How to Indicate Audio is Available to the User

Hi CMcGehee​! That’s a great question, and I have a few ideas that might help. Before I dive in, could you let me know which tool you’re using to build the course—Rise or Storyline? 

If you're able to include a screenshot of your Storyline slide or Rise blocks lesson, that would be even better.

The approach I’d suggest will depend on the authoring tool and how you've developed the slide or lesson, so once I know that I can give you more specific guidance. I look forward to hearing back! 

Following as I am also interested :)

Thanks, CMcGehee​! Here are two ideas:

1. If the audio contains more than the text displayed on-screen:

If the audio contains content you don't want learners to miss, I suggest adding a restricted continue button below the audio block. This ensures the learner will listen to the audio before moving on in the lesson. A couple of tips for this:

• Keep your audio clips short (2-3 minutes) to ensure learners stay engaged with the content.
• Be sure to provide a text transcript for learners who cannot listen to the audio.

2. If the audio reads the on-screen text word-for-word:

Add a custom block at the top of the lesson or in your introductory lesson to let learners know they can listen to audio narration if they prefer that method of learning. You can even use an 🔊 audio emoji to draw the learner's eye to the message! A couple of tips for this:

• Add shorter audio clips to individual blocks rather than one long audio clip at the bottom of the lesson. This ensures the learner is listening in-context.
• Save the custom block as a block template so you can easily reuse it in other courses and share it with your team!

What do you think, CMcGehee​? Would one of those ideas work for you?