The document evaluates three audio feedback methods - audio only, audio-visual asynchronous, and audio-visual synchronous. A study was conducted with 33 psychology honors students and 5 academic staff members. Questionnaires, interviews, and focus groups were used to evaluate the implementation, effectiveness, and preferences for each method from both the student and tutor perspectives. Results showed that audio-visual asynchronous feedback was most effective at improving student marks, while preferences varied between high-performing and low-performing students. The best method also depended on the type of assessment being provided feedback on. Overall, audio feedback was found to provide richer feedback than written comments.

1. EVALUATION OF THREE
AUDIO FEEDBACK
METHODS
DR I-CHANT CHIANG
IAC@ABER.AC.UK
2 FEBRUARY 2011

2. PROBLEMS WITH WRITTEN FEEDBACK
LEAST SATISFIED AREA IN NATIONAL STUDENT SURVEY
(BBC, 2007; UNISTATS, 2009)
LACK OF DEPTH, SIMPLY STATE THE PROBLEM
ILLEGIBLE HANDWRITING
OVEREMPHASIS ON AREAS OF WEAKNESS
INABILITY TO PRIORITIZE

3. BENEFITS OF AUDIO FEEDBACK
STUDENT
EASIER TO UNDERSTAND
MORE DEPTH
RICHER FORM OF FEEDBACK
NUANCED FEEDBACK
TONE OF VOICE
MORE GENUINE, ACCESSIBLE, PERSONAL
(KING, MCGUGAN, BUNYAN, 2008;
BETTER WORK, BETTER MARKS ICE, CURTIS, PHILLIPS, WELLS, 2007;
MERRY AND ORSMOND, 2008)

4. BENEFITS OF AUDIO FEEDBACK
TUTOR
MORE DEPTH
FLEXIBILITY
TIME SAVINGS LONG-TERM
GIVING FEEDBACK
HIGHER QUALITY WORK
(KING, MCGUGAN, BUNYAN, 2008;
ICE, CURTIS, PHILLIPS, WELLS, 2007;
MERRY AND ORSMOND, 2008)

5. DIFFERENT TYPES OF STUDENTS
DIFFERENT TYPES OF TUTORS

6. RESEARCH QUESTIONS
HOW DO DIFFERENT STUDENTS RESPOND TO AUDIO
FEEDBACK?
HOW DO DIFFERENT METHODS OF AUDIO FEEDBACK
COMPARE?

7. RESEARCH QUESTIONS
HOW DO DIFFERENT STUDENTS RESPOND TO AUDIO
FEEDBACK?
LOW-PERFORMING STUDENTS DO NOT TAKE
FEEDBACK ON BOARD LIKE HIGH-PERFORMING
STUDENTS(VAN DER ZEE, 2009)
LISTENING AND READING SKILLS DEVELOP
DIFFERENTLY WHEN LEARNING IN A NON-NATIVE
LANGUAGE (HERRON, MORRIS, SECULES, & CURTIS,
1995)

8. RESEARCH QUESTIONS
HOW DO DIFFERENT METHODS OF AUDIO FEEDBACK
COMPARE?
IMPLEMENTATION, EFFECTIVENESS, AND PREFERENCE
TUTORS AND STUDENTS
ACROSS ASSESSMENT TYPES

9. THREE METHODS

10. AUDIO ONLY
TUTOR: RECORDS ON
DIGITAL RECORDER
STUDENT: RECEIVES
MP3 FILE

11. AUDIO-VISUAL ASYNCHRONOUS
TUTOR: RECORDS VIA
HEADSET AND ADOBE
ACROBAT 9.0
STUDENT: RECEIVES
PDF FILE

12. AUDIO-VISUAL SYNCHRONOUS
TUTOR: RECORDS VIA
HEADSET AND SCREENCAST
STUDENT: RECEIVES LINK
TO WEBSITE
HTTP://SCREENCAST.COM/T/PBQZFECJ744

13. STUDY METHODOLOGY
5 ACADEMIC STAFF MEMBERS
33 PSYCHOLOGY HONOURS STUDENTS
“HIGH-PERFORMING” AND “LOW-PERFORMING”
11 NON-NATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKERS
14 ASSESSMENTS

14. EVALUATION
QUESTIONNAIRES
STUDENT PERFORMANCE
INTERVIEWS
FOCUS GROUPS

15. RESULTS

16. TIME PER METHOD
Percent Listened Average Minutes Recorded
100% 12
75% 9
50% 6
25% 3
0% 0
Audio Only A-V Asynchronous A-V Synchronous

17. % LISTENED TO FEEDBACK
High Performing Students Low Performing Students
100%
100% 96%
94%
75%
50% 60%
48%
25% 35%
0%
Audio Only A-V Asynchronous A-V Synchronous

18. AUDIO ONLY
STUDENT PERSPECTIVE
VERY USEFUL, LEAST CHALLENGING, LISTENED IN A
VARIETY OF SETTINGS
PREFERENCE: 2ND AMONG LO STUDENTS, 3RD AMONG
HI STUDENTS
“IT IS ALL IN ONE GO RATHER THAN HAVING TO CLICK
ON SOUND BITES INDIVIDUALLY”

19. AUDIO ONLY
TUTOR PERSPECTIVE
VERY EASY TO USE, PORTABLE
GAVE BROADER, LESS SPECIFIC FEEDBACK
LEAST PREFERRED METHOD
“IT WAS VERY STRAIGHTFORWARD”
BEST FOR POSTERS, NON-ELECTRONIC WORK

20. AUDIO-VISUAL ASYNCHRONOUS
STUDENT PERSPECTIVE
VERY USEFUL, SPECIFIC AND DETAILED, SELF-PACED,
NO WAY TO STOP MID-COMMENT, MANY CLICKS,
SOMETIMES INCONSISTENT
PREFERENCE: 1ST AMONG LO STUDENTS, 2ND AMONG
HI STUDENTS
“IT PINPOINTS EXACTLY WHERE THEY’RE SPEAKING
ABOUT AND IT ALSO OFFERS THE MARKER AN
OPPORTUNITY TO BE MORE ELABORATE, EXPRESS
THEMSELVES BETTER”

21. AUDIO-VISUAL ASYNCHRONOUS
TUTOR PERSPECTIVE
CLEAR, SIMPLE, STRAIGHTFORWARD, EXPANSIVE
TEDIOUS, SPENDING MORE TIME
HALF THE TUTORS PREFER THIS METHOD MOST
“I LIKED IT, BUT I TOOK WAY TOO LONG”
BEST FOR REPORTS, PROPOSALS

22. AUDIO-VISUAL SYNCHRONOUS
STUDENT PERSPECTIVE
FELT LIKE SITTING WITH THE TUTOR, GOOD FOR
FORMULATING ARGUMENTS, MUST HAVE GOOD
INTERNET CONNECTION, COULD NOT SAVE THE FILE
PREFERENCE: 3RD AMONG LO STUDENTS, 1ST AMONG
HI STUDENTS
“I CAN SEE THE LECTURERS’ THOUGHT PROCESS”

23. AUDIO-VISUAL SYNCHRONOUS
TUTOR PERSPECTIVE
CANNOT WAFFLE, FOCUS ON IMPORTANT POINTS
PINPOINT SPECIFICS, RE-RECORD SOMETIMES
HALF THE TUTORS PREFER THIS METHOD MOST
“IT IS MORE LIKE A (ONE-SIDED) CONVERSATION”
BEST FOR ESSAYS, FORMAL PRESENTATIONS

24. STUDENT TYPES
NO DIFFERENCES BETWEEN NATIVE AND NON-NATIVE
ENGLISH SPEAKERS
Overall High Performing Low Performing
A-V Synchronous
A-V Asynchronous
Audio Only
SOME ABOUT SOME
MUCH SLIGHTLY SLIGHTLY MUCH
WHAT THE WHAT
LESS LESS MORE MORE
LESS SAME MORE

25. OVERALL THEMES
TUTORS ENJOYED GIVING FEEDBACK THROUGH AUDIO
MEANS BUT SOME ARE PUT OFF BY TECHNOLOGY
END OF YEAR EVALUATIONS WERE HIGH FOR FEEDBACK
LANGUAGE COMPETENCE MAY BE A FACTOR IN 1ST YEAR
DIFFERENCES IN HIGH AND LOW PERFORMING STUDENTS

26. OVERALL THEMES
MARKS INCREASED MOST WITH A-V ASYNCHRONOUS
MATCH METHOD TO ASSESSMENT TYPE
AUDIO ONLY: POSTER, NON-ELECTRONIC WORK
A-V ASYNCHRONOUS: REPORTS, PROPOSALS
A-V SYNCHRONOUS: ESSAYS, FORMAL PRESENTATIONS

27. FOR MORE INFORMATION
ABOUT THIS PROJECT:
HTTP://SITES.GOOGLE.COM/SITE/AUDIOFEEDBACKUK/