‘Imagine the following: I have a microphone on my desk, open the first student report and the standard Windows Sound Recorder to create an audio file. First I quickly go through the report to make some general remarks about the structure. Then I go through the report, page by page, and record immediate verbal feedback on everything I read, stating page numbers.’
Teaching Trick
Lecturer Stefan van de Geer (Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering) is keen on sharing his ‘teaching trick’ with his fellow lecturers at TU Delft during the 4TU.CEE ‘REFRAMING TEACHING’ tour with Kristina Edström and Jakob Kuttenkueler from the Swedish KTH.
In the Teaching Trick category "No Comments", Kristina and Jakob were impressed by very enticing input of Van de Geer. They even asked whether the example could be included in their presentation next time. Stefan proposed that instead of tedious grading of reports on paper and having an ineffective focus on minor details, teachers can record an audio file of their feedback.
Audio file
'I sometimes stop the recording to have a short reading session and then resume the oral feedback. Sometimes I drink my coffee, sometimes somebody knocks on my door, another time I tell the audio file I’m taking a break. Sometimes my feedback is relaxing, later I cry or shout, so to speak.’ After 45 minutes I’m finished and I’ve produced a 25 minutes audio file. I send the audio file to the student and that’s it.’
Saving time
Stefan doesn’t profess to coming up with the concept of audio feedback all by himself. It was first explained to him by Professor Alejandro Armellini of the University of Northampton at a gathering on innovation in learning in 2013. ‘It now takes me about 45 minutes times 15 students equals 11,25 hours per assignment. Half the time it would take me to give written feedback or discuss the grade while giving feedback in a face to face session.’
Impact
‘I experienced that students are very curious about what I have to say. They put in their ear plugs, at home, in the evening or while they have a break in our faculty. They find a certain time and a certain place where they can listen to the audio feedback. Sometimes students report they are shocked, sometimes they report that it was intense. They always claim the impact to be much better than face to face feedback. They understand the feedback exactly and are even grateful for it. Once or twice students sent me an audio file back with their own commentary which even had some music in the background!’
Stefan: ‘This audio feedback trick saves me almost 24 minutes per student, so 6 hours with 15 reports, all together. The quality of the audio feedback is much better! Students get my feedback faster, they are highly curious about the feedback and can listen to it multiple times. No need to plan face to face meetings which are ineffective since at short face to face meetings students are mainly interested in the grade.
Just do it!
Using teaching tricks like these might sound unorthodox and more or less require a different mindset of both teachers and students to refocus on learning. As a teacher, you hear a lot of new tricks and ideas at education seminars from other lecturers. Then you go to your own office and immediately your attention is drawn to daily routines and unanswered emails. You forget the innovative tricks, even though they sounded interesting to you. All I’m saying is: don’t just show some interest, actually do it, try it! For me audio feedback simply works.’
Interested in more teaching tricks and education techniques? The four universities of technology in the Netherlands just launched their 4TU.CEE Innovation Map. Select educational themes and take a look at projects your colleagues are working on.
Source: Educator (only available to TU Delft staff)