Do We Still Know Our Audience? By Steve Pena, Instructional Designer and Implementation Consultant for SyberWorks, Inc.
We’re
all fond of saying “Know your audience.”
But how many of us track our audiences’ rapidly changing demographics? If
you’re like me, it’s not a daily action item. But I just received a reminder of
how much the audience for my work
(and perhaps yours too) may change in the coming decade.
Every
year since 1998, Beloit College has published its
entertaining and revealing “Mindset List,” ® which “…is an effort to identify the experiences
that have shaped the lives—and formed the mindset—of students starting their
post-secondary education this fall.”And Beloit
has dubbed the latest class (of 2009–2012) the first “Net Generation.” In only four
years, these students will join our work force, and according to Beloit's mindset list:
·The Windows 3.0
operating system made IBM PCs user-friendly the year they were born.
·They may have
been given a Nintendo Game Boy to play with in the crib.
·The Tonight Show
has always been hosted by Jay Leno.
·GPS satellite
navigation systems have always been available.
·Electronic filing
of tax returns has always been an option.
·Caller ID has
always been available on phones.
·The Hubble Space
Telescope has always been eavesdropping on the heavens.
·IBM has never
made typewriters.
To these, I’d add:
·AT&T has never enjoyed a telephone monopoly.
·They do much of their phoning for free over the
Web.
·The Web has always existed.
As each college year begins, this list is a good
reminder of how dramatically and rapidly our future e-Learning audiences are
changing. And as Beloit
reminds us about this year’s group:
"The class of 2012 has grown up in an era
where computers and rapid communication are the norm… These students will
hardly recognize the availability of telephones in their rooms since they have
seldom utilized landlines during their adolescence. They will continue to live
on their cell phones and communicate via texting. Roommates, few of whom have
ever shared a bedroom, have already checked out each other on Facebook where
they have shared their most personal thoughts with the whole world.”
This
means a lot for the e-Learning community. The class of 2012 may not be
the first to habitually seek much of its
information from Web blogs, Wikis, Google, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. And
it won’t be the last.
This doesn’t mean that we must immediately revamp the way we
create and deliver e-Learning (or as some are now calling it: “Emerging
Learning”). But it does remind us that:
·New electronic channels and Web media are opening
every year for our products, services, and promotional information.
·The world’s next “movers and shakers” will
increasingly expect us to deliver
content over these new channels, and will seek out our content and services
there.
·They won’t allow themselves to remain bored for
long by e-Learning materials that don’t grab and hold their interest.
And these are things we all
should keep in mind, regardless of how we do things today!
About the Author:
Steve Pena is a Senior Instructional Designer and
Implementation Consultant at SyberWorks, Inc., Waltham, MA.
About SyberWorks, Inc.
SyberWorks, Inc. (http://www.syberworks.com)
is a leader in the custom e-Learning Solutions and Learning Management System/Learning
Content Management System (LMS/LCMS)
industries for Fortune 1000 corporations, law enforcement, healthcare, and
other industries. Located in Waltham, Massachusetts, the company serves
the multi-billion-dollar e-Learning market. Since 1995, SyberWorks has
developed and delivered unique and economical solutions to create, manage,
measure, and improve e-Learning programs at companies and organizations in the United States, Canada,
Europe, and around the world.
10 Tips for Capturing e-Learning Audio By Al Lemieux, Senior Designer at SyberWorks, Inc.
Using
audio in your online course is an extremely important factor in engaging your
audience. Studies have shown that courses without audio are less compelling and
memorable than courses with audio. Either used as a narration or for
directions, audio – done the right way – can greatly enhance your e-learning materials.
Help
with Audio for Online Course Developers
Audio
engineering and the knowledge it takes to adequately capture, edit, and clean
up audio to achieve a quality output is a task that is typically beyond the
skill set of most online course developers. The average course developer has
little if any knowledge of sampling rates, frequencies, modulation, compression
schemes and other audio engineering concepts.
The
goal of this article is to provide you information on how to get the audio in a
format suitable for an e-learning course-authoring
tool. The article will focus on capturing and editing audio at the basic level
and certainly, the 10 tips listed below should help get you moving in the right
direction.
1.
Microphones
For
narration, you’ll need to use a microphone to capture the voiceover. Sure, your
laptop or PC might have a built-in microphone, but you probably don’t want to
end up sounding like the broken drive-thru
speaker at your local fast food restaurant. There are several microphones to
choose from and they are made specifically for different purposes.
Dynamic
Microphones are the ones you commonly see being used by rock stars in concerts.
They have a ball-like shape as the head. These mics are omni-directional, meaning that they can pick up sound from
a wide area. The Shure SM-58 microphone is an example of a
dynamic microphone and has a consistent quality and dynamic range that makes it
useful for all types of applications.
Condenser
Microphones, unlike dynamic microphones, have a capacitor inside that requires
them to be powered by a source – either battery or A/C. These microphones are
often found in recording studios, used in live concerts, and are commonly found
in lavalier mics (the kind you attach to a shirt or lapel). These mics are uni-directional, meaning that they capture a more narrow
area of sound. Because of their power requirements, their voltage output can
vary. The Neumann KMS-105 is an example of a
condenser mic.
You
may also find a Headset Microphone, which plugs directly into your computer’s
input source and output source, so you can hear what you say as you are
recording. Most of the microphones on these headsets have a noise cancellation
function built into them. This causes unnatural sounding silences between
phrases. The audio quality from these types of microphones tends also to sound
blown out as the microphone position is very close to the mouth. That makes
higher frequencies tend to sound noisy and lower frequencies sound poorly.
Built-In Microphones have
the tendency to pick up any noise generated by your computer during use. This
means any hard-drive motion, cooling fans, operating system sounds,
and room ambience. These microphones are usually engineered to pick up the
widest area of sound for situations like web conferencing and chat room
sessions. The audio quality is usually poor and the microphones do not have sophisticated
features like noise canceling or balancing. If at all possible, you should
avoid using the built-in microphone for your audio input source.
2.
Distance from Microphone
I’m
sure you’ve all seen the rock videos or American Idol, where the rock stars
have the microphone jammed up against their mouths as they are singing. So most
people feel they need to do the same when recording narration. What the rock
stars have to their advantage is a sound limiter that cuts off frequencies
above a certain range. The maximum output is policed by this device to prevent
any unwanted feedback or squelch, because the frequency is automatically
limited. Most likely, your simple setup won’t have this capability.
One
thing you can do to prevent any unwanted sounds in your narration, is to
position your mouth about 6 to 12 inches away from the microphone and speak
directly into the microphone, not away from it, to either side, nor in front of
it. The best audio signal will be a direct path from your mouth to the microphone.
If you start speaking into the microphone and then tilt your head downwards to
read from a script, you’ll be able to notice the drop in the audio signal. If
needed, hold your script up next to the microphone. Another tip: when reading
from a script, don’t read across pages that you are turning or moving from one
hand to another. Most microphones are sensitive enough to pick up all of that
paper moving. If possible, have each page of the script segmented and keep them
separated, not stapled or kept together with paper clips.
3.
Use a Windscreen
A
consistent frequency helps to produce the best audio. If you are looking at an
audio waveform for the first time, you won’t be able to decipher it, but the
peaks and valleys of each frequency can visually tell a lot about that sound.
One thing that often happens, especially during narration recording, are pops
that occur when saying words that begin with P or B. These pops go above the
dynamic range and therefore, don’t sound anything like a P or a B but more like
a popping sound.
A
simple solution to this problem is a windscreen. Some engineers will wrap a
wire clothes hanger with nylon stockings and place them in front of the mics in
order to act as a low budget windscreen, but you can also buy them for less
than ten dollars at your local music store. These are constructed out of a foam
material and fit over your microphone.
4.
Interfaces
So
far, I’ve spent a lot of time talking about microphones but a majority of the
mics recommended here won’t even plug in to your computers without adapters.
Professional mics have an XLR connector, which has three pins. Most computers
are made with eighth inch connectors. You can use Dynamic Microphones with an
adapter connected to your computer without much of a problem. Condenser Mics,
since they require power, won’t work even with an adapter.
There
are interfaces specifically built for this purpose and they come in two
flavors: USB and Firewire (IEEE
1394). Most PC manufacturers are including either USB
1.0 or 2.0 ports on their hardware. Firewire is more commonly found on Apple
computers however, you can purchase Firewire cards for PCs. Firewire is
faster than USBin certain
applications and therefore is more desirable for audio input. There’s less
latency on a Firewire connection than on a USB
connection because of the performance speed.
Firewire
comes in two flavors, there’s Firewire 400, which can transfer data at a rate
of 400 MB per second, and Firewire 800, which doubles the speed to 800 MB per
second. There are a wide range of musical digital interfaces out on the market
today, and you can use either of these technologies to interface with a
computer. M‐Audio has a line of both types including the ProFire
610 and the FastTrack USB.
These
devices can run off of their intended connections and act as an audio
input/output source for your computer to provide a professional recording
result. At SyberWorks, we use an M-Audio
Firewire 410 audio interface connected to two Shure-SM 58s for all of our
narration. The 410 is a powerful choice because it offers multiple inputs and
all of the audio controls necessary for level/gain and limiter/compressor. It
also has XLR inputs and quarter inch inputs for microphones and instruments,
and two headphone outputs. Connected to the 410 are two M-Audio BX8a monitors, which offer a much higher quality
output sound than any built-in computer speaker.
5.
Software
There
are so many options for audio editing software, from the simple
shareware/freeware to the professional level, that the determination of what to
use might lie somewhere within your budget constraints. The basic audio
recording tools that come with any Windows-based
machine do not generate quality audio. Any Apple computer comes with GarageBand
which is an excellent mid-level
audio recording application. GarageBand is the step child of Apple’s Logic
Studio and offers some pretty sophisticated tools for recording, editing,
and delivering audio recordings on any platform.
Adobe
has an audio recording/editing application called SoundBooth,
which offers a variety of tools for cleaning up audio files and saving them in
different formats. SoundBooth comes with the Creative Suite Production Premium
or Master Collection. I recently used SoundBooth to record old cassette tape
tracks as MP3 files so that I can burn the files to CD. I was able to use
SoundBooth to clean up all of hissing sound on tapes and the audio quality was
excellent.
Bias,
Inc. has been in the audio production area for over a decade now and their
flagship audio editing software, Peak Pro, is an award winning
application. With a simple interface and a variety of effects and controls,
Peak makes audio editing simple. I’m a long time user of Peak Pro and can say
that it’s a stable, professional application that offers all of the tools that
I need to edit the audio that I record. Combined with SoundSoap Pro, an audio
cleaning application, Peak Pro can reduce noise, hiss, rumble, cracks and pops,
and other unwanted sounds from any audio recording.
Here at SyberWorks, we use Peak Pro to record any
narration for podcasts or courses and GarageBand to stitch together podcasts
and teasers. GarageBand comes with some preset stingers and effects which are
great for podcasts. It’s ridiculously easy to use. Once the file has been put
together, it’s output as an AIFF file to iTunes. I then use iTunes to convert
the sound to the MP3 format for delivery.
6.
Normalize
During
recording, audio levels can be mismatched creating undesirable results during
playback. For example, recording from two different sources might produce two
different volume levels. When played back, one source sounds softer and the
other might sound louder, even though they were recorded in the same room on
the same computer with the same hardware. This can be attributed to vocal style
or audio input levels not being properly monitored.
To
adjust audio levels across the board so that the volume is relatively
consistent, most audio editing software offers some normalization option in
which the audio levels are examined and a maximum and minimum range are then
determined. Softer sounds are increased and louder sounds are decreased so that
the overall sound level is more consistent.
If
there is a stark contrast between the two input sources, then sound
normalization might work against you. Softer sounds might have more sound
introduced in them when the gain is increased. Be sure to check your audio
input levels before recording. Try to get both sources to come up to the same
decibel level prior to recording. If possible, show the input meter in your
audio software to the speakers and try to get them to speak at a gain level
about ‐5 decibels.
7.
Ahh’s and Uhm’s
For
some people, speaking into a microphone can be a little intimidating. You might
hear a lot of Ahhh’s and Uhmm’s during a recording session. Some people
naturally put these in their phrases because they are thinking about what they
are going to say next. Others put them in out of nervousness. Others have
lisp’s or emphasize S’s and Z’s. Still others smack their lips or breath heavy
before talking.
When
editing audio, the tendency might be to remove all instances of Ahh’s and
Uhm’s. When separated from the rest of a passage, this is easy to do and is an
effective way to make the entire sound file shorter. However, there are times
when the Ahh’s and Uhm’s are rolled into other phrases and are difficult to
separate.
The
rule of thumb when editing audio is to remove whatever is bothersome, but keep
the tempo of the original sound source and make it sound as natural as
possible. Some people also take deep breaths between passages or have nasal
sounds that are picked up by the microphones. Sometimes these can be removed
and other times they can’t. Remove what you can, but try as much as possible to
make the overall recording natural.
8.
Cleaning Audio
Depending
on how clean your input source is, you may have an audio track that is laced
with hum or noise coming from a variety of sources, like an overhead
fluorescent light, A/C noise, and other ambient sounds. SoundBooth and Peak Pro
both have tools for eliminating these types of sounds from your audio input
sources. As mentioned above, the rule of thumb still applies.
Some of these tools can end up making your audio sound
very metallic and unnatural, more like a computerized version of the original.
When using SoundSoap Pro, for example, the default settings for removing noise
keeps all of the highs recognizable, while the mids and lows suffer from a
dense computerized sounding quality. SoundBooth’s noise correction tools have
the same issue, so if too much is applied, the result isn’t worth the effort.
There’s
a balance to how much correction is applied to a sound versus the quality of
the output. Sometimes, here at SyberWorks, we have to record voices over the
phone. Sound quality from a phone line is always problematic, so invariably
that sound will need to be cleaned up. Too much correction though, and the
integrity of the voice is compromised. On the other hand, no correction will
keep a lot of hiss and noise in the sound, which is undesirable.
9.
Audio Formats
Depending
on which authoring tools you are using and which platform you are on, you’ll
need to know which audio formats to use. The major audio format for the PC
platform is .wav, on the Mac platform it’s .aiff. Adobe Captivate and
Microsoft PowerPoint both use the .wav format.
The
most popular internet audio format now is .mp3, which has greater compression
and better sound quality than other internet formats. Captivate uses MP3
compression in sound files for the final output. This makes the files smaller
but they can suffer in quality, depending on the settings in Captivate. Native
.wav files embedded in PowerPoint files can make those files enormous. Using iSpring,
a PowerPoint to Flash converter, you can significantly reduce the file size of
presentations and course materials intended for internet delivery.
SyberWorks
Web Author has an additional tool
called SyberWorks Web Audio which allows you to add streaming audio to courses
that anyone can hear using just a web browser. Playback is accomplished through
a small Sun Java applet that downloads automatically and quickly. It requires
no additional plug-ins or server software. It has no firewall issues and
can play in the background, without any visible controls on course pages, or
with a small set of basic audio controls displayed.
SyberWorks
Web Audio tool takes an audio file of the format .wav and compresses it into
the SyberWorks audio format (.sa). It is then easily inserted into the word
document by using the Add SyberWorks Audio template.
10.
Compression
Depending
on which tool you used during recording, you probably have an original audio
source with a near CD quality (44 KHz) output. That quality is diminished as
soon as the file is compressed. Too much compression and the sound quality is
something like R2-D2 behind a large, metal door. Too little compression
and the sound files become too large to transfer and play.
The
factors involved in compression include bit rate and quality. The bit rate is
the data stream target for your intended audience. The typical internet
connection these days is at least DSL
speed (128 KBps), but there still may be users at modem speeds of 56 KBps.
Tools like Captivate will allow you to set the bit rate and quality for all the
audio in your course. Therefore, when you save your files out of SoundBooth or
Peak Pro, never add any compression. Let Captivate or your other e‐Learning tool do the compression for you.
Quality settings can also alter the file size. Lower
quality files have higher compression and therefore are smaller, but sound
worse. Higher quality files have less compression, sound better, but are larger
in file size.
One
tip is to try different compression levels and settings and listen to each
output to find the one that is just right. It may be time consuming, but in the
end, your e-learning product will be better for it.
Summary
We
touched on a number of technical concepts in this article and there’s a lot
more. Whatever tools you decide to use, incorporating better-sounding audio in
your e-learning development is a great way to take them to
the next level. Recording high quality audio can be challenging and fun. It may
take some time to get used to, but it’s a skill that’s worth looking into.
About
the Author
Al
Lemieux is a Senior Designer at SyberWorks, Inc. SyberWorks is a custom e-Learning solutions company that specializes in
Learning Management Systems, e-Learning solutions,
and custom online course development. Al is also a frequent contributor to the Online
Training Content Journal.
About
SyberWorks
SyberWorks, Inc. (www.syberworks.com)
is a leader in the custom e-Learning Solutions and Learning Management System
industries for Fortune 1000 corporations, higher education, and other
organizations. Located in Waltham,
Massachusetts, the company serves
the multi-billion-dollar e-Learning market. Since 1995, SyberWorks has
developed and delivered unique and economical solutions to create, manage,
measure, and improve e-Learning programs at companies and organizations in the United States, Canada,
Europe, and other countries.
"..........Through this paper an argument is presented for a proactive approach to the conceptualization, formation and maintenance of online environments that cater specifically for the individual learner. Through an analysis of design strategies, proactive modeling and interactive metrics, a new framework is presented to address the pedagogy of online environments and present an alternative to common instructional design practices. For those committed to online teaching and learning environments populated with collaborating and reflective participants, this framework goes well beyond delivery to a pedagogy centered on emancipation and empowerment for the engaged learner."
Clive Shepard discusses Patrick Dunn's presentation on creating engaging learning content. The four phases he mentions are:
1. Methods and media (tactics)
2. Learning strategies
3. Design processes
4. Culture and personality
I would agree and I too question the Meyers Briggs Inventory as a reliable research tool to learn the profile of a successful designer.
IMO, from what I have seen most people come to the profession from a variety of backgrounds which more or less make them suitable for the job. One of the best instructional designers I know has the rare combination of terrific programming skills and great writing ability, a combination not usually seen together.
e-Learning Usability is always an important topic, so I thought I would post an excerpt that provides some good links on usability & testing...Usability in eLearning This is a good post for those who are new to e-learning and the concept of usability testing.
Usability experts and web developers often 'poo poo' aesthetics as unnecessary prettiness that gets in the way. Maybe they believe that it gets in the way of content or gets in the way of actually getting through a site. Stephen Anderson, ponders about this very problem in his article, In Defense of Eye Candy, on A List Apart this month.
The fundamental issue may be subjectivity, but a more appealing presentation can often give off the notion that this particular design or product is more sophisticated than another. There are literally hundreds of MP3 players, for example, however, the Industrial Design of the iPod has gained the popularity it now owns.
In the article, Anderson presents several examples of user interface widgets and what aesthetics can do for a simple button to make it more appealing. There are common perceptions from web users about what appears "dated" or "old" and what feels like, appears "new" or "current". The evolution of the web post Web 2.0 almost demands that websites follow certain, although unmentioned defaults for how a site should appear and behave.
There's also a section on credibility. It's interesting that a new wave of internet scandal involves creating screens and sites that completely mimic the company being targeted so that it appears a credible source. This has fooled so many users who aren't careful. Using colors and fonts that are similar to the original company's site and communications, the predators are trying to leverage aesthetics to gain credibility in their bogus campaigns.
Aesthetics are extremely important in the effectiveness of any communication. It is a vehicle in which we, as designers, can leverage appeal to gain the attention of potential users. Without aesthetics, a topic or subject becomes static and unpleasant.
The UXmatters Blog have a good article by Collen Jones called Toward Content Quality..while its positioned for web development, parts can also be applied to e-learning content development as well. She has a content quality checklist in the article that can be used as a rubric for e-learning development:
Excerpt:
Usefulness & Relevance:
Does the content meet user needs, goals, and interests?
Does the content meet business goals?
For how long will the content be useful? When should it expire? Has its usefulness already expired?
Is the content timely and relevant?
Clarity & Accuracy:
Is the content understandable to customers?
Is the content organized logically & coherently?
Is the content correct?
Does the content contain factual errors, typos, or grammatical errors?
Do images, video, and audio meet technical standards, so they are clear?
Influence & Engagement:
Does the content use the most appropriate techniques to influence or engage customers?
Does the content execute those techniques effectively?
Does the content use too many or too few techniques for the context?
Completeness:
Does the content include all of the information customers need or might want about a topic?
Does the content include too much or too little information about a topic for the context?
Voice & Style:
Does the content consistently reflect the editorial or brand voice?
Does its tone adjust appropriately to the context—for example, sales versus customer service?
Does the content convey the appropriate editorial and brand qualities?
Does the content seem to have a style? If so, does the content adhere to it consistently?
Does the content read, look, or sound as though it’s professionally crafted?
Usability & Findability:
Is the content easy to scan or read?
Is
the content in a usable format, including headings, bulleted lists,
tables, white space, or similar techniques, as appropriate to the
content?
Does the content have the appropriate metadata?
Does
the content follow search engine optimization (SEO) guidelines—such as
using keywords—without sacrificing quality in other areas?
Can customers find the content when searching using relevant keywords?
Now certainly,in the cases of most corporate online training, its not spiderable so the questions about SEO and keywords are not directly relevant. And when she talks about sales or customers they mean in a business sense, but the overall concepts can be applied to e-learning developement.
High-Tech Simulations Linked to Learning - Experts say digital games can help students grasp difficult concepts, but warn against seeing them as ‘silver bullet’ solutions.
You will have to register to get the article, its free. The interesting quote is...
“Game-based learning isn’t going to work for everyone, it’s not going to work all the time, and it’s not going to work for all your needs,” Mr. Van Eck said. “It’s just one tool in your toolbox that goes along with all the other tools that you have.”
Keeping that in mind can prevent educators from being disillusioned by games, which are often billed as a “silver bullet” technique to solve all the problems in a classroom, said Christopher J. Dede, a professor of learning technologies at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, who studies simulations and games in education."
ahh..the good old "silver bullet"... truth is.. lots of pundits in the e-learning/corporate learning space have prognosticated about games in corporate learning the same way in the blogosphere....but I agree, its just one tool in the tool box.
This is always a good thing to think about but truth be told Tony, we should really give credit where credit is due...there is a company called Information Mapping that was founded back in 1967. They developed a patented method for organizing information on paper, the web or any media.
To my knowledge, this company is the first of its kind to develop the whole concept of organizing information. Their patented method is a " is a research-based approach to the analysis, organization, and visual
presentation of information. The Method is both subject matter and
media independent; that is, it can be applied to the subject matter of
any industry, and it can be presented on paper, on a computer screen,
verbally, or in a multimedia presentation........Based on research into how the human mind actually reads, processes,
remembers, and retrieves information, Information Mapping is an
integrated set of easy-to-learn principles, techniques, and standards.
It enables authors to break complex information into its most basic
elements and then present those elements optimally for readers. The
result is a set of precisely defined information modules that are
consistent from author to author and document to document."
The Information Mapping Method is based on research done by Robert E. Horn while at Columbia and Harvard universities. If you are familiar with his mapping method, one of their main tenants is that the eyes and brain scan and skip. As I said, just thought we should give credit where credit is due...
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