Student Responses
Audio Version
This project unfolded in three phases.
First, research, was carried out by Nachiket Jambhekar as an RA working on the project. Much of the research showed that educators incorporate presentations as an oral assignment. I’m curious about good practices for presentations, but for this project I was more interested in asynchronous submissions. What can students do when they have time and are not under pressure to perform?
Second, I designed and implemented an assignment in a third-year cultural studies course, Climate Change Fiction, in which students suggested an underused term that they thought meaningful for climate change discussions. These terms could originate from science fiction, activist struggles, or languages other than English.[1] Students submitted 5-minute explainers of their terms. Later, I developed an assignment for a fourth-year cultural studies course, Contemporary Topics in Media, in which students developed a podcast according to their own research interests in the course. In both cases, I didn’t follow one UDL principle: multimodal options. All students had to submit an oral assignment. I wanted feedback from all students, not just those who were keen.
Here are two examples of podcasts produced for Contemporary Topics in Media:
Drew Dafoe (2023) “World Building, Well Timed“. Included with the creator’s permission.
World Building, Well Timed Transcript. (File size = 59KB)
Alison McFarlane (2023) “Are We Failing Our Storyworlds in the Age of Streaming?“. Included with the creator’s permission.
Are We Failing Our Storyworlds in the Age of Streaming? Transcript. (File size = 64KB)
Third, I gathered formal feedback from students through a post-course survey and discussion. I asked students (n=5) what their initial reaction to the assignment was and how their perspective changed as they completed it. One respondent characterized their initial reaction to the oral assignment as somewhat negative, while the other four respondents said the opposite, that they found it somewhat positive. All five respondents agreed that their reaction became more positive as they completed the assignment. A majority (4) found completing the assignment more meaningful than other assignments in this course, while one person found it about the same. Moreover, a majority (4) were interested in completing a similar assignment in the future, could imagine the assignment being used in another course, and felt that they would like this to happen.
I also asked the students to reflect on their own ideas about assignments. Here’s what all five had to say:
*Click on the navigation arrows in the bottom centre of the course presentation window below to view all 7 slides.*
Aha! Support students with examples. I made my own podcast on a course text to demonstrate what a solid B-range podcast might sound like:
Brent Ryan Bellamy (2023) “Multimodal Worldbuilding in The Blacktongue Thief.” Licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.
Multimodal Worldbuilding in the Blacktongue Thief Transcript.
Though they just ask the students to think about presenting their argument in a different mode, these assignments are secretly essays. I think they work around student expectations about university-level writing, so students can dig into the ideas as formulated on their own terms.
While cognizant of the small group of respondents, I do count their responses as a confirmation of the sense I had when offering oral assignments and a confirmation of the research: we all benefit when we offer options to students and faculty. Since these two trial assignments, I have continued to allow all students to submit any assignment as an oral submission. Those who take me up on the offer have been grateful. One student in particular expressed thanks by explaining they have a chronic condition that makes typing a challenge. They appreciated the flexibility of my course because it meant they could use up their energy typing for other courses and record audio for the assignments in mine. The benefits are not just suited to those with a physical need. Offering oral assignments supports students and faculty who are more comfortable with speaking than with writing. It also supports students and faculty who would like to improve oral skills over and above text-based skills and those with a strong oral tradition in their families and communities.
