LEARNING OUT LOUD
Michelle Pacansky-‐Brock TeachingWithoutWalls.com
How does it impact the online st=dent lear>ing ex@erience?
@brocansky CC-BY Gustavo Devito
Sept 2014 (update)
Context• A fully online class at a community college in California.
• General education course (History of Still Photography)
• Most activities give students the choice to comment in text, voice, or video.
• First activity (ice breaker) requires students to use voice or video.
• Tool used: VoiceThread (with sitewide license/LTI Integration)
• Survey conducted each semester in the same class for four consecutive terms.
Week 4 Survey (after 3 VTs, 1 req’d voice/video commenting).
very nervous not nervousSp 14 Fa 13 Sp 13 Fa 12n=87
How nervous were you when you left your first voice/video comment?
34%
24% 26%
12%
2%
Now when you comment in voice/video, how nervous are you?
Week 4 Survey (after 3 VTs, 1 req’d voice/video commenting).
very nervous not nervous
Sp 14 Fa 13 Sp 13 Fa 12n=87
8%4%
30% 30% 28%
When given a choice, which commenting format do you prefer?
Text Voice Video
Week 4 Survey (after 3 VTs, 1 req’d voice/video commenting).
Sp 14 Fa 13 Sp 13 Fa 12n=87
34%
61%
5%
CC-BY-NC-SA By Coofdy
a social-‐emotional speed bump?
So far, I think VoiceThread has added value to my online learning experience.
Agree Neutral Disagree
Week 4 Survey (after 3 VTs, 1 req’d voice/video commenting).
Sp 14 Fa 13 Sp 13 Fa 12n=90
68%
24%
4%
Commenting in VoiceThread is:
5
Sp 14 Fa 13 Sp 13 Fa 12
Week 4 Survey (after 3 VTs, 1 req’d voice/video commenting).
easy difficultn=90
End of Semester Survey
•work in progress•1 class surveyed each term for 4 consecutive terms•anonymous
Age
18-24 25-32 33-40 41-50 51-60
n=59 Sp 14 Fa 13 Fa 12Sp 13
47%
25%
12% 14%
2%
Was this your first experience using VoiceThread?
Yes No
n=59
98%
2%
Sp 14 Fa 13 Fa 12Sp 13
91%The voice activities contributed to making me feel like I was part of a group.
Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree
n=59 Sp 14 Fa 13 Fa 12Sp 13
62%
29%
7%2%
Throughout the course I noticed an improvement in my ability to speak more clearly in the voice/video comments.
Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree
n=59 Sp 14 Fa 13 Fa 12Sp 13
54%
34%
10%2%
89%
The ability to communicate effectively with online voice/video communications is an important 21st century skill.
Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree
n=59 Sp 14 Fa 13 Fa 12Sp 13
68%
25%
7%
93%
This class increased my confidence with using online !voice/video technologies.
Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree
n=59 Sp 14 Fa 13 Fa 12Sp 13
59%
37%
4%
96%
If you have completed an online class before this one, was this the first time you have been required to participate in voice?
Yes No
n=39 Sp 14 Fa 13 Fa 12Sp 13
85%
15%
85%
Being able to listen to my peers (vs. reading all their comments) improved my ability to reach the learning objectives in this course.
Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree
n=59 Sp 14 Fa 13 Fa 12Sp 13
69.4%
25.4%
5%
95%
When I left voice comments I remembered more of the information compared to when I left text comments.
Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree
n= 59 Sp 14 Fa 13 Sp 13Sp 14 Fa 13 Fa 12Sp 13
63%
26%
8% 3%
89%
More online classes should use voice discussions.
Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree
n= 46 Sp 14 Fa 13 Sp 13Sp 14 Fa 13 Sp 13
48%
33%
17%
2%
This data was not collected in
Fa 12.
91%
CC-BY-NC-SA Zanthia
Were there any benefits to being able to hear your peers’ comments?
“Yes, I feel like we got to know each other better. I actually recognized a classmate at my
children's Taekwondo class because of the sound of her voice!”
CC-BY-NC-SA Zanthia
Were there any benefits to being able to hear your peers’ comments?
“…Listening gave me a better understanding of the material. In the showcase assignments, you could actually hear the passionin the speaker’
voices for their photographer.”
CC-BY-NC-SA Zanthia
Were there any benefits to being able to hear your peers’ comments?
“Yes, it feels more personal and intimate which I think helps you retain
what you are learning.”
(cont'd)
CC-BY-NC-SA Zanthia
Were there any benefits to being able to hear your peers’ comments?
“I enjoyed it more.”
(cont'd)
CC-BY-NC-SA Zanthia
“I think speaking…engaged me more…It is easy for online students to feel a disconnect… Having to … speak and …directly engage a fellow student through voice makes you feel a part of
an actual class.”
How did speaking (vs. writing all your assignments) affect your learning?
CC-BY JD Hancock
“…having to say the words helped me understand what I was talking about better
than if I had just been writing it down.”
How did speaking (vs. writing all your assignments) affect your learning?
CC-BY JD Hancock
“I found ... that I would ... unearth more thoughts and opinions as I spoke them out loud while
looking at the content, as opposed to looking at the content, forming an opinion, then looking at
my text as I wrote it.”
CC-BY JD Hancock
“…it made me re-evaluate my answers. Mostly because I didn't want to sound like I had no idea
what I was talking about. Plus when you write something down there is not much emotion to it
and being able to speak out loud my ideas made me feel like I could connect and explain the
material better.”
Were there any benefits to being able to hear your peers’ comments?
CC-BY JD Hancock
How did speaking (vs. writing all your assignments) affect your learning?
“I felt the need to more fully research the material before leaving comments. I wanted
to sound proficient when discussing questions in voice comments.”
CC-BY JD Hancock
“I felt more motivated to produce a better quality assignment.”
How did speaking (vs. writing all your assignments) affect your learning?
CC-BY JD Hancock
“I was able to remember more information because when I read something I often get distracted and it’s harder for me to retain
information.”
How did speaking (vs. writing all your assignments) affect your learning?
CC-BY JD Hancock
“It made me more conscious of what I was saying, which helped me understand it more.”
How did speaking (vs. writing all your assignments) affect your learning?
“I did not like the voicethread activities. I don't feel that it added to my learning experience since it is not a speech or public speaking class.”
CC-BY kodomut.com
What drawbacks were there to being required to speak?
“None really, other than me tripping over my tongue and having to re-
record a lot. But that gets better as you get more comfortable with it.”
CC-BY kodomut.com
Were there any drawbacks to being required to speak?
“For me, working them around my noisy (and consistently busy) family and house. I
also had to buy a microphone for my comments, but acquiring materials is just a
part of school.”
CC-BY kodomut.com
Were there any drawbacks to being required to speak?
CC-BY Gustavo Devito
Were there any drawbacks to being required to speak?
“At first, I was nervous ...but ... I found [VoiceThread to] be most useful. It was fun and made the class more interactive. In my opinion, the online class
would be a bit boring without VoiceThread.”
Photo by JasonSamfield CC-BY-NC-SA
• Make students nervous (78%). • Reduce anxiety in students in just 3 weeks (from 78% to 12%). • Voice discussions improve the sense of being part of a group (91%). • Are preferred over text comments (66%). • Contribute to a perceived improvement in students’ communication skills (89%). • Increases retention of information (89%). • Improves students’ ability to reach learning objectives (95%). • Using voice discussions supports diverse learning needs. • Most online students (85%) do not speak in their classes. • Most online students (81%) want voice discussions to be used in more classes. !
FindingsAsynchronous voice discussions in an online community college class:
Pacansky-Brock, 2014. Most data collected in one class each semester for four semesters (Fall 2012-Sp 2014). n=59
Implications• Additional accessibility support would be required for captioning of
content when a text accommodation to voice content is necessary in a class.!
• LTI Integration of VoiceThread requires a department or site license (auto-embedding, grade from the gradebook, student accounts can be auto-generated).
CC-BY-NC-SA By DigiD