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