Forum Discussion
Dialogue bubbles and narration
My initial reaction is that it makes less sense to me to have an audible narrator and have to read the dialogue of the characters - I would actually flip-flop that approach. Alternately, it might help to ask whether or not audio is engaging in the first place. The way I look at it, character audio really only makes sense if the learner is expected to learn something from their tone.
By leveraging the audio channel, we increase the "remember-ability" of our content significantly. I've only ever found the time-expense of audio insertion to be the limiting factor, not pedagogical efficacy. The more channels of communication we can incorporate and harmonize into what we teach, the longer it will last.
AndrewBlemings- and EricFederspiel- these are both really interesting points — on the one hand, wanting to make sure that any added element like audio has a really clear impact, and wondering whether tone makes a big enough difference; on the other hand, hypothesizing that both hearing and reading the information will allow the learners to ingest and remember the information for longer.
I wonder if this hypothesis is testable, or whether it differs depending on the audience?Definitely testable, at least to arrive at some general framework, especially since I'm thinking of this from a perspective of digital interfaces, which UX shows are great for A/B-testing.
The consensus as I understand it is that an audio channel that aligns with the other channels of information increases the encoding of information in learners. Learning designers can leverage multiple senses to take advantage of synergies and emergent attributes of those senses. Gravity, heat, and muscle exhaustion--ideal training incorporates as many of the senses as will meaningfully reinforce the learning objectives. It's why "field trips" are supposed to be so ideal.
I've seen video games that utilize tonal cues like how I understand EricFederspiel's to great effect so I'm definitely on board with them. They can balance quality and authenticity against cost and time, especially if used to for instance convey the emotion of on-screen dialogue, making comprehension easier.
From there, I could see the possibility space of a theoretical ideal training being filtered down by both the specific audience as well as what resources will allow. Fortunately the SL360 voices get better and better.
