Audio can bring your elearning alive. Whether it’s a ‘guide on the side’ taking your learner through the learning content, a professional narrator explaining the module’s key concepts or just a rockin’ soundtrack and well placed ambient background noise, sound makes your course engaging and a pleasure for you learner to complete.
Of course like with most things if you don’t do it right, it can detract from your learner’s experience and be more of an impediment than a complement. Ever completed an eLearning module where the narrator read…EVERY…SINGLE…WORD….on the screen?
AUDIO IN ELEARNING FAIL #1 – Mandatory audio narration that repeats EVERY word on the screen
Having exactly the same information coming in from two different sources (voiceover and text) is redundant and contributes to cognitive load. Learners have limited working memory to process what is being presented to them. When you present the exact same information two different ways at the same time, the learner is processing not only what they are reading, but what the voice over is saying and that applies to the problem at hand.
From the learners point of view, they can read what’s on the screen faster than what is being read to them. So it is extremely irritating when they read ahead and the voiceover is still plodding along reading two sentences back, stopping the learner from moving to the next slide, which also doesn’t align to adult learning principles.
There are better ways to approach audio narration in eLearning to avoid this. Some are better than others and rely on what you know about your learners and the content required to be covered.
1. Allow learners to trigger the audio or display the audio narration in a tab
However, there are two reasons that you may need to narrate every word in your eLearning, either to accommodate accessibility requirements or different learning styles. If this is the case, it’s easy in Articulate Storyline to have a button or tab where the learner can choose to turn the audio off or on. Another suggestion is to use the Notes tab to display the full transcript. By doing that, you can still be creative with your screen designs and not just have loads of screens with text.
2. Audio provides the summary and key points
The audio still covers all of the information, but only the key terms or points are displayed on screen in time with the audio. This may be in the form of bullet point summaries, or short sentences summarising the audio content.
3. Audio with animation
We all know the saying “A picture is worth a thousand words”, well this is true in eLearning too! In this format, almost all of the text is removed from the screen, and as the audio reads through the content, images are animated time with the voice over to illustrate and reinforce the message being shared in the audio. The images may be photographs, illustrations, graphics or icons. This is the most engaging solution.
4. A blended solution
For text heavy content you can try a blended solution of option 2 or 3 above and then display detailed information as click and reveals to lessen the amount of text on screen at one time.
Take a look at this video demonstrates some of these different approaches to using audio in eLearning by Tom Kuhlmann from Articulate.
Looking at developing eLearning with audio narration, then contact us to help. We have loads of experience and a range of professional voice talents to choose from.
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