Audio marking in Moodle 19 March 2009

Audio marking in Moodle

Marking presentations which asked students to use any application from:

1. powerpoint
2. openoffice
3. animoto
4. sliderocket
5. google apps

Pupils asked to upload finished presentation to Moodle course/assignment. One file upload with notes.

Pupils that used sliderocket were to put the link into the notes section rather than upload a file. This proved difficult because I didn’t have time to show them the application at work so they didn’t know to publish it so I could view it (my mistake not theirs). But a couple got it right:

Decided to mark these using audacity to record my comments.

Sequence as follows:

First: Opening the Moodle assignment

1. Go to assignment in Moodle course
2. View submitted assignments
3. Click ‘Grade’ to the right hand side of the top assignment
4. This opens the grading window

Second: Accessing the presentations

1. Read the notes if pupil has submitted any
2. Click and open the file the pupil has uploaded or launch the URL from the notes
3. NB: both these can take a long time depending on bandwidth (internet speed) and file size

Third: Recording the audio marking

1. Turn audacity on and plug in headset
2. Start recording audio file and view presentation
3. Speak your comments being careful to keep to the point, not being afraid to pause whilst reading and giving clear indicators of which slide you’re viewing
4. Give a summary comment with targets at the end of the presentation

Fourth: Saving the audio with the presentation

1. Export audio as MP3 file (I save mine in a folder called delete which I know nothing precious is kept in)
2. In grading window browse for audio file in ‘Response file’ box
3. ‘Upload file’ button
4. Award a grade if applicable and I leave merits in the comment box
5. ‘Save and show next’ button

Benefits:

1. No need to carry paper.
2. All notes were available to pupils online.
3. Pupils enjoyed being able to choose which slideshow application to use. (powerpoint, sliderocket, and animoto were used; in that order)
4. Pupils reacted well to having audio feedback. Could be novelty factor but could equally be motivation.
5. Audio file to be stored with the work on moodle.
6. Can be quickly archived as a portfolio artifact.
7. Pupil more likely to pay attention to feedback when they hear it on audio file.

Drawbacks:

1. Downloading the presentation files to view could take a long time, certainly longer than looking at printed media.
2. Waiting for the online slideshows to buffer also took a long time. This would be quicker at home because we only have a 2Mb connection at school. Also depends on time of day as all internet performance does.
3. If you make a mistake recording the audio file, you have to start the whole thing again.
4. Pausing the audio whilst marking is possible but on a laptop it was a bit annoying, especially if the presentation was in show mode because the audacity window was behind it. Not such an issue for me at home because I run dual monitors and one of them is 24″ wide screen.
5. Some pupils had problems uploading files but this is because they could not remember their moodle passwords.