Why use audio recordings in your course?
- Technical: not as demanding of internet speed/quality as video recordings
- Humanize your course when video is not needed or an option
- Time: Can save time when giving students feedback in Canvas
- Appearance: relieves pressure of presenting in a clean or professional environment if that’s a concern
Things to keep in mind
- Accessibility*: the audio recordings may not meet accessibility requirements of your students. Keep in mind you may need to provide a text-equivalent of the audio recording.
*Some instructors take this into account by pre-typing their message, reading it more or less verbatim for the recording, and the providing this transcript if/when needed. - Technical: listen to your recordings after creating them. You might be surprised what your microphone is or isn’t picking up. If you’re having trouble hearing yourself, or the sound is tinny, consider using a headset with microphone, or leaning into your computer’s microphone. If you’re not using a headset with microphone, resist the urge to move around or look around while talking.
- Safari: If you are using Safari, you must use the Flash recorder. Disregard the indicated audience. This applies to instructors using Safari as well as students.
Making audio recordings
In Canvas
Canvas has a built-in video and audio recorder. It’s not as elaborate as “My Media,” but works great for brief recordings. When launching the recorder, disable the webcam feature to make audio recordings.
A guide to using the recorder in Announcements, Pages, and Discussions is available here.
You can also leave audio messages on student submissions when you grade them. This can sometimes be faster then leaving text comments, is another opportunity to humanize your course, and can eliminate misunderstandings in tone that students may experience when receiving feedback. Yale has a guide on leaving video and audio comments in SpeedGrader. Toggle off the video to leave audio feedback only.
On other devices
When making messages on other devices, like our computer or smartphone, those files can be shared with students a few different ways.
- Uploaded to Canvas: You can upload your recordings to Canvas in both the SpeedGrader and the regular text editor in Pages, Announcements, Discussions, etc.
- In SpeedGrader:
- Click on the button in the Add Comments area:
- Click the Upload tab, navigate to your file, and upload it:
- Click on the button in the Add Comments area:
- To upload comments outside of SpeedGrader, anywhere there is a text editor:
- Edit the Page, Discussion, Announcement, etc.
- Click the Record/Upload Media button
- Click the Upload tab, navigate to your file, and upload it:
- In SpeedGrader: