Abstract for eLearning 2.0 Conference, Brunel University, July 6-7th 2011

Enhancing the Student Experience with Digital Voices
Keynote for eLearning 2.0

This presentation considers how the student experience of learning at university can be enhanced through the academic and student generation of digital media in a collection of techniques that can be referred to as Digital Voices. Both spontaneous and carefully designed methods have been used in UK higher education, demonstrating how the recorded voice can be used to promote dialogic, learner-centred pedagogy. These approaches to e-learning accommodate the value students find in each other, in the people who teach them, and in those who are more peripheral, yet potentially significant, to the student experience of the curriculum. This aligns with the unique selling point of a higher education: the social, interactive and personally engaging experience it affords.

The value of our students’ relationship with the real world is also considered. In an age where employability and graduate attributes affect curriculum design, authentic connections between the curriculum and the world beyond university have never been so important; however, opportunities to experience that world through visits, placements, work-based learning and sponsored degrees are coming under pressure due to the current era of austerity.

The idea of Digital Voices addresses these dilemmas and this will be explored through examples of audio and video produced in higher education by academic staff and students.

Some key ideas are introduced that inform creative thinking about the opportunity. User‑generated content, celebrating Lo-Fi production, and the ‘red button’ ethos are three fundamental ideas that see a marked shift in education’s appreciation of digital media. Seven other characteristics will be highlighted that together indicate the difference between Digital Voice approaches and former institutional media provision.
A review of educational podcasting will establish the basis for considering innovative ways of using recorded audio and video, including a collection of media‑enhanced feedback techniques, digital posters, audio notes, and audio summaries.
The concept of media intervention will be introduced, proposing a shift from the broadcast of knowledge through recorded lectures to a mediated view of learning through orientation, motivation, and challenge setting, and supporting the learner’s reflection on their studies with media. Looking ahead, digital media’s relationship to mobile learning will also be presented. This paper proposes that what we once understood to be the formal curriculum, constrained by given times, places and expectations, has now changed. The richest spaces may exist in an extended understanding of the learning environment characterised by the asynchronous voices of tutors, students, peers, experts, ‘publics’ and others.
It is important to look at the challenges that may deter innovation. Colleagues will be asked to consider their own ideas for producing digital media and the difficulties they may face in realising them. Findings from previous Challenge Card exercises will be shared along with suggested solutions for supporting innovation. Participants will be presented with a set of design principles during the session and asked to use these to sketch their own ideas for using the recorded voice in and around the formal curriculum.