Sunday, November 18, 2007

Dr. Chris Anson on Oral Commentary and YackPack

Dr. Chris Anson is a University Distinguished Professor and Director of the Campus Writing and Speaking Program at North Carolina State University.  He was also interim director of NCSU’s Ph.D. Program in Communication, Rhetoric, and Digital Media in 2005-2006.  Once I discovered he was using a web-based tool, YackPack, to give his students oral commentary, I wanted to know more.  Web 2.0 tools have great potential for teaching, but before I experiment I like knowing what others have found.  Fortunately, Dr. Anson agreed to be interviewed about oral commentary and YackPack.  Because oral commentary can provide meaningful and effective feedback in an efficient fashion, adjuncts should consider using it with their current feedback methods.  But, as Dr. Anson indicates, it is a tool new adjuncts should use after they have practiced and developed their skills.

Do you use oral commentary more than written commentary?

I use them about equally.  I save oral commentary for higher-stakes papers and projects but I typically write comments on lower-stakes, less formal, overnight papers, reading responses, learning logs, and the like.  Oral commentary allows me to say far more about a student’s work than I can (or would) in writing.  (If we were to transcribe five minutes of talk …

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