'Take away from the dry sixties style marking': lecturer and student perceptions and experiences of audio feedback

Providing audio feedback to assessment is relatively uncommon in higher education. However, published research suggests that it is preferred over written feedback by students but lecturers are less convinced. The aim of this paper is to examine further these findings in the context of a third year business ethics unit. Data was collected from two sources. The first is a series of in-depth, semi-structured interviews conducted with three lecturers providing audio feedback for the first time in Semester One 2011. The second source of data was drawn from the university student evaluation system. A total of 363 responses were used providing ‗before and ‗after perspectives about the effectiveness of audio feedback versus written feedback. Between 2005 and 2009 the survey data provided information about student attitudes to written assessment feedback (n=261). From 2010 onwards the data relates to audio (mp3) feedback (n=102). The analysis of the interview data indicated that introducing audio feedback should be done with care. The perception of the participating lecturers was mixed, ranging from scepticism to outright enthusiasm, but over time the overall approach became positive. It was found that particular attention needs to be paid to small (but important) technical details, and lecturers need to be convinced of its effectiveness, especially that it is not necessarily more time consuming than providing written feedback. For students, the analysis revealed a clear preference for audio feedback. It is concluded that there is cause for concern and reason for optimism. It is a cause for concern because there is a possibility that scepticism on the part of academic staff seems to be based on assumptions about what students prefer and a concern about using the technology. There is reason for optimism because the evidence points towards students preferring audio feedback and as academic staff become more familiar with the technology the scepticism tends to evaporate. Whi

Measuring cognition levels in collaborative processes for software engineering code inspections

This paper demonstrates that different software code inspection techniques have the potential to improve developer understanding of code being inspected to varying extents. This suggests that some code inspection techniques may be superior to others with respect to improving the efficacy of future inspections, harnessing collective wisdom, and extending team knowledge and networked intelligence. In particular, this paper reports results from a study of novice developers' cognitive development during a software inspection training exercise. We found that developers who performed a code inspection prior to modification tended to operate at higher cognitive levels beginning very early in the modification exercise. Those who had not performed an inspection tended to operate at lower cognitive levels for longer periods of time. Results highlight the importance of code inspections in increasing developers' understanding of a software system. We believe collaboration between academia and industry in studies such as these would benefit the three major stakeholders: academia, industry and graduates

Developing a national approach to eportfolios in engineering and ICT

The small scale study, informed by literature into eportfolio best practice, surveyed universities on their use of eportfolios in Engineering and ICT. Questions focused on choice of platforms, scale of use (i.e. whole of program versus single unit use) and the standards or outcomes against which the portfolios were framed. Ten universities responded. Responses were analysed, using NVivo, and were clustered into thematic categories. The initial study determined that eportfolio use ranged from student initiated, individual unit use to whole of program embedded use with some eportfolios having a specific work integrated learning focus. The most developed process and support seemed to be at one university which had developed a whole of program/course approach where the intention was to develop and maintain the eportfolio across all units and explicitly teach students the skills of critical reflection throughout - though the specific implementation was still relatively new. It is believed that this approach is likely to be the most sustainable. Where eportfolio use was restricted to a single unit, there was a heavy reliance on individual academics for its implementation and success. Platforms, resources used to support portfolio development including critical reflection, the domains or outcomes against which student artefacts were mapped, and the ways in which portfolios were assessed all varied across institutions. Mapping occurred across a variety of domains and whilst many respondents mentioned Engineers Australia's Stage 1 Competency Standards, some were only indirect inasmuch as subject or course outcomes were linked to these competencies. Similarly, there was little or no consistency in terms of assessment with no clear sense of how best or when to do this

Electronic portfolios and learner identity: an ePortfolio case study in music and writing

Although the employability of graduates is of concern across further and higher education it is particularly problematic in the arts disciplines, from which few students transition to a traditional, full-time position. Arts graduates shape their work to meet personal and professional needs, and the successful negotiation of this type of career requires a strong sense of identity and an awareness of diverse opportunities. The challenge for educators is how we might develop these capacities whilst being mindful of students' dreams, which are often focused on artistic excellence and recognition. This paper reports findings from a collaborative study undertaken at four Australian universities. With a focus on developing an electronic portfolio (eP), the study involved students in classical and contemporary music, music education, music technology, creative writing and professional writing. The combination of music and writing provided points of comparison to identify issues specific to music, and those that might apply more generally. This paper reports findings related to learner identity, drawing evidence from survey and interview data. The study, which was driven by the learning process rather than the technological tool, revealed that students' use of eP transitions from archive to self-portrait. Moreover, the eP emerged as a vehicle through which identity is negotiated and constructed. Indeed, the process of developing of an eP prompted students to adopt future-oriented thinking as they began to redefine their learning in relation to their future lives and careers. These findings were common to all students, regardless of discipline or technological platform. © 2014 © 2014 UCU