Personalizing Feedback Using Voice Comments

While text-based feedback is normally used by college instructors to help students improve their written assignments, it is important to consider using voice comment tools for further personalization. New and easily-accessible technologies provide this option. Our study focused on surveying undergraduates who received voice comments on their written assignments. Students were queried on their preferences for feedback delivery and survey questions probed student responses both quantitatively and qualitatively. Two voice comment tools were used: Adobe Acrobat Reader and Kaizena voice comments. Results showed the majority (66.7%) of students surveyed preferred the addition of voice comment feedback over written comments alone. Appendices supply tool information, full data sets and extensive student commentary regarding their experience after receiving voice comments.