Abstract:

The chief purpose of this project is to assess the effectiveness of audio/video feedback, as it compares to traditional (written) responses to student papers and assignments. Audio and video feedback options are available in Canvas, a web-based learning management system, as a grading tool at my university. It is important to assess whether the goals of writing assessment can be better achieved through alternative modes of feedback. Given the increasing prevalence of technology across all educational settings, this has implications for the future of pedagogy and grading assessment. There is no known prior research that investigates the effectiveness of audio/video feedback in comparison to written grading feedback. However, the importance of this study is clear. According to Carless (2006), students learn more quickly and efficiently when they have a true sense of how well their writing is and what improvements are needed. Moreover, students are often dissatisfied with the lack of details in the comments (Higgins 2001, Stern and Solomon 2006), the quality of the feedback, and the types of grading feedback they receive (e.g. correcting writing errors as opposed to content; Holmes and Smith 2003). This project will explore these facets. Participants in this study consists of college students who have received audio/feedback to an assignment or paper in at least one of my courses from Fall 2014 through Spring 2016 (N=45). The sample was limited to my current and former students because no other known professors at my institution provide audio or video feedback to students. Students who did not view their video feedback responses were asked to not participate. An original 15-item questionnaire was developed using Survey Monkey that asks students about their background (e.g. academic classification, GPA, etc.) as well as their preferences for grading feedback. Questions on the effectiveness of audio/video feedback as it compares to traditional (written) feedback were explored. The results indicate that video feedback is a plausible and preferred alternative to written feedback on papers and assignments. Students revealed that although it is relatively uncommon, video feedback delivery tends to be more detailed than traditional feedback (as preferred by students in the sample), and the majority of the sample found video feedback to be either somewhat or very effective in improving writing. The implications of this research are that more professors may elect to provide this form of feedback, which may have a positive impact on student learning outcomes and may improve writing effectiveness for students.

Keywords:

Grading Assessments, Video Feedback, Instructional Strategies.