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Transcript for Assignment in a Nutshell Podcasts with Lisa Oakley
‘My name is Lisa Oakley. I am programme and subject leader for Abuse Studies at MMU Cheshire in the department of Interdisciplinary Studies.
The 'Assignment in a Nutshell' podcasts came about because of trying to find ways to support students in preparing for assignments a little bit more. So we've always had assignment briefs. We've always had verbal briefing, written briefing. But this was about something that is relatively short, so no more than 5 minutes, that students can access anytime, anywhere, just to remind them about what the assignment is about, what we are looking for and what they will be marked on when they actually give it in.
So, when we started off it was literally an audio file that students listened to. This year we've done more voice-overs of PowerPoints, sometimes we have actually done videos. Its changed as we've gone along really. Part of that is because sometimes it helps students to have something visual with an audio over the top to actually remind them of things that we talked about, and that seems to be much more positively received. I mean, the whole thing has been extremely positively received. So we started off just in one unit, in one assignment, and that because students seemed to have some concerns around that assignment and then the feedback was so positive saying that we'd like this around the units that that is kind of what we have been doing this year is moving it around the units.
I think for students, there are a number of benefits. One particularly has been students with PLP's saying that having a briefing in an alternative format that is not just written is really, really useful. Students have also commented on it's an anytime, anywhere. So they can logon at any point and listen to it again. I think it is a bit more personal as well, because you're actually hearing your tutor’s voice as opposed to just a written document. I think it helps them because it summarises ‘here is the marking criteria’, ‘this is what the assignment is about’. I also have put in this year top tips and also common mistakes, so you know, don't do this but do do this and I think students, for those reasons, it's been quite advantageous for students and also for confidence. Lots of the students have said that they listened to the podcast it makes them feel more confident in being able to say ‘yes, I've done this, this and this’ rather than coming for a tutorial which they may not feel they want to do just to check they are on the right lines.
I think that we should be not afraid to use E-technology. I think it helps us, I think it helps the students. When we did the evaluation, students were very clear they didn't want in-class briefings or written briefings to go, that this was another layer of help and support rather than a replacement for it. I think that is quite important. I think it is really easy to do, and I think that is the other thing. We can be a bit scared, but actually, it is incredibly easy to do. And for tutors, I think it pays dividends because I am finding now that I am able to say to students 'have you listened to the podcast?' and, actually, that stops you from repeating information that you've already given. So, I think it has a huge range of purposes and we are certainly rolling podcasts out in different ways across, so not just assignment in a nutshell but 'how do you write a method section for a dissertation?' 'how do you write a proposal?' and those are things we are starting to use this year, and again, have been really useful for student and staff as well.’