Abstract
This note reflects on student perceptions of audio feedback made available via the VirtualLearning Environment (VLE) for various types of assessment. Consistent with actionresearch the study identifies best practice, and highlights issues in relation toimplementation. It utilised four case studies where audio feedback was provided tostudents using the Wimba voice authoring tool within Blackboard Learn+ for variousdifferent types of summative assessment feedback. With increased pressures of larger classsizes and the resultant reduction in tutor–student contact of recent years in businesseducation, the intention was to identify where audio feedback via the VLE is effective andwhy, which was researched via a student survey. Based on these insights the findingshave been disseminated as best practice to other colleagues in the Higher Education (HE)sector, in particular focusing on where it has been most effective in relation to assessmentand feedback.Keywords: media-enhanced feedback, audio feedback, feed-forward, VLEsIntroductionIn the context of the National Student Survey (NSS) that identifies a clear relationshipbetween student satisfaction and feedback (HEFCE 2007 as cited by JISC 2010) and anindication that ‘students are far less positive about assessment and feedback on theirassignments than they are about other aspects of their learning experience’ (Williams et al.2008) the consideration of alternative mechanisms to enhance student feedback has neverbeen timelier. This is coupled with the considerable changes in the teaching environmentof business educators in recent years, including increased student numbers andmodularisation, and the subsequent larger class sizes, larger seminar groups and theresultant reduction in tutor–student one-to-one contact (Laughton 2012). An increasinghigher education (HE) evidence base demonstrates the benefits of more innovation in the© 2014
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 4-11 |
Journal | Business and Management Education in HE (BMHE) |
Volume | 1 |
Issue number | 1 |
Publication status | Published (in print/issue) - Apr 2014 |
Bibliographical note
Reference text: Dixon, S. (2009) Now I’m a person: Feedback by audio and text annotation. In Conference Proceedings of the ‘A Word in Your Ear Conference’, Sheffield Hallam University.Ekinsmyth, C. (2010) Reflections on using digital audio to give assessment feedback. Planet 23, 74–77.
Ice, P., Curtis, R., Phillips, P. and Wells, J. (2007) Using asynchronous audio feedback to enhance teaching presence and students’ sense of community. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks 11 (2), 3–25.
JISC (2010) Audio Feedback, Creating New Digital Media, JISC. Available at
http://www.jisc.co.uk.
© 2014 A. Adcroft, BMHE, Vol 1, Issue 1 (April 2014)
The Higher Education Academy 10 doi:10.11120/bmhe.2013.00001
King, D., McGugan, S. and Bunyan, N. (2008) Does it make a difference? Replacing text with audio feedback. Practice and Evidence of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education 3 (2), 145–163.
Laughton, D. (2012) Using voice files to provide feedback to students on assessed work – an evaluation of efficiency and effectiveness perspectives. In Proceedings of the 19th EDINEB Conference: ‘The Role of Business Education in a Chaotic World’, pp165–171. Haarlem, FEBA
ERD Press. Available at http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/615474/1/Proceedings_EDiNEB_2012_ final_
for_website.pdf. Merry, S. and Orsmond, P. (2008) Students’ attitudes to and usage of academic feedback
provided via audio files. Bioscience Education 11 (3), no page cited.
Nortcliffe, A. and Middleton, A. (2007) Audio feedback for the iPod generation. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Engineering Education, Coimbra, Portugal.
Nortcliffe, A. and Middleton, A. (2008) A three year case study of using audio to blend the engineer’s learning environment. Engineering Education 3 (2), 45–57.
Nugent, J.S., Reardon, R.M., Smith, F.G., Rhodes, J.A., Zander, M.J. and Carter, T.J. (2008)
Exploring faculty learning communities: Building connections among teaching, learning, and technology. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education 20 (1),
51–58.
Rodway-Dyer, S., Knight, J. and Dunne, E. (2011) A case study on audio feedback with geography undergraduates. Journal of Geography in Higher Education 35 (2), 217–231.
Rotheram, B. (2007) Using a MP3 recorder to give feedback on student assignments.
Educational Developments 8 (2), 7–10.
Williams, J., Kane, D., Sagu, S. and Smith, E. (2008) Exploring the National Student Survey
Assessment and Feedback Issues. York: The Higher Education Academy.
Carruthers et al.
©