Audio and Narration in e-Learning: Pros and Cons

First things first, I’m really glad to finally be writing a new blog post because I realize it’s been over a month since I’ve posted and I feel very guilty about it! October was pretty hectic due to the fact that I was attending DevLearn 2012 in Las Vegas. I am actually planning on writing a post about my experience at DevLearn in the near future since it was both my first time attending a conference and my first time public speaking/presenting. It was a great experience and a lot of new lessons learned for me.

That being said, I was recently inspired to write this latest blog post from something that occurred at work! I’m working on an e-learning project now and I was recently looking into the pros and cons of adding audio to the e-learning course I’ve developed. I decided to compile a bit of my research and write about it!

I’ve come to find out that adding audio to an e-learning project is not a decision that should be taken lightly. There is a lot involved in the process, there is lot to know before you get started and finally there is a lot of room for error! So how do you decide if you need narration/audio in your project? As with all media in your e-learning projects, you should only use narration IF there is a clear instructional purpose behind it (and not “just because”). From what I can gather, there are three types of audio used in e-learning:

• Narration (which has four “subtypes”)
  • Elaborative  (on-screen text summarizes the audio)
  • Paraphrasing (audio summarizes the on-screen text)
  • Verbatim (reading exact words on-screen)
  • Descriptive (audio describes image on-screen)
• Music
• Sound effects

After doing a bit of research on the topic I’ve discovered that there is much debate surrounding which “type” of narration is best for learning. The kind of narration you should use in your projects seems to depend greatly on the specifics of the project (time, talent, budget) as well as what the subject matter is. So which content should you narrate? There are a couple of scenarios where it might be more worthwhile to use narration. For example, when you need to explain a complex definition or process, or when demonstrating situations such as interview skills or emotional interactions between individuals.

The pros and cons of using audio:

PROS

CONS

Good quality audio might appeal to auditory learners (although there is much debate as to whether learning styles even exist…) Audio might help reinforce certain points and may help some learners retain more information Audio can add some personality and a more personal touch to the e-learning Reduces the reading load, less on screen text when there is audio/narration Might add “authenticity” to on-screen characters

Adding audio files (which even when compressed can be quite large) will add to the bandwidth, loading time, etc. Bad quality audio will be more distracting and detrimental than useful Writing and practicing a script and recording the audio are time intensive tasks Synching audio with on-screen text and images can also be labor intensive – and if the audio/on-screen are not harmonious it will be distracting to learners If your course needs to be updated often (once a year, maybe more) then it can be difficult and time-consuming to record and add updated audio. If your course will be localized (translated) it can be challenging to write scripts and narrate your course in multiple languages If your course is available in different countries, unfamiliar accents and cultural references can lead to confusion Having exact same audio and text on-screen can be redundant and boring Some research suggests that learners dislike word-for-word narration, because quick readers can often read the whole text before the narrator is done talking

Let’s say you have decided there is indeed an instructional purpose for audio or narration, and you’ve narrowed down which type of narration you will use. The next question you might ask yourself is, who will narrate this course? Three ways to narrate your course include:

• A professional narrator
• An employee narrator
• Text-to-voice software

In addition to “the voice” you will likely need a couple of additional people to be involved in the audio recording process, likely:

• A scriptwriter
• A producer (this depends on the technical skill your narrator possesses, and if he/she can do the actual sound recording themselves)

Of course there are both pros and cons to using any type of narration in your project.

	PROS	CONS
Professional Narration	High quality sound recordings done in a professional, sound proof studio Has knowledge about compression rates, “clean audio” Has a variety of consistent voicing styles, pitch, intonation	More expensive (they typically use a pay-per-minute model)
Amateur Narration	Less expensive than going to a professional Adds realism and a personal-touch (especially if the narrator is an employee the learners know)	Lower quality (there may be breathing, lip smacking, background noises, etc.) Inconsistent voice styles Can be very difficult to match audio quality and have the same voice talent if updates are required in the future
Text-to-voice	Likely the least expensive route Consistent quality Consistent voicing style/intonation Over the last few years quality has improved and it is now more common alternative	May sound robotic, unemotional and fake Less personal

Here are some additional general audio and narration tips and best practices:

• Narration rule of thumb: 1 minute of talk time = 100 words
• Try to keep audio clips to 20-30 seconds (to retain learner attention)
• Find a balance between what learners should read vs. what they should listen to
• Allow users to have control over volume settings
• Have an instructional reason for using the narration or audio (not just because)
• Include a list of hardware and software requirements for learners to know ahead of time if they need speakers or a headset for audio
• Keep in mind that if your e-learning course requires audio, people who do not have audio capabilities will not be able to take the course
• Audio might slow down some learners since they have to go at the pace of narration
• Adding narration will impact on the amount of time it takes to complete your e-learning course

Finally, here are a few links to good articles about narration in e-learning that helped me write this post:

• http://www.learningsolutionsmag.com/articles/666/how-much-narration-in-elearning-our-lessons-learned
• http://theelearningcoach.com/elearning_design/the-art-of-writing-great-voice-over-scripts/
• http://www.knowledgeplatform.com/Content/Pdfs/audio_narration.pdf

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