Using VoiceThread in introductory and advanced Spanish
Learning a new language involves reading, writing, speaking and listening. But how can you test students’ speaking and listening outside of a physical classroom? This was a question Dr Natalia Ortiz Ceberio asked herself going into Term 2 online. In Natalia's Spanish courses (as with any language courses), speaking and listening were vital. When it came to exams, students uploading pre-recorded videos is insufficient to assess conversational skills and ability give opinions in the language assessed. To add to the challenge, organising video calls for oral exams is both a technical and logistics nightmare when you have over 100 students. Natalia needed a solution that is simple to execute and intuitive for students to navigate.
Natalia worked with Dr Emily Chandler, educational developer in EDDS, PVCE to identify the solution: VoiceThread in Moodle. VoiceThread allows Natalia to upload a video for students to watch and for students to easily record and upload their response via webcams. At the start, Natalia had concerns about learning a new teaching tool on top of her usual workload. But with a couple of one-on-one training sessions, Natalia found VoiceThread “very easy to set up and use, from my part and the students'."
The use of VoiceThread for digital oral exams greatly reduced assessment-related workload, e.g. no longer having to coordinate dozens of one-on-one appointments within a short time frame to examine and mark each student, which sometimes ran overtime. It also lets Natalia grade at her own pace, with all submissions available within a single screen. Customising a VoiceThread assessment allowed Natalia to assess diverse student learning outcomes. Introductory Spanish students simulated a conversation by leaving multiple short comments in a single video. Meanwhile, Advanced Spanish students submitted their recorded opinion in response to a video stimulus, showing their Spanish fluency and composition.
Academic integrity is a key concern for digital assessments. VoiceThread provides restrictions such as only allowing students to record and submit their response once, within a time limit, in a live manner. As such, Natalia could check student identity, and/ or identify any collusion.
Natalia sees further potential in VoiceThread: “Students could post a picture, a short film, or a quote. You can have the students submit their opinion as well as allowing other students to comment in each other’s submissions. As a teacher, it also allows us to send instructions.”
VoiceThread is just one of the many options for formative and summative digital assessments in Moodle, and we have many more approachable solutions to offer for to your online teaching. For any queries regarding your course design goals or needs, you can reach out for support and one-on-one training with the EDDS,PVCE team via the Educational Solutions consultation form.
Dr Natalia Ortiz Ceberio is an Education Focussed casual academic in the School of Humanities and Languages. She teaches all levels of Spanish and Latin American Studies. Her latest research explores the experiences of Spanish female migrant workers to Australia in the mid-20th century.
Dr Emily Chandler is an Educational Developer whose teaching experience spans Media, Cultural and Gender Studies as well as academic skills development. She is passionate about authentic learning, equity and accessibility.