Student and Instructor Approaches and Preferences to Audio and Written Comments on Written Compositions in an Online Class
Abstract: This study was conducted on the use of both written commentary and audio commentary in nine sections of an online 100-level composition class. Audio and written feedback was given to first drafts of two different essays. Forty-nine students were surveyed and 10 students were interviewed on their experiences in receiving the feedback on global-, middle-, and micro-level issues in their papers. Five instructors also were surveyed and interviewed. The results showed that, for global- and middle-level items, students felt that they understood their instructors’ feedback more effectively when receiving audio comments than when receiving written comments. However, their impressions on the comprehensibility of audio and written comments at the micro level were mixed. In terms of time investment in providing feedback, instructors showed a preference for audio comments over written comments. Instructor commenting styles as well as the medium used influenced the time invested in providin
Presider: Oluwalani Adeleke, The University of Witwatersrand