Audio and Audiographic Learning:
Why Are They the Cornerstone of the Information Highway?

Context:
The authors explain how audio and audiographic learning work, describe some of the strengths of these technologies, and discuss some key issues relating to them.

Source:
Burge, Elizabeth J., and Judith M. Roberts. 1998. "Audio and Audiographic Learning: Why Are They the Cornerstone of the Information Highway?" In Elizabeth J. Burge and Judith M. Roberts, Classrooms with a Difference. Montreal: Chenèlihre/McGraw-Hill, pp. 71-76.

Copyright:
From Lifelong Learning on the Information Highway™, Classrooms with a difference: facilitating learning on the Information Highway, BURGE AND ROBERTS, © 1998.
Reproduced with the permission of Cheneliere/McGraw-Hill.

Introduction

In this chapter we explain the basics of audio and audiographic technologies. You will be able to identify their key opportunities, strengths and limitations. You can focus on (1) preparation, (2) delivery techniques related to task and social behaviors and the use of the voice and (3) evaluation. Finally, you will read selected success stories from our colleagues.

How Do Audio and Audiographic Learning Work?

Audio Learning (AL) occurs when learners and instructor use telephone technology to engage in discussions, exchange messages or access experts as part of a formal or informal learning process. All such interactions occur in real-time: the learners and instructor are present at the same time and must coordinate their schedules.

Audiographic Learning (AGL) occurs when learners and instructor use telephone and graphics technologies to facilitate dialogue, exchange messages and access experts as part of a learning process. Graphics technologies, or devices, are pieces of equipment that create, store and send visual materials such as handwriting, drawings and still pictures. All such exchanges occur in real-time: the learners and instructor are present at the same time and must coordinate their schedules.

As Figure 7.1 shows, the technical system required for AL has three components. Let's look at each component in more detail.

1. A telephone is required, either the telephone handset used in your home or workplace by individuals, or a speakerphone (group audio terminal is another term), which a group of learners can use in a seminar or classroom environment. Several types of group audio terminals have been designed specifically for education and training applications.
2. The telephone network that links these telephones generally consists of standard dial-up telephone lines.
3. The mechanism by which three or more telephone calls are linked is called a bridge. Telephone companies and other vendors provide this mechanism as part of their conference-call service. Many consortia and institutions have purchased their own bridge so they can tailor this service to specific learning needs or to save money.
4. This technical arrangement, in which telephones or speakerphones and a bridge are used, is called an audio-conference.
5. AGL adds a fourth technical component, a graphics device (see Figure 7.2).
6. A graphics device such as a tablet or whiteboard, with its related software, allows anyone in the conference to handwrite or type text and draw graphics that are seen in all locations in the conference. When this fourth device is added, the technical configuration is called an audiographic conference. Figure 7.3 illustrates two of the more commonly used devices.

Some types of equipment, such as the Optel Telewriter, work on the same line as the telephone handset and speakerphone and o through the same bridge. Others, such as the SMART 2000 whiteboard, require a second phone line and a second bridging device.

Regardless of which system is used, the process by which they facilitate interaction in AGL is similar.

1. The instructor and learners can talk with one another using their telephones, and they can keyboard messages on the computer or draw on the tablet or whiteboard. Some systems permit the visuals to be transmitted simultaneously with voice, while others require the person who is speaking to pause when the graphics are transmitted.
2. Learning materials can be prepared, saved on computer disk and copied to all sites in advance. On-line commands during the session cause each AGL unit to bring the required materials onto the screen. The graphics can then be annotated from any site to highlight key points using the pen or keyboard.
3. Material created on-line during, the class can be saved and added to previously prepared materials for use in future sessions.

This basic system can be enhanced, depending on the type of AGL system, with a document scanner, camera or VCR. Graphics can be prepared using a variety of graphics software packages or, if you have a scanner, from sources such as slides, pictures, 3-D objects, transparencies and other formats.

Part 2

What Are AL and AGL's Strengths? What Are Some Key Issues?

In Table 7.1 we highlight 10 strengths offered by AL and AGL and then describe eight key issues. The text following Table 7.1 briefly explains each point.

Near Universality. Telephone signals, the technical basis of AL and AGL, are available virtually everywhere in the world through regular telephone lines or radio. They are also becoming available on the Internet.

Affordability. The capital and operating costs of the equipment and networks needed to support Audio and Audiographic Learning are typically among the lowest of any of the technologies available on the Information Highway, especially if discount rates are being offered to reduce the long-distance costs.

Flexibility. AL and AGL equipment is portable and can be readily moved. AL, combined with print, 35-mm slides, overhead transparencies and other onsite tools, can support a wide range of learning activities such as peer discussions, panels and interviews with experts. When AGL technologies are added, the choice is further expanded.

Cornerstone of Interaction. The interactive techniques required for effective AL are the basis for most of the interaction strategies advocated for AGL, Video Learning and even some aspects of Networked Learning. Janice Cooper, Acting Director, Telemedicine Centre, Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. John's, notes: "In my experience, learning interactive techniques appropriate to AL develops skills that are transferable to other technologies: it is a lot easier to use some of the newer technologies if you have a foundation in AL."

Choice. A wide variety of types of speakerphones and graphics devices are available, enabling instructors to choose those best-suited to their learning objectives and financial resources (see Figures 7.1 to 7.3).

Learner Support. AL and AGL offer learners the opportunity to talk to their peers about the print materials they have been reading individually or other topics relevant to their learning. Interaction can enhance self-esteem and support learners who face adverse personal, professional or social learning conditions.

Socialization. Some learners need the social contact that real-time technologies such as AL and AGL provide. If they do not want to use the individualized approach of Networked Learning at home or in their office, they can choose these group-based technologies.

Special Needs Learners. AL has been used to enable children to participate in classes while they are in hospital or at home convalescing. The Canadian Cancer Society (Ontario Division) uses AL in its Cancer Connection program to train and support telephone visitors of cancer patients, who then provide individualized telephone support to patients when no in-person support is available. Freda Finley, coordinator of Patient Services in Toronto, says that "learning by phone when you are going to deliver the service by phone is a bonus. It would be hard to learn telephone counseling techniques in the classroom."

Service Providers and Partners. Many public and private sector consortia provide multi-purpose provincial and state networks so that individual institutions and businesses do not have to mount expensive in-house systems. (See pp. 82 to 87 in this chapter for examples, as well as Donald MacDonald's book in this Series.)

High User Satisfaction. Marquis Bureau, founding president of Le Collège des Grands Lacs in central and southwestern Ontario, notes that learners at the Collège prefer AGL to Video Learning because "it is more user friendly and more accessible to all of them during classes. In other words, the AGL technologies allow for more participation and interaction between participants." The lack of visual contact is not the impediment to acceptance that many instructors fear. The eight key issues highlighted in Table 7.1 can become serious limitations if they are not addressed properly. Here are some suggestions as to how to do so.

Quality of Equipment. Selecting, the highest possible quality of equipment your budget can afford is important. Straining to hear on inadequate technology impedes learning and adversely affects group social processes. Consult other owners of the equipment before you buy. If your existing equipment is inadequate, campaign vigorously to have it replaced.

Appropriateness. There are a variety of speakerphone and graphics equipment designs to choose from (see Figure 7.3), for example, a central speakerphone versus individual microphones style of group audio terminal, or a writing tablet versus a whiteboard style of graphics device. Carefully consider your needs before purchasing. For example, if your room environment is noisy, you will not want a sensitive microphone that will transmit the background noise.

Advance Preparation. As an instructor, you will need time to review the learning and learner issues raised in Part I and adapt them to the content, learners and technologies in your environment. Be generous in allowing yourself time to address these three issues as you may find it difficult to "design as you go" during class time. The essential point here is to use the real-time strengths of the technologies and the learning and teaching principles in Chapters 3 and 4 to create classrooms that facilitate collaboration and learning. Ideally, you should use the equipment as often as necessary before you start teaching" so that it is "transparent" to you; in other words, so that you can operate it without thinking. You can then help create that transparency for learners based on your own experience.

Scheduling. The great strength of AL and AGL is that, unlike audiocassettes, they allow learners and instructor to talk to one another in real-time. The design implication arising from this feature is that you should consider your learners' schedule as you plan your sessions. How often is it practical for them to meet? Is one three-hour session more feasible than three one-hour sessions? What are the learning design implications of the schedule choice? Time of day will probably affect the long-distance rates your institution pays, so learner convenience needs to be balanced against cost.

Connectability. The different types of audiographic equipment currently in use do not necessarily "talk to each other," which restricts the ability of classrooms to be linked. Vendors are aware of this limitation, however, and are working to resolve it.

Integration of Voice and Visual Elements. The combination of voice, text and graphics can accommodate a wide variety of learning styles. Integration is key: the visual elements should support and enhance the voice component, not duplicate or distract, and vice versa. In AL, the visual elements are typically paper-based text, 35-mm slides or overhead transparencies. In AGL, computer keyboard or stylus drawings on some type of screen can also be used to convey visual information. The biggest limitation of AGL from this perspective is its inability to transmit moving visual images.

Voice-Only in AL. The lack of a visual element in AL is a barrier to learning some types of content, such as surgical techniques. Some learner and instructor learning styles do not adapt well to this "single channel" modality of relating to others in a linked classroom environment.

Data Transmission in AGL. Some types of AGL equipment, especially those that function on a single telephone line, can't readily transmit complex graphics in real-time over a voice-quality, analog telephone line. While preparing and downloading visuals in advance of the class deals with this problem, it is not always feasible to do so.