Incorporating Audio into Moodle

Irshat Madyarov

There has been a move towards employing self-created audio on the Internet for language teaching purposes. Examples of such technologies include online audio portfolio software such as Audio Portfolio and podcasts such as Podomatic.com. However, these current technologies appear to have some drawbacks; they are either not in the free domain, don't allow for collaborative work, or are prone to technical glitches, which may overwhelm students. Moodle offers a solution that takes care of some of these drawbacks.

How-To

As is well known, Moodle offers a number of activities that allow for students' online postings; forum discussions, journals, Wikis, and glossaries are among a few. Audio files can be added to each of these activities, and there are two approaches available to students:

1. attaching an audio files to a post (available in forum only)
2. linking audio files to any word or phrase in the text posted by students (available in all four activities above mentioned)

Option A (see demo - 0.6 MB. Free Flash player): Attaching an audio file to a forum post is the most user-friendly solution of the two. Having read your instructions in a given forum, students would normally proceed through the following steps:

1. Record their audio using whatever software available (e.g., Sound Recorder available in Windows)
2. Save their audio file on a computer
3. Start a New discussion topic in the forum set up by the instructor
4. Type a message in the forum window (required since a forum post can't be made without any text)
5. Use the Browse button to attach the audio file to the forum post
6. Click Post to forum

Option B (see demo - 0.8 MB. Free Flash player): Even though creating a link to an audio file requires more complex manipulations from the students and may entail some technical glitches, this option in fact has one strong advantage; it's available in all four types of activities (forums, journals, Wikis, and glossaries), hence more flexibility and freedom for the teacher. Here are steps to upload an audio file:

1. Record their audio using whatever software available (e.g., Sound Recorder available in Windows)
2. Save their audio file on a computer
3. Start a post (forum post, journal post, Wiki update, or glossary item) in the assignment set up by the instructor
4. Type a text inside their post (applies to all four activities) and select a word/phrase to create a hyperlink from
5. Click Insert web link button on the tool panel (looks like a chain) and click Browse.
6. In the new window, click Browse next to Upload (the audio file needs to be first uploaded to Moodle for it to be linked), then click Upload.
7. When the audio file is uploaded, it should be selected in the Insert Link window, then OK.
8. To save the text with the created link, students click either Save or Post button depending on which activity they are working on.

Teacher's Role

And this is how complex it is for you as an instructor:

• Create the activity in Moodle with the clear-cut instructions (step by step descriptions)
• Go to Settings in the specific Course Site (e.g., iBT TOEFL Summer 2006), and change the Maximum Upload Size to 10MB (1 minute of audio made with Sound Recorder is worth about 2-3 MB but to avoid potential glitches, 10MB is recommended).
• Similarly, change the Maximum attachment size (in forum only) to 10MB.
  

Reflections

I, for one, enjoyed Option A 99%:

• Both students and I could access the site and do our job anywhere we want
• There is a readily available record of all activities done by students (handly for portfolios)
• Students can easily listen to each other's posts and reply to/critique their classmates (using a rubric provided by instructor)
• Technically, it was very easy on students and myself; only one class demo was enough

Some "buts":

• An external piece of software is required for voice recording (e.g., Sound Recorder)
• Instructor should remember to change the settings to allow larger files
• Option B described above is much more complex and may require more effort from both students and instructor