Doing it the Wimba way - an initial evaluation of a voice tool for learning

Abstract

The internationalisation of the higher education sector presents many challenges for both learners and educators. One challenge is the provision of effective feedback on the assessment of written tasks. Such feedback forms part of the assessment process of the Introductory Academic Program (IAP), a five week pre-semester program to induct international postgraduate AusAID students at the University of Adelaide, into a western-style academic culture. During the most recent IAP students were required to complete several written tasks, one of which was an extended piece of academic writing. This task presented the opportunity to trial a new technology that might provide another dimension to the written feedback. Students were therefore given written feedback and an individualised podcast from the assessor, via the Wimba1 voicetool. This enabled the students to be better informed about their writing from discussions with peers and also in formal meetings with academic staff. This paper will focus on the information obtained from survey data and staff observations about the usefulness of the Wimba Voice tool in a multicultural teaching environment.