Considering the Smartphone Learner: developing innovation to investigate the opportunities for students and their interest

Ownership of mobile smartphones amongst the general consumer, professionals and students is growing exponentially. The potential for smartphones in education builds upon experience described in the extensive literature on mobile learning from the previous decade which suggests that the ubiquity, multi-functionality and connectivity of mobile devices offers a new and potentially powerful networked learning environment. This paper reports on a collaborative study conducted by an undergraduate student with the support of two members of academic staff. The research sought to establish the extent to which students are autonomously harnessing smartphone technology to support their learning and the nature of this use. Initial findings were explored through student interviews. The study found that students who own smartphones are largely unaware of their potential to support learning and, in general, do not install smartphone applications for that purpose. They are, however, interested in and open to the potential as they become familiar with the possibilities for a range of purposes. The paper proposes that more consideration needs to be given to smartphones as platforms to support formal, informal and autonomous learner engagement. The study also reflects on its collaborative methodology and the challenges associated with academic innovation

Audio feedback for the iPod generation

On campus it is a common site to see the student population plugged into their life support machines: the iPod and the phone. From newspapers to radio, the media are recognising need to embrace the iPod generation to deliver content, and as Rupert Murdoch has highlighted, newspapers are in risk of losing out to the digital world. Should ink and paper continue to be the media of choice for our students? What can we do with audio? Is audio feedback the future to support the learning of the iPod generation? This paper compares the summative assessment2 results for a cohort using recorded audio feedback in formative and summative assignments to that of a cohort who received formative and summative feedback in an aural and/or succinctly, written form. The paper presents students’ reflections on the use of audio formative and summative assessment feedback for a module and considers whether this type of feedback had a pivotal role in the assessment process and a significant impact on their academic performance. The paper proposes a strategy for the integration of digital audio into assessment feedback to promote feed-forward student learning

Employability Feedback for Engineering Students

A mock placement application process was devised for engineering and computing students incorporating various feedback techniques towards preparing students for success in being selected for placement interview. The simulated application process was intended to be a highly formative experience for students; one that would allow them to reflect upon and develop their individual approaches to writing placement applications in a safe and supportive situation before making real applications. The paper describes how students responded to the mock application process, which was supported by various modes of feedback, and how this has impacted on them personally with respect to their confidence and ability in making applications for placement. Research findings, based upon data from two questionnaires and student focus groups, were positive. The simulation improved student confidence. Peer review of the mock applications was more beneficial to the reviewers than those receiving the feedback. However, students valued the audio and written feedback they received from tutors, noting the formative impact of this in writing successful applications

Smartphone feedback : using an iPhone to improve the distribution of audio feedback

The advent of accessible digital recording devices has made the production of audio feedback on students’ work more viable, Ref. 1. Previous research into audio feedback has concentrated on using PC recording software such as Audacity and mobile MP3 recording devices. However, effective use of these methods can be undermined by unsuitable technical infrastructure and the demand for special ICT skills, especially when distributing the finished feedback to students. Smartphones, on the other hand, combine the flexibility of MP3 recorders and the connectivity of a PC in a discrete handheld device, thereby suggesting their application as a user friendly tool for giving recorded audio feedback efficiently. This paper describes a smartphone feedback methodology and presents findings from research on its use with 130 Level 5 Engineering and Computing students. The study found that the smartphone was more suitable than other technologies to the various demands of feedback production and distribution, and that this helped the tutor to manage the exceptionally stressful time associated with marking and giving feedback on top of an ongoing teaching load. Its pedagogic integration also resulted in a good dialogical experience as evidenced through student testimony

Student audio notes evolution

The Student Audio Notes Project at Sheffield Hallam University encouraged students to act autonomously by using audio recorders to capture conversations relating to their learning. This approach was conducted in order to address the transient nature of significant conversations (Waterfield 2006). Digital audio is an accessible media that enables the learner to identify and record otherwise ephemeral experiences, so that they can re-engage later when they are ready to reflect and act upon the learning (Nortcliffe and Middleton 2009). Student audio notes, whilst having a similar potential to written notes in aiding recall (Intons Peterson and Fournier 1986), may be better suited to many situations. This paper highlights the evolutionary development of techniques used by students during the project. 52 students were given MP3 recorders to capture experiences that they identified as being useful, whether these were from the formal, semi-formal or informal curriculum (Middleton and Nortcliffe 2009). Many began by recording their lectures, broadening out to capture significant conversations of a formal nature including peer feedback and project supervision (Rossiter et al. 2009). Later less formal conversations and personal ideas were gathered. The paper discusses the approaches adopted by students, drawing upon an analysis of interviews and surveys. The audio methods will be reviewed according to their capacity to enhance learner autonomy. In conclusion, the paper highlights the evolutionary nature of finding technology-supported learner autonomy as the students became more attuned to the opportunities around them, and raises further questions for institutions seeking to encourage wider student participation in becoming responsible producers of audio learning notes. References Intons-Peterson, M. J. and Fournier, J. (1986) External and internal memory aids: when and how often do we use them? Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 115(3), 267-280 Middleton, A. and Nortcliffe, A. (2009) Audio, autonomy and authenticity: constructive comments and conversations captured by the learner. Proceedings of ALT-C 2009 "In dreams begins responsibility" - choice, evidence, and change, Manchester, UK, 8-10 September 2009. Nortcliffe, A. L. and Middleton, A. (2009a) ‘Understanding effective models of audio feedback’ in Rajarshi Roy (ed.) Engineering education perspectives, issues and concerns. Shipra Publications, India Rossiter, J.A., Nortcliffe, A., Griffin, A. and Middleton, A., (2009) Using student generated audio to enhance learning, Engineering Education: Journal of the Higher Education Academy Engineering Subject Centre 4(2) Waterfield, J., West, B., Parker, M. (2006) Supporting Inclusive Practice. In M. Adams and S. Brown (eds) Towards Inclusive Learning in higher education: Developing curricula for disabled students, London: Routledge, 79-9

Student Audio Notes Project: lessons from autonomous use of MP3 recorders by students to enhance their learning

Ongoing  and  successful  development  work  around  the  design  and  delivery  of  audio feedback  and  audio  lecture  note‐making  at  Sheffield  Hallam  University,  together  with  an awareness  of  how  digital  audio  might  be  used  to  empower  disabled  students,  led  to  the proposal  for  the  Student  Audio  Notes  project.  The  idea  of  digital  audio‐enhanced  learner autonomy  had  emerged  from  earlier  work  by  the  authors  which  had  suggested that feedback could be more meaningful if  the learner  takes  responsibility  for gathering it and  feeding it  forward into  their studies and indeed, later, into their employment. This learner  responsibility provided an important  focus  for The Student Audio Notes Project (SANP): a  year‐long investigation into how students might use MP3 recording devices to enrich their  own  experiences  of  learning.  SANP  gave  out  MP3  recorders  to  participating  students  and  aimed to encourage and challenge these students to explore how the devices could be used so  that good  practice might emerge and  be  shared.  It was hoped  that  they would identify  and  record  any encounters  involving  verbalised  communication  that  they  felt  helpful  in  deepening and reflecting upon their learning.  In this way the act of audio recording would  ideally become an essential, ever‐present, autonomous learning habit for them.   A  strand  of  this  investigation  sought  to  find  out,  in  particular,  whether  the  recording  of  digital audio by disabled students could bring benefits to disabled learners. As the study by  Healey  et  al.  (2006)  showed,  51%  of  disabled  students  (n=276)  responded  well  to  tutor  support aimed at improving the standard of their academic work, as opposed to the 43% of non‐disabled students (n=272).  It was expected, therefore, that student’s use of audio note‐making  would  result  in  similar  beneficial  impacts.  When  note‐making  systems  are  used effectively,  as  previous  research  by  Intons‐Peterson  and  Fournier  (1986)  has  also  shown, note‐making can increase memory encoding in  the learner and so enhance  their ability  to  recall the information later. Therefore, it was hoped that SANP would show how audio note‐making could be effective in empowering students with disabilities. Findings  from  SANP  demonstrate  that  all  participating  students  discovered  benefits  from  using  recording  devices  and  that  they  found it  useful  to  capture  a  range  of formal,  semi‐ formal  and  informal  situations.  These  findings  raise  questions  for  further  research  and  support  and  some  recommendations  are  made  to  ensure  such  activity  is  properly undertaken and supported

The Innovative Use of Personal Smart Devices by Students to Support their Learning

Research into the autonomous use of MP3 audio recorders by students in UK Higher Education demonstrated that students were innovative in their autonomous use of the devices. They used them to capture learning conversations from formal and informal situations to personalise and enhance their learning. However, today smartphones and other smart devices have replaced the necessity for students to carry multiply mobile devices including MP3 recorders. This chapter builds upon the earlier work and presents a small qualitative study into how students are autonomously using their smart devices to support their learning. The research explores the hypothesis that students are being innovative in the ways in which they are use their smart devices to support their formal and informal learning. The study involved five students who own smart devices who were invited to discuss their ownership of smartphone and tablet technologies and the ways they used them in their studies. The students first completed a short questionnaire and were then interviewed in small groups. The results agree with previous research into the student use of smart devices and describe autonomous engagement facilitated by personally owned smart technologies. The study identifies continuous patterns of pervasive engagement by students and concludes that more thought should be given to disruptive innovation, digital literacy and employability

Audio, autonomy and authenticity: constructive comments and conversations captured by the learner

This poster describes a university-wide project designed to develop learner autonomy. The Student Audio Notes Project (SANP) involved students recording personal audio notes and conversations at their discretion. It built upon work that considered approaches to the design of audio feedback (Nortcliffe and Middleton, 2008). Usually the tutor controls the process of recording and distributing audio feedback; however, in one successful approach involving the recording of lab or studio-based feedback conversations, it was noted that a transfer of responsibility from the student to the tutor had unnecessarily occurred due to the ownership of the technology. SANP set out to discover if and how students would use devices if they were in control and to what extent 'rich, relevant and real world contexts' (Herrington and Herrington 2006) would be evident in the notes.ApproachSANP gave away discrete, large capacity MP3 recorders to 60 students from across the faculties who joined the project following an open call for participation. Participants attended a drop-in induction session where they heard the ideas of other participants and recorded their own statements of interest. These initial participant recordings were used to seed a project podcast from the VLE, which also hosted guidance materials. Students were asked to keep a record of how they used the devices. Other data were collected through surveys and focus groups.Results from the year-long project will be included in the poster. They will reveal how the student expectations for the use of MP3 recorders compared to their actual use. Participants were encouraged to think creatively about their use of the recorders. For example, during project induction many explained that their interest came from a need to record lectures due to difficulties with note-taking. The project hopes to find out if participants recorded lectures, did they listen back? Did they attempt to summarise lectures? Did they involve other people? Did they share their recordings? The poster will report on these and other ideas proposed in the project materials, which included recording summaries of sessions with peers, recording group work decisions, and peer reflective reviews following assessment. Herrington, A. and J. Herrington. 2006. Authentic learning environments in higher education. Hershey, PA; London : Information Science Pub Nortcliffe, Anne and Andrew Middleton. 2008. A three year case study of using audio to blend the engineer's learning environment. Engineering Education, Journal of the Higher Education Academy Engineering Subject Centre, Vol. 3 Issue 2

iGather: Learners as responsible audio collector of tutor, peer and self reflection

Feedback is frequently described as something that is done for the learner: feedback is 'given'. This paper describes how audio feedback can be designed as a device that facilitates personal and autonomous knowledge construction. The Student Audio Notes Project at Sheffield Hallam University encouraged students to use MP3 recorders to gather the comments, explanations and ideas of tutors and peers, and to also use audio as a channel for personal reflection. Students became responsible and active 'owners' of their audio data, and so were more likely to use it to feed forward, or affect, their learning. This paper draws upon student testimony from a year long project and reports on how the 52 student participants used their MP3 recorders to gather useful formal, informal and semi-formal voices. What did they decide would be useful? How did they work with the recordings? And could they have been guided further in iteratively reviewing their recordings? Those attending this short paper will be asked to help identify ideas for, and the implications of, encouraging the wider use of student collated audio feedback

Learners take control: audio notes for promoting learner autonomy

Learners take control —audio notes for promoting learner autonomy describes why and how learners, acting autonomously, have used MP3 recorders and mobile phone voice memo technology to make audio notes