Delivering student feedback in higher education: the role of podcasting

Student numbers across the higher education sector have risen over recent years and the challenge of creating and delivering an effective learning experience grows evermore complex for the educator: It is necessary to provide prompt feedback to students on their current progress and personal areas for development, which is paramount for improving the quality of their future assessed work and also impacts significantly on individual motivation. Podcasting offers a timely and expedient delivery method for a wide range of teaching resources especially when combined with iconic and ubiquitous mp3 devices such as Apple's iPod. The culture of learning and its integration into students' daily lives is changing, and higher education institutions in the United States and Europe have been quick to embrace the potential of this technology, although much of the current research focus is on the delivery and reinforcement of curriculum material. This paper reports on a qualitative study within a music department, using semi-structured interviews and questionnaires to evaluate whether student feedback can also be delivered using audio-based podcasts, and whether this has a significant impact on how students respond to and use the information received. The findings conclude that delivering audio feedback produces a high-quality, personalized and appropriately detailed tutor response that students feel has significantly greater value for learning than more traditional written comments.