Using Asynchronous Audio Feedback in the Online Classroom

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Using Asynchronous Audio Feedback in the Online
Classroom
Presented by Drs. Jody Oomen-Early, Mary Bold,
and Nancy Anderson, Texas Womans University
Dr. Tara Gallien, Northwestern State University
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Background

• BACKGROUND
• One of the barriers facing online instructors is
  the difficulty of reaching the affective domain
• Another barrier Appealing to multiple learning
  styles beyond the visual

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How Can We Create More AFFECTIVE Online
Classrooms?
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Presentation Objectives

• Discuss the value and theoretical basis for using
  audio feedback
• Review the results of our cross-disciplinary
  study
• Demonstrate how you can (easily!) create audio
  feedback for your students using multiple
  strategies

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Theoretical Foundations

• Social Presence Theory (Short, Williams,
  Christie, 1976)
• The degree to which a person is considered a
  real person in mediated communication.
• Multiple Intelligences
• (Gardener, 1991)
• (There are many learning styles which include
  linguistic, musical, logical, spacial,kinesthetic,
  etc.)

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Research Questions

• Does use of asynchronous audio communication
  (AAC) in an online classroom affect the
  students perceived levels of instructor social
  presence?
• Do students view asynchronous audio feedback as
  an effective teaching strategy?
• Does AAC increase students perceived engagement
  in the online courseroom?
• Do student perceptions differ according to
  student classification (grad vs undergrad)?

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Previous Research

• Few empirical studies published
• Ice, Phillips, and Wells (2007)
• Found online learners prefer multimedia over
  text-only presentation of content
• Students felt less isolated and more motivated to
  participate
• Students felt they retained audio info better
  than text based feedback
• Students felt audio was more personal than text
  alone

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Previous Research, contd

• Students felt audio was more personal than text
  alone
• In final projects submitted, students used
  content for which audio feedback was received
  approximately 3 times more often than content for
  which text based messages were received
• Students were 5 to 6 times more likely to apply
  content for which audio feedback was received at
  the higher levels fo Blooms Taxonomy than
  content for which text based feedback was received

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Results from our cross-curricular study

• Reading
• Family Studies
• Health Studies

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Sample

• N 156 completed the survey
• (75 of the total sample of 210)
• 76 (48.7) Undergraduate
• 80 (51.3) Graduate
• Mean of online courses previously taken 2.5
• Mode 4

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Procedures

• Instructors recorded at least 5 collective
  feedback audio messages and 2 individual feedback
  audio messages for each student within a 15 week
  period.
• Instructors also posted written feedback as well
• At the end of the semester, students were asked
  to complete an online survey and leave
  qualitative feedback

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RESULTSFrequencies by Survey Item

• Q1 I find the audio communication that the
  instructor leaves in the courseroom helpful.( 1
  strongly disagree to 4 strongly agree)
• Overall Mean 3.37(moderately agree)
• 88.5 (n 138) moderately agreed or strongly
  agreed

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Results, contd.

• Q2. If given the choice, I prefer to receive
  audio communication rather than written
  communication from the instructor
• 52.6 (n 82) moderately or strongly disagreed
• 47.4 (n 74) moderately or strongly agreed
• (qualitative comments suggested that they would
  like to receive both)

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Results Contd.

• Q3. I believe that audio communication in the
  courseroom saves me time.
• 59 (n 92) strongly agreed to moderately agreed
• 41 (47) moderately to strongly disagreed

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Results Contd.

• Q4. I feel that the audio communication helps me
  understand the content better than without having
  it in the courseroom.
• 71.8 (n 112) strongly or moderately agreed
• 19.2 (n 30) moderately disagreed
• 9.0 (n 14) strongly disagreed
• Q3. I believe that audio communication in the
  courseroom saves me time.
• 59 (n 92) strongly agreed to moderately agreed
• 41 (47) moderately to strongly disagreed

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Results, Contd.

• Q5. I believe that the instructor's use of audio
  communication can help create a better
  instructor-student relationship in the
  courseroom.
• 82.4 (n 106) strongly or moderately agreed

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Results, Contd.

• Q6. I believe that the audio communication
  created by the instructor led me to be more
  engaged in the course content.
• 80.2 (n 125) strongly or moderately
  agreed!

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Results, contd.

• Q7. I would prefer for the instructor to use a
  blending of audio and text based communication in
  the courseroom.
• 84.6 (n 132) strongly or moderately
  agreed

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Overall Satisfaction with AAC

• Mean 3.05
• Conclusion AAC would be a helpful tool to use
  in the online courseroom, especially when blended
  with text based feedback.

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Do Perceptions Differ by Student Classification?

• Results from the independent samples T-tests
  between grads and undergrads on individual survey
  items showed that there were no significant
  differences between undergrads and grads in the
  way they perceived AAC in terms of its ease of
  use, ability to save time, ability to engage
  learners, its overall effectiveness as a teaching
  strategy (p gt.05)

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Students Qualitative Comments

• This is my first online course to receive audio
  feedback and I have found it very helpful, plus
  it creates a stronger connection to the course
  material and instructor.
• I think audio feedback allows for a richer
  dialogue than just written feedback.
• I think it gives a sense of the actual classroom
  atmosphere.

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Qualitative Comments, contd

• This them was more common among UG than Grads
• I don't have speakers so therefore I am not able
  to participate in this.
• This theme was found in both groups
• I enjoy both the text and the audio feedback.
  Both should be used together.

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Examples and Demonstrations

• Example of Mp3 audio feedback file created by
  ProMp3 recorder
• (Posted on Blackboard course shell)
• Example of Adobe 8 PDF doc with embedded audio
• Example of using Audacity to create Mp3 files

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More Qualitative Comments An Undergrad Sums It
Up!

• Here are my thoughts
• 1. It humanizes the instructor
• 2. It adds to the written feedback however,
  written feedback is also necessary so that it can
  be re-read, if necessary and notes made
• 3. Audio feedback speeds up the feedback
  process.

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Students Qualitative Comments, contd.

• Audio communication is a novel idea in online
  classes, and appears to be helpful. This form of
  communication should be explored further.

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Discussion

• Asynchronous Audio Communication does seem to
  increase perceived social presence of instructor
  and student engagement
• AAC combined with text-based feedback is most
  effective
• AAC may not save you time as an instructor (no
  significant time decrease), but is perceived by
  most students to be time saving.
• Rewards come by the feedback left by your
  students and the course interaction!

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There are a Variety of Tools for Creating Audio
Feedback

• Embedded Feedback
• (embedded audio)--Adobe Acrobat v. 8

• Mp3 recorders
• ProMp3 player (PC)
• Recorder 5 (MAC)
• Audacity
• Mp3 players
• Digital voice recorders

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Pro-Mp3 Player for PC(http//bestquicksoft.com
Recorder 5 from Xhead Software (for
Mac) http//www.xheadsoftware.com/recorder_xhead.a
sp?gclidCNjfyIX0kpICFRr7lgod1wqrig
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Audacity (PC or MAC)http//audacity.sourceforge.n
et/
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Feedback Examples

• Mp3 posted to the Blackboard courseroom
  (collective feedbackunder 5 minutes)
• Embedded audio messages in a PDF document using
  Adobe 8
• Adobe 8 Connect also allows people to review
  papers with desk top sharing, web conferencing,
  and audio messaging.

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References

• Gardener, H. (1991). Multiple Intelligences The
  Theory in Practice. New York Basic Books.
• Ice, P., Curtis, R., Wells, J., Phillips, P.
  (2007). Using asynchronous audio feedback to
  enhance teaching presence and student sense of
  community. Journal of Asynchronous Learning
  Networks, 11(2), 3-25
• Oomen-Early, J., Gallien, T. Using Asynchronous
  Audio Feedback in Online Health Education
  Courses A Pilot Study. Unpublished research
  article, Texas Womans University.