Name and e-mail: Hedley Bashforth (H.Bashforth@bath.ac.uk)

Keywords (pedagogical): feedback, examination

Keywords (technical): audio, mp3, Moodle

Discipline: Social and Policy Sciences

Year/ability: Year 1 undergraduate

Course title: Social policy, welfare and the state

Background

What took place?

This Year One unit has historically been assessed by examination and for the first time students were given the opportunity to sit a mock exam of one question in one hour. This had originated from a student desire to practice working in exam conditions, since for many this would be the first exam that would sit at university level. This was as much for the symbolic value of the process of answering questions in exam conditions as it was for the content of their answers.

The tutor offered to read the essay questions and give one or two brief comments as feedback – about fifteen seconds of audio.  Twenty of the cohort took up the option of the practice exam and twelve of them asked for audio feedback on their work.

What was the role of the technology?

The interest in audio feedback came from a presentation that Jo Phoenix from the University of Durham gave to the Faculty Learning and Teaching Committee that described a pilot that had been undertaken in their institution. The tutor was impressed enough by this pilot experience that he though it worth exploring with his students.

An essay question was answered on paper under exam conditions.  The tutor borrowed an mp3 player/recorder from the AV team. It was easy to operate and was used to record a brief piece of feedback for each student as a separate sound file. These files were then downloaded onto PC and named with details of each student.  Ideally the tutor would have liked to be able to name the file whilst it was on the mp3 recorder in order to streamline the download/upload process.

In Moodle an ‘audio feedback’ folder was created and the files added to this folder.  Adding files to a folder was a far more time efficient way of approaching the process but did not allow for privacy of feedback. The students in the project were aware of this from the outset and were still happy to take part.

Outcomes

How did the participants find it?

Students found the experience positive and the only change to the process that they requested was to receive an indicative grade – something that will probably be introduced in the next round of feedback.

Issues/problems

What tips do you have for others?

Jo Phoenix had given advice on speech within the audio feedback medium and emphasised the importance of language and tone.  As well as ensuring clarity of voice, she recommended avoiding a didactic approach with an emphasis on mistakes. A questioning tone of voice and discussion of potential improvements is far more effective than authoritative declarations which can be found patronising and demoralising.

Plans for the future

There are plans to offer the same optional mock exam with audio feedback again this year.  Audio feedback may also be extended to use by postgraduate supervisors that are supporting small groups with their work.

There are not plans to extend the audio feedback further, since it was felt that its more impressionistic and brief nature would not really lend itself to other marking processes where the tutor would prefer to continue to annotate scripts in more detail.