Does student writing improve if essay comments come verbally

1
Does student writing improve if essay comments
come verbally (via Podcast) rather than in the
customary written format? Kevin Yee Academy for
Teaching and Learning Excellence University of
South Florida
Problem Statement
Undergraduate essays are traditionally graded
using a writing utensil that provides handwritten
comments in the margins and/or at the end of the
essay. Almost every grader communicates slower by
handwriting than he or she would if speaking
consequently, if grading were held to a
thirty-minute window in all cases, essays graded
by oral comments would benefit from additional
communication. This research will attempt to
determine if such additional communication
results in a change in the degree of improvement
between student drafts, as compared to essays
graded in the traditional manner by hand. There
is a need for rigorous assessment of the benefits
and any potential downsides to grading by
recorded oral commentary.
Software

1. Open-source freeware Audacity was used to record
   audio and compress it to the mp3 file format
   (note setting the bitrate to 16 yields
   telephone quality but file sizes are kept to 1 MB
   per ten minutes of commentary).
2. WebCTs email tool allows for FERPA-compliant
   delivery of commentary directly to students, one
   email at a time.

Research Design
A variation of a two-group, pre-test, post-test
design has been developed, wherein the first
student essay will be graded in two groups (half
receiving commentary written, half oral) and the
groups will switch grading method for the second
essay. For both essays, a mandatory rewrite will
provide indications of the relative improvements
wrought by each method of commentary. Anonymous
student surveys (tracked by unique identifier)
before the first and second essays, and after the
second essay results, will chart student
perception of their writing competencies and the
perceived effectiveness of the method of
commentary on essays.
Student Survey
Assessments
A survey will track student perception of writing
competence and student perception of the
effectiveness of both kinds of essay commentary.
The degree of improvement from the first graded
draft of each essay to the rewrite will be the
hallmark of the relative success of each method
of commentary. Essays will be coded so that
certain elements of the rubric can be tracked
across drafts (specifically level of conceptual
ideas, sophistication and insight of thesis
statement, and depth of development and
support) Results will be available by May, 2006.
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