Abstract
Students undertaking the BA Honours British Sign Language/English Interpreting course at the University of Wolverhampton regularly submit video clips to the VLE to be commented on by their tutor and/or their peers. These clips are either of their practise interpretations or presentations delivered in British Sign Language (BSL). This kind of collaborative feedback is extremely valuable in helping students to develop their language skills. The feedback has, historically, been provided in written English. However, this presents a challenge because BSL is a visual language which does not have a standard written format. This case study focuses on the way digital technology has enabled the development of a method of feedback which uses IPAD technology to allow tutors to use audio narration, video modelling and annotation tools to comment upon a student's video clip. This annotated video is then returned to students for viewing. Feedback was sought from students during the early stages of development of this method and this information has been used to make improvements to the feedback format.
Highlights
This case study focuses on the use of tablet technology to develop a multi-modal feedback mechanism in response to video clips uploaded by British Sign Language (BSL)/English Interpreting undergraduate students which show them either presenting a piece in BSL or interpreting between English and BSL
Two separate tasks were set which involved students signing a piece to camera on a specific topic. This video clip was uploaded to the VLE in order for the tutor to view it and provide feedback to the students. Whilst this feedback was given in written English for the first task, it was given in BSL for the second
For programmes like BSL/English Interpreting, having technologies available that enable students to view their own performance alongside a modelled performance, or to receive a visual correction, is of great benefit, in the same way as has been shown in sports coaching
Summary
This case study focuses on the use of tablet technology to develop a multi-modal feedback mechanism in response to video clips uploaded by British Sign Language (BSL)/English Interpreting undergraduate students which show them either presenting a piece in BSL or interpreting between English and BSL. The complexity of trying to describe sign language via written feedback in a clear and effective manner is what created the impetus to find an alternative way of delivering corrections, praise and suggestions for improvements Video annotation software, such as Elan, is in use in interpreter training programmes for student self-reflection purposes and for detailed linguistic analysis (Goswell, 2012), but it would be unrealistic to expect tutors to have the time available to analyse footage at such a detailed level for every student. It is applications like Coach’s Eye (TechSmith Corporation, 2014) and Ubersense Coach (Ubersense Inc.), along with those providing interactive whiteboard facilities such as Explain Everything (MorrisCooke), Doceri Interactive Whiteboard (SP Controls Inc., 2014) and Educreations Interactive Whiteboard (Educreations Inc., 2014) which can be utilised in the training of sign language interpreters to correct errors and make suggestions for future skill development, which Price et al (2010) suggest are discrete potential outcomes of feedback
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
