learning out loud: changing students' mindsets about voice comments

CC-BY Gustavo Devito

LEARNING OUT LOUD

Michelle'Pacansky.Brock''''''''TeachingWithoutWalls.comCSU'Channel'Islands

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''Mt.'San'Jacinto'College

Changing'St?dents’'Mindsets'About'Voice'Comments

@brocansky'

tiny.cc/ET4ONLINELOL

• Share the results of an action research study designed to improve the percentage of community college students willing to voluntarily leave voice or video comments in required VoiceThread activities.

• Evaluate the experiences of community college students as they engage with emerging technologies for online learning.

• Identify the impact of course design and instructor support on students’ mindsets about using emerging technologies.

Objectives

Instructor voice feedback in online classes has been found to improve:

• perceived distance between instructor (more like "in class")!• perception that instructor cares!• feeling of student involvement!• student motivation!• student retention of information

(Ice, Curtis, Phillips, & Wells, 2007; Oomen-Early et al., 2008, Olesove, Richardson, Weasenforth, & Meloni, 2011)

• Started teaching using VoiceThread in my online classes in 2007.

Background

• By 2008, proven for its online community-building potential.

VoiceThread contributed to establishing a sense !

of community in !our class.

80% strongly agreed or agreed

Online Student VoiceThread Survey:101 students surveyed, 88% response rate

Pacansky-Brock, 2008

My instructor's voice comments increased my sense that she was actively present

in my learning experience (compared to text alone).

96% strongly agreed or agreed

101 students surveyed, 88% response rate

Pacansky-Brock, 2008

Online Student VoiceThread Survey:

My instructor's video comments increased my sense that she was actively present

in my learning experience (compared to text alone).

98% strongly agreed or agreed

101 students surveyed, 88% response rate

Pacansky-Brock, 2008

Online Student VoiceThread Survey:

CC-BY-NC Pulpolux !!

Voice comments are great!

As long as I don’t have to use them.

Questions

If voice/video comments by the instructor improve social presence, how is online learning impacted if student-

generated voice/video comments increase?

Why are most students (~75%) unwilling to participate in voice/video?

How can this problem be improved?

Can I change them?

!

•Community college •Southeastern California •Fully online •Max class enrollment: 35 •LMS: Blackboard •About 1/2 students new to online •At time of redesign, campus had

site license to VT but no BB integration

About my current online class:

The Changes 1. Ensure access. !

• New institutional site license to VoiceThread meant ubiquitous access to voice through phone commenting minutes

2. Slow down & scaffold. Redesign of Weeks 1-2.!• Wk 1: Getting Started Unit (new) - no commenting!• Wk 2: Learning Unit 1 (redesigned) - everyone comments in voice or video

3. Voice/Video Commenting Required - sometimes. 12 activities. 5 require voice/video, 7 allow students to choose voice/video/text.

4. Check-In. Added a “VoiceThread Check-In Survey” in Week 4.

VT2 VT3 VT4 VT5 VT6

0.22 0.24 0.21

0.42

0.24

average 26.6%

before redesign

% of Voluntary Voice/Video Comments !by Students: Semester Before Redesign

VT2 VT3 VT4 VT5 VT6

0.780.82 0.82 0.83

0.56

0.22 0.240.21

0.42

0.24 average 26.6%

average 76.2%

after redesign

before redesign

% of Voluntary Voice/Video Comments !by Students: Semester Before & After Redesign

VT #1: Ice Breaker -

Voice or video comments required.

https://voicethread.com/share/2656014/ https://voicethread.com/share/2740447/

VT #2: Formative Assessment -

Any commenting method allowed.

Wk 2: Revised Unit

Ice Breaker (new)

Week 4: Check-In Survey

How did you feel when you were asked to leave your first voice comment?

Week 4 Survey (after 3 VTs, 1 req’d voice/video commenting).

Sp 14 Fa 13 Sp 13 Fa 12n=90

How nervous were you when you left your first voice/video comment?

0

7.5

15

22.5

30

1 2 3 4 5

Week 4 Survey (after 3 VTs, 1 req’d voice/video commenting).

very nervous not nervousSp 14 Fa 13 Sp 13 Fa 12n=90

How nervous were you when you left your first voice/video comment?

0

7.5

15

22.5

30

1 2 3 4 5

Now when you comment in voice/video, how nervous are you?

Week 4 Survey (after 3 VTs, 1 req’d voice/video commenting).

very nervous not nervous

Sp 14 Fa 13 Sp 13 Fa 12n=90

When given a choice, which commenting format do you prefer?

0

15

30

45

60

Text Voice Video

Week 4 Survey (after 3 VTs, 1 req’d voice/video commenting).

Sp 14 Fa 13 Sp 13 Fa 12n=90

34%

61%

5%

CC-BY-NC-SA By Coofdy

a'social.emotional'speed'bump?

So far, I think VoiceThread has added value to my online learning experience.

0

17.5

35

52.5

70

Agree Neutral Disagree

Week 4 Survey (after 3 VTs, 1 req’d voice/video commenting).

Sp 14 Fa 13 Sp 13 Fa 12n=90

68%

24%

4%

Commenting in VoiceThread is:

1 2 3 4 5

Sp 14 Fa 13 Sp 13 Fa 12

Week 4 Survey (after 3 VTs, 1 req’d voice/video commenting).

easy difficultn=90

End of Semester Survey

work in progress

started surveys in Fall 2012

anonymous

CC-BY-NC-SA Zanthia

Were there any benefits to being able to hear your peers’ comments?

“Yes, I feel like we got to know each other better. I actually recognized a classmate at my

children's Taekwondo class because of the sound of her voice!”

CC-BY-NC-SA Zanthia

Were there any benefits to being able to hear your peers’ comments?

“Yes, it feels more personal and intimate which I think helps you retain

what you are learning.”

(cont'd)

CC-BY JD Hancock

“…having to say the words helped me understand what I was talking about better

than if I had just been writing it down.”

How did speaking (vs. writing all your assignments) affect your learning?

CC-BY JD Hancock

“I found ... that I would ... unearth more thoughts and opinions as I spoke them out loud while

looking at the content, as opposed to looking at the content, forming an opinion, then looking at

my text as I wrote it.”

Were there any benefits to being able to hear your peers’ comments?

CC-BY JD Hancock

“…it made me re-evaluate my answers. Mostly because I didn't want to sound like I had no idea

what I was talking about. Plus when you write something down there is not much emotion to it

and being able to speak out loud my ideas made me feel like I could connect and explain the

material better.”

Were there any benefits to being able to hear your peers’ comments?

CC-BY JD Hancock

How did speaking (vs. writing all your assignments) affect your learning?

“I felt the need to more fully research the material before leaving comments. I wanted

to sound proficient when discussing questions in voice comments.”

CC-BY JD Hancock

“I believe giving myself the ability to do voice comments without a completely scripted comment in

front of me added to my thinking process. Without sitting down to write out everything I might say, it

made me dig deeper in the moment of discussion to speak out about ideas I may not have though out or

thought of while sitting to script the comment.”

How did speaking (vs. writing all your assignments) affect your learning?

CC-BY JD Hancock

“I felt more motivated to produce a better quality assignment.”

How did speaking (vs. writing all your assignments) affect your learning?

CC-BY JD Hancock

“I am not really sure it effected my learning. I seemed to avoid my voice threads as

long as possible because of this.”

How did speaking (vs. writing all your assignments) affect your learning?

CC-BY Gustavo Devito

Were there any drawbacks to being required to speak?

“At first, I was nervous ...but ... I found [VoiceThread to] be most useful. It was fun and made the class more interactive. In my opinion, the online class

would be a bit boring without VoiceThread.”

“I did not like the voicethread activities. I don't feel that it added to my learning experience since it is not a speech or public speaking class.”

CC-BY kodomut.com

What drawbacks were there to being required to speak?

“None really, other than me tripping over my tongue and having to re-

record a lot. But that gets better as you get more comfortable with it.”

CC-BY kodomut.com

What drawbacks were there to being required to speak?

(cont'd)

What drawbacks were there to being required to speak?

“For me, working them around my noisy (and consistently busy) family and house. I

also had to buy a microphone for my comments, but acquiring materials is just a

part of school.”

(cont'd)

CC-BY kodomut.com

Was this your first experience using VoiceThread?

Yes No

n=49

98%

2%

Fa 13 Sp 13 Fa 12

Age

18-24 25-32 33-40 41-50 51-60

n=49

18%12%

Fa 13 Sp 13 Fa 12

53%

14%2%

The voice activities contributed to making me feel like I was part of a group.

Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

n=49

65%

27%

6% 2%

Fa 13 Sp 13 Fa 12

Throughout the course I noticed an improvement in my ability to speak more clearly in the voice/video comments.

Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

n=49

59%

24%

14% 2%

Fa 13 Sp 13 Fa 12

The ability to communicate effectively with online voice/video communications is an important 21st century skill.

Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

n=49

71%

24%

4%

Fa 13 Sp 13 Fa 12

If you have completed an online class before this one, was this the first time you have been required to participate in voice?

Yes No

n=31 (17 or 35% chose N/A)

84%

16%

Fa 13 Sp 13 Fa 12

Being able to listen to my peers (vs. reading all their comments) improved my ability to reach the learning objectives in this course.

Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

Fa 13 Sp 13n=49 Fa 12

73%

18%6%

When I left voice comments I remembered more of the information.

Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

n= 36 Fa 13 Sp 13

58%

25%

11%6%

CC-BY-NC-SA By Coofdy

• Student mindsets towards emerging technologies affect their willingness to use them. !

• These mindsets may be changed through course design and instructor support. !

• Scaffolding student use of technology into a course can reduces nerves.

!

!

Findings

CC-BY-NC-SA By Coofdy

• Voice/video student participation in online classes: !

• increases when students are required to comment in a low-stake ice breaker with high instructor interaction after tool set up is complete

• affects social & cognitive elements of online learning • supports learning differences • may improve students’ verbal communication skills & self confidence • fosters skills that students perceive to be critical for 21st century

success !

Findings!(cont’d)

Implications• Additional accessibility support would be required for captioning of

content when a text accommodation to voice content is necessary in a class.!

• For VoiceThread, a campus must subscribe to a department or site-wide license to provide students with free phone commenting minutes.!

CC-BY-NC-SA By DigiD

Oomen-Early, J., Bold, M., Wiginton, K. L., Gallien, T. L. & Anderson, N. (2008). Using asynchronous audio communication (AAC) in the online classroom: A comparative study. Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 4(3).

Ice, P., Curtis, R., Phillips, P., & Wells, J. (2007). Using asynchronous audio feedback to enhance teaching presence and student sense of community. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 11(2), 3-25.

Olesova, L. A., Richardson, J., C., Weasenforth, D., Meloni, C. (2011). Using asynchronous instructional audio feedback in online environments: A mixed methods study. MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching. &(1), 30-42.

References