Electronic Audio Feedback in Legal Education

Abstract

The provision of high quality, effective feedback is critical to supporting student learning. In tertiary legal education, student feedback is commonly provided in written form, with the benefits of audio or multimodal feedback underexplored. Academics regularly express dissatisfaction regarding the time it takes to provide assessment feedback and a perceived lack of student engagement with it. Students also report concerns relating to the tone, quality and timeliness of the feedback they receive. This article discusses the findings of a program which used electronic audio feedback amongst undergraduate and postgraduate law students at an Australian university to explore whether a change in mode from written to audio or multimodal feedback could offer a solution to these challenges. It explains the pedagogical implications that arose from the use of electronic audio feedback, including that the provision of feedback in an audio mode allowed for the provision of more detailed feedback in a comparably shorter period of time; compelled students to engage with feedback in a sustained fashion; was able to simulate an authentic feedback experience in professional practice; better facilitated personalised, constructive feedback; and, when used alongside written feedback, catered to a greater variety of learning approaches.