practicalities of distributing the audio feedback- so this probably needs to be considered in more detail.” “I found the audio feedback much more useful than the standard feedback sheet in seeing where exactly I went wrong, and could take from that a better idea of where to improve in the future. Thank you” “I really enjoyed getting the audio feedback and I thought it was a new and inventive way of getting feedback. It was a very good idea as you were able to ask question on what you thought you didn’t do well on and get clarification. So all in all I think this type of feedback should be used more universally and often.”Please see below for links to the recordings
http://tinyurl.com/projectstaf-eval-Nickyaudio
Project:- Using audio feedback and electronic submission for French Language students.(Yvan Tardy, Language Learning Unit, Keele University)
In this recording Yvan Tardy outlines how he used audio files to provide feedback to students and his perception of its use. This projects method was for students to submit word files to the VLE Yvan then used word track changes combined with audio files as feedback these files were then delivered through the VLE back to students. Amongst his findings Yvan found that the feedback from the students was positive and that he could convey a lot more information using audio than he could in written form. He also found that it was much easier to explain where mistakes in the French language were using audio. Yvan is moving towards trying screen capture for feedback next and asking the students to submit some assessments as audio files.
http://tinyurl.com/projectstaf-eval-YvanTardy
