There’s a discussion happening on the listserv tech-rhet right now about audio comments on student essays. One handy link posted by Jim Kalmbach was to a 2002 Kairos essay by Jack Wilson called “Perception is All: Using Audio Files To Reach Across the Divide.” I’ve only had a chance to skim it at this point, but basically, it’s about Wilson’s use of audio comments, which he creates (created? I assume he still does this) digitally.
As I posted to tech-rhet, this sounds kind of interesting, and maybe I’ll experiment with it next semester. On the other hand, it also sounds like it might be more work than it’s worth, too. Hmmmm…..
You may have hit on the perrenial question by wondering if the amount of work is worth it. It seems as if many of the posters on tech-rhet are suggesting that recording thoughts actually beats writing them down when it comes to time invested and carpal tunnels, etc. The few times I’ve done it, it was liberating to not have to compose familiar prose.
The thing that I wonder about with these audio feedbacks to papers, and with the points made by Wilson and others is how drastically these activities shift the writer/reader relationship and, probably more important, how do we continue the focus on good pedagogy, regardless of the mode. I’d say feedback first needs to be global, conversational, and authentically engaged. If the audio furthers those aims–perfect. If the feedback is not informed by those goals, no format will make it good.