Audio Strategies for e-Learning

often hear voices in my head. They are not always welcome. Sometimes, the voices compete with my own internal voice as I’m trying to read. I’ve never been a good multitasker, and, for me, reading and listening are two different tasks. So when I’m faced with an audio track in an e-learning course, I’ll either block out the one or the other. I don’t doubt that there are some geniuses out there that can do both, but I also know that there are a lot of learners just like me (and researchers have confirmed it in the lab). Of course, there are ways to include both text and audio effectively, and, if you’re going to use audio in an e-learning program, you need to leverage audio media in a way that benefits learners.

What is the ideal strategy? Well, that depends on what you’re trying to accomplish. For example, if you’re trying to deliver mandatory compliance training, you might omit audio entirely or use it only to enliven some scenarios or case studies that bring the content to life. If you’re trying to motivate or coach, you might employ a more audio-dependent strategy, where text is not presented on screen or is only presented as brief key points that correspond with the narration.

For an audio-dependent course, we’ll often include features like transcripts or captioning so that learners have options for taking the course as they would like. For courses where the audio merely provides enhancement to the text, such features may not make sense from a cost standpoint and the best option may be one that allows learners to simply turn the audio off.

When we’re working with a client, we will usually start talking about audio early on in the process because it can significantly impact the cost of design and development. Think of the difference between a course with no audio and the same course with an audio-dependent strategy supported by summary points. Basically, you’ll have more to script, more messaging to balance, more to review and get approved, etc. If you then add other considerations such as the cost of amateur or professional voice talent, the cost of a recording studio, sound engineer, etc., you’ll start to see why this is an aspect of design worth giving a second thought.