Greetings friends! I know I have been terrible over the last month about creating new content. I can break down my struggle into two main reasons: 1.) I have struggled to find my creativity during the pandemic and 2.) I am just recently getting over my first trimester morning sickness and finding my energy again. That being said, I am determined to start delivering new content and find ways to support educators!
In this post, I am super excited to share a couple of new tools that I have found for providing students with audio feedback via voice notes. I’ve shared this at several staff meetings and professional development train ings and it has been a big hit with teachers! If you spend a lot of time providing individual feedback to students, I can almost guarantee that you will 1.) love these tools and 2.) it will save you a TON of time!
Below, I will show a quick description and GIF of each tool, a video tutorial comparing the two, and then a breakdown of the similarities and differences. Alright – let’s get started!
Tool #1: Mote
Mote is a “Chrome Extension that makes it easy for anyone to add voice notes and feedback to documents and assignments.” It integrates easily with Google Apps and is embedded within the comments sections of Docs, Slides, Classroom and more. Once you make the audio note and finish the comment, it will turn into a play button for students to playback. Below, you can see how easy and quick it is to make an audio comment with Mote:
Tool #2: Talk & Comment
Talk and Comment “lets you create voice notes inside any service on the web, including Google Classroom, Google Docs, Twitter, Facebook comments, Gmail, YouTube, Reddit, Slack, and more!” Instead of being embedded within the comments section, it is located off to the side of your browser for you to click on it whenever you need it. You do have to manually copy the link and paste it into the comments or application but it still works seamlessly. Just like Mote, once you make the audio note and finish the comment, it will turn into a play button for students to playback. Here is a quick example in Google Docs:
Video Tutorial
The GIF’s not doing it for you? Check out this YouTube video where I show how you can use each tool in Google Docs and Classroom:
Let’s Compare Them!
As you can see from the tutorials above, Mote and Talk & Comment are very similar. Personally, I tend to favor the ease of Mote but like the cost of Talk and Comment – which is free! Click HERE if you wish to visit the pricing plans for Mote.
Here is a quick breakdown comparing the most popular and/or on-demand features:
As you can see, Mote clearly offers more features but it comes at a price. If those features don’t matter to you, then Talk & Comment may be more than sufficient. Either way, I encourage you to test them both out and see which one is your favorite – then share in the comments below! 🙂
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I will add that I found that when I enabled Talk and Comment that Chrome ran super slow. I tried many times. It might just be me, however that was my experience.
Oh no! I haven’t had that experience at all. Bummer!
Hi, Meagan! I’d love to try these! How did the students react to these tools? Did they like it?
I’ve mostly heard about teachers using it and loving it as a way to leave feedback! I haven’t heard much about students using it themselves – but I would love to!
I came to this as I used Talk and Comment through last year then suddenly everyone is excited about Mote and they seemed the same. I think I prefer talk and comment to be honest. It might just be because I came to it first.
Hello Meagan,
I just created a Google Add-on that allows you to create voice feedback in Google Docs called Feedbacka.
Here is a link to the add-on:
https://gsuite.google.com/marketplace/app/feedbacka_voice_feedback/209749513716
And here is a link to the website that shows the the add-on in action.
https://fbacka.com/
I would love any feedback that you have :0)
Thanks,
Craig (Feedbacka Founder)
Hello, I’m trying to use Feedbacka. This seems to work but “only in Google Doc” and I can record the comments but they aren’t really integreted to the document for other people. When I select “use” there is an issue about permission with Google drive. I think this application isn’t recognized by Google Drive. No technical infomation neither on developper site or Google drive. That is a shame because this is a real good fetaure, easy and efficient. Has anyone encounter the issue ? Do you a free application that cover this need and works (and is displayed for all parties) in Google Doc AND in google drive. Many thanks in advance for your help and expertise share.
Hello! That’s so strange. Both of these work well for me. You may want to reach out to their support if you need additional help.
Hello Alex, creator of feedbacka here, you are correct it does only work with Google docs at the moment. For others to see the feedback they just need to install the extension. If you are still having issues goto https://fbacka.com and you will see my contact details at the bottom and we can work through the issues.
Thanks,
Craig.
I prefer talk to comment, and that’s why we would be deploying a voice feedback on https://dpx.com.ng to enable our customers drop voice notes rather than comment on articles
I have been mostly using Mote. My students seem to enjoy it, but the big thing for me was when I left typed comments most students didn’t interact, with Mote I find my students listen to my comments and then use the comments to make their work better. Since I can’t be there with all of them during class this gives them the one on one touch.