Delivery through audio and/or video has for several years been proposed as an effective method to help students make sense of and respond to their lecturers' feedback. Audiovisual feedback can be provided in at least three ways: as separate audio or video files; as embedded audio or video within the submitted document; as a screencast or similar recording showing the assessed artefact and the assessors comments. It is this last method that Panopto provides, giving not only the tools for recording & editing, but also for the students to view their feedback.
Michelle Blackburn. Senior Lecturer, Sheffield Hallam University: http://bit.ly/1u0rkit
Rod Cullen. Senior Lecturer, Manchester Metropolitan University: http://bit.ly/XgjNxC
Jo Drummond-Child. Lecturer , University of Derby: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wjZsUCerco
Graham Whisen, US High School Physics teacher: http://ideaconnect.edublogs.org/2010/08/14/student-assessment-using-video-feedback/
General tips on how to structure audiovisual feedback:
Start the recording with an introduction
Introducing yourself to the students in a friendly manner as well as rounding things off in a friendly way will create a more personal relationship and is more likely to lead to a dialogue.
Structure your feedback but do not script it
A polished performance is not necessary. Self-correction, pausing and repetition are naturally occurring features of voice messages and add a personal quality to feedback.
Refer explicitly to the assessment criteria
Doing so helps the students understand goals and standards. Explain your thought process as you are approaching the mark allocation.
Give your students clear indication on how to improve
Try to focus on feeding-forward rather than feeding back. Offer suggestions for improvement even if the work is excellent. Help students make the connections between this and future assignments.
Try withholding the mark
Research shows students can engage more in feedback when they receive a mark separately. This can also make the moderation process easier.
Invite comments back from the students
Feedback should be an open dialogue; encourage students to contribute to the discussion.
Don't make it too long
Try not to make it longer than 5 minutes; it will help students identify and focus on the key points in the feedback if the recording isn't too long with lots of information for them to make sense of. Points in the middle of a long piece of feedback will tend to get lost.
The Sounds Good project, led by Leeds Metropolitan University, has released both an audio recording and a document of practical tips, containing further advice on effective audiovisual feedback.