Skip to content

Bb Tip #150: Turnitin – Voice Comments

white noise

Research shows students want specific and detailed feedback from their instructors (Balaji & Chakrabarti, 2010). Sometimes text-based feedback can become white noise to students who often admit they don't read it. This is not to say that text-based feedback is not valued, however voice is particularly impactful in our text-based world. Audio feedback is an option that saves time, cuts through the noise, and is preferred by students (Ice, Swan, Kupczynski, & Richardson, 2008).

The ability for an instructor to leave a personal voice comment is a powerful tool for providing feedback to students. Turnitin's GradeMark (online grading) has a feature that lets instructors add a voice comment to a student’s paper. With voice comments students can hear the reasons for a grade or the tone of voice or inflection behind the written feedback.

Turnitin voice comments bar

With just a few clicks, instructors can quickly record a detailed message of up to 3 minutes in length and attach it to the student’s paper. Instructors can use the orally recorded feedback as a supplement to written comments.

Want more information?

Instructions for adding voice comments (video) are available.
How to use Turnitin GradeMark (PDF) (GradeMark Interactive Tutorial)
Explore Blackboard’s On Demand Learning Center.
Check out help for instructors at help.blackboard.com.
Try these Blackboard How-To documents.
Visit the Blackboard FAQs for additional blackboard information
or schedule a one-on-one session, email, or
call Janice Florent: (504) 520-7418.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.