Faculty & Student Perceptions of Asynchronous Audio Feedback

Denise Nelson

Plan• Background• Audio feedback process

– technical– commenting strategies

• Research process & findings– faculty training– students/faculty perspectives

• Recommendations• Future Interest

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Who has experience with audio commenting of student coursework?

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Background• Framed by the Community of Inquiry theoretical framework• Draws upon the work of Dr. Phil Ice on audio feedback,

differences being – population – mostly undergrads– level of cognition not analyzed– faculty perspectives– situated in SIAST - context of 3 online programs

• Practical Nursing Program• Perioperative Nursing Program• Faculty Certificate Program

• Project sponsored by Campus Saskatchewan and SIAST• Research conducted Fall 2009 – June 2010

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5Garrison, D. R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (2000).

Community of Inquiry

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Social presence is “the ability of participants to identify with the community (e.g., course of study), communicate purposefully in a trusting environment, and develop inter-personal relationships by way of projecting their individual personalities.” (Garrison, 2009)

Teaching Presence  is the design, facilitation, and direction of cognitive and social processes for the purpose of realizing personally meaningful and educationally worthwhile learning outcomes (Anderson, Rourke, Garrison & Archer, 2001).

Cognitive Presence is the extent to which learners are able to construct and confirm meaning through sustained reflection and discourse (Garrison, Anderson & Archer, 2001).

Focus on Feedback

Students can cope without face-to-face teaching, but they cannot cope without regular feedback on assignments (Gibbs & Simpson, 2004).

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Convert doc to pdf

Configure

Adobe Acrobat Pro – comment tools

Headset and microphone

Record and insert comments

Audio – sound recorder or Audacity

Text – mark up tools

Check audio quality

Inform students to double click icon

Technical Process

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Additional Hardware/Software

Adobe Acrobat Pro Headset/Microphone• USB, noise-canceling

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• Read the entire student assignment.• Decide which feedback audio/text mark-up.• Give feedback like face-to-face.• Use audio to elaborate details, summarize,

give examples/references.• Integrate and situate audio and text

comments.• Do not repeat the written word in audio.• Situate mark in audio comment.

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Commenting Strategies

…Commenting Strategies• Use text mark-up for specific grammar,

punctuation etc. • Use mark-up tools - customized stamps,

highlighting, callout, arrows...

• Can insert attachments.• Include rubrics.• Other uses - summarizing/weaving

discussions, exam review12

Mark-Up Example

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Research

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Literature Review

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Feedback

Gibbs, Simpson,

2004

Audio Feedback

Wilson, 2009Ice, Kupcznski, Wiesenmayer, Phillips, 2008

Ice, Curtis, Wells and Phillips, 2007

Merry & Osmond, 2008

Oomen-Early, Bold, Wigington, Gallien & Anderson, 2008

Questions

• In what manner is perceived learning impacted by the use of audio feedback?

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• Do students learning in asynchronous learning environments believe audio or text-based student feedback is a more effective means of interaction with their faculty?

• How does the use of audio feedback impact the students’ sense of community in asynchronous learning networks?

• What relationship exists between the use of audio feedback and student /faculty?

Method• Nested mixed method

– End of course web survey– Focus group– Follow-up emailed interview questions

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Sample• Convenience• Nursing programs & Faculty Certificate Program (FCP)

students and faculty• Participants:

– 8 faculty respondents (all)– 14 student respondents – 8 FCP, 6 Practical Nursing

Program

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Faculty TrainingPosted use & adv on SIAST web space

Posted resources about Community of Inquiry

Dr. Phil overview and training session

Faculty practice and submit pdf with audio comments

Created Flash tutorials of process for faculty reference

Dr. Phil Ice presentation to clarify issues

Buddy system support

Meeting with faculty/program heads re research logistics

Create collaborative docs - FAQ,Tips for Marking Up Coursework19

Data Collection• Program areas randomly selected

assignments to include written feedback only or audio and written feedback.

• Nature of assignments ranged from paragraph responses to major papers.

• ~ half of assignments used written feedback and half used written and audio feedback.

• Completion of course

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Findings

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Audio vs. Text --Which is More Effective?

• Qualitative – both students & faculty perceived that audio in conjunction with written is most effective

• Students and faculty comfortable with written and reluctant to negate its value

• Students perceived audio more effective re– Personalization– Retention – Motivation– Understanding instructor’s intent – Feelings of involvement and instructor caring

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Student Perceptions of Auditory Compared to Written

Likert Item Agree Disagree Neutral Mean SD

When using auditory feedback, inflection in the instructor’s voice made his/her intent clear

9 1 1 4 1.2

Auditory comments made me feel more involved in the course than written comments

8 2 1 3.2 .89

The instructor’s intent was clearer when using auditory comments rather than written comments

7 1 3 3.5 .95

Auditory comments are more personal than written comments

7 2 2 3.5 1.1

I retained auditory comments better than written comments

6 2 3 3.3 .94

Auditory comments motivated me more than written comments

6 3 2 3.5 1.123

Student Voices

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“I was thoroughly impressed and

motivated by the format (audio and

written) selected…”

“I enjoyed the enhanced feedback (audio), and I think with it an instructor

can be more detailed with his analysis. If [instructor]

had to write out all his advice for my first paper it may have been longer

than the paper itself.”

“Certainly tone of voice and inflection help to distinguish intended meaning more accurately than written text.”

Student Follow-Up Email Responses

Re useful feedback

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“the most important thing in my mind is to give something that isn’t as easy to write down—for example something a bit more lengthy you might want to say or a longer explanation etc. The things that go into the marking that you can’t just jot down really quickly.”

“Audio comments could include references to other resources, good examples that could replace errors, and specific pieces of work that were good and why.”

Audio Feedback Impact on Sense of Community?

• Connectedness• Personalization• Authenticity• Enhances social presence

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Student Voices

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“It was nice to have the audio of the instructors, it made me feel more personal and that you were more of a class.”

“I enjoyed the auditory feedback because I felt more like the instructor was speaking directly to me, although I appreciated the written comments equally.”

“I thought it was easy to use and make you feel more connected to the instructor, even in a distance course.”

Audio Feedback & Student Satisfaction?

– voice inflection and nuance to grasp more meaning

– more and elaborate feedback • Details• Examples• References

– “did not always work”– “annoying, a true

conversation or written comments would be better”

– “It seemed the instructor was trying to sound neutral in the audio feedback which left a feeling of apathy.” 28

Based on open comments of web survey, 9 of the 11 students seemed satisfied.

Perceived Learning Impacted by Audio Feedback?

• Faculty and students perceive audio enhances learning.

• 3/4 students who responded to email interview questions revealed that audio feedback supports learning when it is personable, clear and detailed as “opposed to a check mark.”

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“I found that I retained the verbal feedback better than just reading about it.”

“Sometimes it (audio feedback) was very informative. Hearing their voices made it stick more into my head. I took it more seriously for if you wanted to know why something was the way it was marked, you had to listen.”

Audio Feedback & Faculty Satisfaction?

• Perceive benefits of social, cognitive and teaching presence

• Added value - more quantity and quality of feedback, even though it requires more faculty time to plan and create

• Incorporating a variety of media helps to project teaching presence and support student’s varied learning preferences.

• Liked informality• Preferred use for lengthy and complex

assignments30

Faculty Voices• VoiceThread conversation

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General Research Findings• No clear preference for written or audio• More time required to listen and/or

provide audio comments• Student populations differ• Quality of audio dependent on various

factors: audio settings, equipment, noise

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More Student Voices

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“Certainly tone of voice and inflection help to distinguish intended meaning more accurately than written text.”

“more personal, negative comments seen as more constructive. Increased perception of teacher engagement.”

“This is my first experience with audio feedback and I think it is AWESOME. The insertion of text is also beneficial.”

“I liked the audio because this instructor said more than ‘good job’.”

“Listening to feedback as you went through a paper was very helpful, almost like a one on one with the instructor to hear their thoughts as they progressed through reading the paper.”

“option was easy to access”

Faculty ExampleExample of student paper

Example

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Summary - Faculty• Affords elaboration• Personalizes feedback• Easier to express oneself -“feel freer to

expand on comments”• Expect technical glitches• √ complex assignments, research papers,

critiques• All recommend its use

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What are limitations of audio commenting?

•Orientation time

•Technology glitches

•Cost - time, effort, hardware, software

•Cannot print

•Software portability

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Recommendations• Provide portal of resources and have a

resource person for inquiries/support• Investigate further use –discussions/group

work to evaluate impact• Investigate LMS which supports user-

friendly audio embed• Investigate further use by/purchase of

software for interested faculty• Investigate options for student use

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Future Interest• Explore strategies to improve feedback

practices….Transforming the Experience of Students Through Assessment (TESTA)

http:/www.testa.ac.uk/resources/best-practice-guides

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Denise Nelson

instructional designer, SIAST

denise.nelson@siast.sk.ca

http://www.slideshare.net/nelsond/facultystudent-perceptionsofasynchronousaudiofeedbackcnie2011

Thank you for participating

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