Moderating Cultural Effects in a Higher e-Education Context? : Supervisor’s Tone of Voice in Recorded Audio Feedback

Providing feedback to learners on their writing assignments is one of the most important and time-consuming tasks that a supervisor performs. In e-Education environments, especially in the case of distance learning, giving feedback becomes more challenging because there are often no opportunities for face-to-face interaction. Typically, a supervisor provides comments to learners in written form via email; however, the use of recorded audio feedback (RAF) in e-Education environments has become a viable alternative. This work in progress reports on learners’ perceptions of RAF in a multi-cultural higher eEducation context. Our observations indicate that learners tend to have positive feelings toward RAF and that RAF potentially moderates cultural effects. The observations are discussed in light of the relevant literature, and future research questions are proposed.