JISC

This project has now completed. The final report is available at the bottom of the page.

Overview

Audio feedback has been shown to be popular with learners and educators by delivering richer feedback in faster turnaround time than written feedback. This project aims to investigate three forms of audio feedback currently being used by lecturers around the UK to determine the optimal method for a variety of learners: audio-only, asynchronous audio-visual, and synchronous audio-visual. Quality and quantity of feedback will help determine which method will provide effective feedback for students without overburdening assessors.

Aims and objectives

Because there are many possible methods for performing audio feedback, this research project aims to compare different methods of audio feedback. The main objectives of this project are:

1. to determine which method will optimise student and staff experience
2. to determine whether the optimal method varies across student type and assessment type

Each of the methods will be evaluated for its effectiveness, usability, and student receptiveness to better understand which method is optimal taking into account cost, accessibility, staff time spent, student type and student

Project methodology

A team of 5 Aberystwyth University staff members will be using 3 methods of audio feedback for 34 students across 15 assessments varying from presentations to essays to wiki’s. The first method is Audio only where the lecturer gives feedback via MP3 files. The second method is Audio-Visual Asynchronous where the lecturer inserts sound clips into the student’s electronic submission. The third method is Audio-Visual Synchronous where the lecture records a screen capture giving  feedback whilst interacting with the student's electronic submission. Students and staff will evaluate via questionnaires, interviews and focus groups.

Anticipated outputs and outcomes

• Training manual for the three methods being tested
• Advice on choosing the right method for the assessment and student type
• Project website
• Project report for JISC, including literature review of audio feedback
• Evaluation questions used in questionnaires, interviews and focus groups
• Conference and workshop presentations
• Paper submitted to a peer-reviewed journal

Technology / standards

 We will be using digital voice recorders and Audacity to make MP3 files. Students will be submitting electronic assignments as PDF documents via Blackboard. Inserting audio comments will be done using Adobe Acrobat Professional 9.0. Creating screen captures will be done using Jing (www.jingproject.com).