Student audio notes evolution

The Student Audio Notes Project at Sheffield Hallam University encouraged students to act autonomously by using audio recorders to capture conversations relating to their learning. This approach was conducted in order to address the transient nature of significant conversations (Waterfield 2006). Digital audio is an accessible media that enables the learner to identify and record otherwise ephemeral experiences, so that they can re-engage later when they are ready to reflect and act upon the learning (Nortcliffe and Middleton 2009). Student audio notes, whilst having a similar potential to written notes in aiding recall (Intons Peterson and Fournier 1986), may be better suited to many situations. This paper highlights the evolutionary development of techniques used by students during the project. 52 students were given MP3 recorders to capture experiences that they identified as being useful, whether these were from the formal, semi-formal or informal curriculum (Middleton and Nortcliffe 2009). Many began by recording their lectures, broadening out to capture significant conversations of a formal nature including peer feedback and project supervision (Rossiter et al. 2009). Later less formal conversations and personal ideas were gathered. The paper discusses the approaches adopted by students, drawing upon an analysis of interviews and surveys. The audio methods will be reviewed according to their capacity to enhance learner autonomy. In conclusion, the paper highlights the evolutionary nature of finding technology-supported learner autonomy as the students became more attuned to the opportunities around them, and raises further questions for institutions seeking to encourage wider student participation in becoming responsible producers of audio learning notes. References Intons-Peterson, M. J. and Fournier, J. (1986) External and internal memory aids: when and how often do we use them? Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 115(3), 267-280 Middleton, A. and Nortcliffe, A. (2009) Audio, autonomy and authenticity: constructive comments and conversations captured by the learner. Proceedings of ALT-C 2009 "In dreams begins responsibility" - choice, evidence, and change, Manchester, UK, 8-10 September 2009. Nortcliffe, A. L. and Middleton, A. (2009a) ‘Understanding effective models of audio feedback’ in Rajarshi Roy (ed.) Engineering education perspectives, issues and concerns. Shipra Publications, India Rossiter, J.A., Nortcliffe, A., Griffin, A. and Middleton, A., (2009) Using student generated audio to enhance learning, Engineering Education: Journal of the Higher Education Academy Engineering Subject Centre 4(2) Waterfield, J., West, B., Parker, M. (2006) Supporting Inclusive Practice. In M. Adams and S. Brown (eds) Towards Inclusive Learning in higher education: Developing curricula for disabled students, London: Routledge, 79-94