Faculty Audio Support
Many opportunities are available for using audio and radio to enhance course delivery in a distributed learning model. The links below provide comments by faculty using DE to enhance their courses and an overview of some of the many advantages of adding audio components to a Distributed Education course or program.
Audio Producers Carol Morrison and Elwood Bradbury have created a 3 minute presentation on using audio to enhance online courses (requires RealPlayer).
How Audio Helps Learning
by Helen Pearce
Introduction | Support for Conversation in Learning | Communicating by Print vs. Audio | Audiographic Learning | Technical Approaches | References | |
Introduction
Audio in education is often viewed as old-fashioned technology particularly in an age of interactive, collaborative, computer based learning. And yet with emerging technologies audio now has the potential to play a stronger role in collaborative computer- based education.
This review looks at current literature about learning theory, distance and Distributed Education, collaborative computer based learning, and the role that new audio technologies can play.
Audiocassettes and audio conferencing have been the typical audio tools used in distance education. New multimedia technologies now make it possible for educators to add hypermedia audio links to their computer based learning materials. The question then is what can audio contribute to learning and how can it enhance computer-based learning.
Support for a Conversational Approach
First, support for audio in computer based education can be found in literature about the importance of a conversational approach and feeling connected with the instructor.
Holmberg has been writing since the 1960s about the importance of considering the student as an individual and using an empathetic and conversational approach in designing distance education material. His early writings in the 1960s described this approach as a ‘guided didactic conversation’. He has further developed these ideas and has recently proposed a theory of distance education reinforcing an empathetic conversational approach. (1997)
Similarly there is evidence that collaborative computer-based learning requires a sense of human communication and dialogue. Garrison says collaborative learning is well suited for higher order learning but the mere existence of the technology won’t make it automatically happen. He agrees with others such as Gunarwardena, Jarvis and Kaye (Garrison, 1997) that the challenge is to create a supportive social environment in the virtual, text based world of computer conferencing, particularly if the teacher and students can’t meet face to face first.
Audio has the potential to contribute in these areas. Michael Clarke, an associate professor at the University of Western Ontario in London says he uses RealAudio in his on-line classes to increase human interaction and to provide the listener with " a sense of who I am – since I liberally use anecdotes in my teaching that recount events in my life, that have relevance to the course content (infectious disease)."
http://www.thenode.org/tfl/notes/clarke.html
Communicating by Print vs. Audio
Traditionally audio has been used to create human contact in education by audio- conferencing. But simply talking to each other without visual cues may not be the way to achieve an empathetic relationship. Koble (1996) supports audio conferencing but says simply having the technology to talk to one another doesn’t create empathetic feelings and in fact trying to establish social contact in an unfamiliar setting of hearing but not seeing the person may not be the best use of audio.
Some suggest that new technologies mean we have to reexamine the way we teach and use media (Bates,1997, Dede,1996, Garrison,1997). Perhaps then a conversational approach doesn’t mean the learner has to necessarily be the one doing the conversing. Hearing a conversational interview with an instructor talking about his/her background may do more to establish an empathetic relationship for the learner.
Further support comes from Dede (1996) who writes of CSCL (computer-supported collaborative learning) practitioners identifying new dimensions in learning styles related to multimedia. He argues that face to face communication is not always preferable since some learners find asynchronous text-based communication more authentic than spontaneous spoken interaction.
Garrison and others agree that asynchronous computer conferencing can facilitate higher-order thinking and learning because it allows time for reflection and constructing connections among ideas. "Since the exchange of messages is less rapid and are stored, (in computer conferencing) learners do not have the burden of remembering the points made by other speakers while waiting for one’s turn to speak. (Garrison, 1997, p5)
These examples of the strength of written communication in computer based learning reinforce the idea of changing the way we traditionally view using print and audio. Print has traditionally been an individual reading activity while audio conferencing has allowed group conversation. Perhaps a different computer-based learning model uses print to converse among group members while audio provides conversational material which the learner listens to but doesn’t necessarily engage in. Bates (1997) considers both of these types of interactions important for learning; the individual interacting alone with the material, and secondly the individual interacting with others about the material.
Others though would still argue that the strength of audio is in its ability to provide live conversation in cases where synchronous activities are preferred. Thompson (1996) says collaborative talking can itself be a pedagogical process and a deliberate and appropriate choice to achieve specific learning objectives.
Audiographic Learning (AGL)
Current computer technology such as RealAudio is used mostly for pre-recorded material delivered on the Internet and then stored for retrieval at anytime. However, the emerging computer-based field of AGL (Audiographic Learning), allows participants to talk to each other while also collaboratively using the computer peripherals such as a drawing pad, and electronic pen, a mouse, scanner and printer.
"Specifically, this means that they can type, freehand draw and show or construct graphics and other computer-generated images. With more sophisticated systems they can also collectively word process, do spread sheet calculations, work on a database, look at scanned images, look at single frames of video, print group-produced documents, send e-mail and search the Internet." (MacDonald, 1998, p.7)
Jay Moonah, Multimedia Production coordinator at Ryerson Polytechnic University in Toronto, describes instructors using audio on the Internet for delivering live lectures and bringing in guests from all over the world. He also says the Retail Management program has been experimenting with live audio broadcasts where students can call-in similar to a radio talk show. http://www.thenode.org/tfl/notes/moonah.html
A concern though in live audio on the Internet may be similar to concerns raised by Thompson who notes evidence that audio conferencing can result in reinforcing a teacher centered model. " This research indicated a reluctance on the part of many academics to disengage from the experience; to make openings for students to express their ideas and views." (Thompson, 1996, p.25 )
Yet support for a learner-centred model comes from Naidu (1997) who says the Internet’s capacity for asynchronous communication enhances the teacher-learner relationship enabling the instructor to facilitate the individuals learning rather than to have a role of delivering the subject matter. Audio could be used, for example, to record the instructor in conversation with another subject matter expert or discussing conversationally his/her own experiences with the topic. This allows the instructor to become what Naidu describes as a facilitating teacher who "functions more like an advisor, coach, guide or mentor who not only presents concepts and organizes the learning environment but also helps learners study, question, reflect on and relate their experiences to others." (Naidu, 1997, p 258)
Technical Approaches
Further support for the strength of audio in education comes from The Open University in the United Kingdom (Rowntree, 1994) which has extensive experience with radio and audio-cassettes in delivering education. Recordings of guest lecturers from all over the world, discussions and interviews with practitioners of a subject, real life conversations which can be analyzed by the student, dramatized scenarios of events/situations, and authors reading from their literary works are all examples which could be transferred to audio in computer-based education. With computer-based audio systems such as RealAudio the information can be heard as a ‘live stream’ or as a stored file allowing the user to hear it again for review.
As with any emerging technology it is always a concern whether the learner and the instructor will have the required equipment and skills. Increasingly computers are equipped with sound cards as a standard option and a learner can easily be given directions to download the required software which is free on the Internet.(http://www.real.com/)
Faculty can prepare the audio material with technical support that probably already exists in their institutions. The actual recording process is similar to traditional recording however the transfer of that material onto the Internet as a live stream or a stored file would need the technical support of someone with computer expertise. At Camosun College’s educational radio station CKMO employees with recording and computer expertise support the recording and delivering of educational programs on the radio and the Internet (http://www.village900.ca/). In another case though, Associate Professor Michael Clarke at UWO describes going solo by designing the course, making recordings and doing the technical delivery all on his own. http://www.thenode.org/tfl/notes/clarke.html
This technology is accessible enough so that educators should be encouraged to consider using audio with their computer-based learning. It may take a bit longer before all the multi media elements of Audiographic Learning are as common place but if educators begin now with using audio to enhance their computer based materials then the addition of further media elements may be an easier transition.
References
Bates. A.W. (1997) The impact of technological change on open and distance learning.
Distance Education, 18, p. 100
Dede, C. (1996) The evolution of distance education: Emerging technologies and distributed learning.
The American Journal of Distance Education, 10 (2) p. 17
Garrison, R. (1997). Computer conference: the post-industrial age of distance education.
Open Learning, 12, (2), pp.5, 6
Holmberg, B. (1997). Distance-Education theory again. Open Learning, 12, (1) p.34
Koble, M. (1996). Integrating technologies in distance education. Open Learning, 11, (3), p43
MacDonald, D. (1998) Audio and Audiographic Learning – The Cornerstone of the Information Highway,
McGraw-Hill, Montreal, Canada p.7
Naidu, S. (1997). Collaborative reflective practice:And instructional design architecture for the Internet.
Distance Education, 18, p. 259
Rowntree, D. (1994). Teaching with Audio in Open and distance Learning, Kogan Page Ltd., London, England p12-14
Thompson, D. (1996) Audioteleconferencing: myths and realities. Open Learning, 11, (2), p. 25
Web-based References
The NODE learning technologies network home page:
http://www.thenode.org/tfl/notes/clarke.html
http://www.thenode.org/tfl/notes/moonah.html
RealNetworks, Inc. home page: http://www.real.com/
CKMO radio home page http://www.village900.ca/