I have a tough truth for you: The audio in your compliance training course may not be doing what you hope it is doing.
Let me explain.
For a long time, training courses have consisted of a slide of text with a disembodied voice reading exactly what’s on the slide. It’s like those little books that used to come with an audio tape of a friendly voice reading it to you, so, as a young reader, you could follow along. (I loved those.) You might still have some courses like this in your program and, occasionally, we do still get requests to make courses like this.
But we don’t recommend them. At all. Here’s why: Our brains don’t like them. Not just our (meaning Rethinkers’) brains – all human brains. When your brain tries to process information from two sources at once – audio and text – it goes into overload. Cognitive overload. Which drastically reduces learning.
It also increases learner frustration and dissatisfaction. Ask us how we know.
But we get what the makers of courses like this are trying to achieve with the voiceover. We just think (okay, science says we know) there’s a better way.
1. They want to reach different types of learners
There’s an old theory that people can be broken down into visual, auditory, text-based, and kinesthetic (motion) learners. This has largely been debunked. It turns out that people learn best when they get information in a variety of ways. (Even though everyone has preferences, of course.)
So, instead of reading out every word to learners, we recommend mixing it up. Use text, video, interaction, audio alone. Use each to reinforce the other. (Just not all at once!)
2. They want to be sure that people are paying attention
How do you know if someone is reading the text on the screen? You don’t. But humans can’t close their ears, the thinking goes. So the audio voiceover seems to add an extra layer of assurance that the learners is getting the information. But we all know how mute buttons work (and, um, just walking out of the room).
Instead, use smart design choices to keep the reader focused:
- Keep blocks of text small
- Make the hierarchy of information (that’s your headlines) clear and flow well down the page
- Use click-for-more interactions that add a little friction and interest
- Make it interesting! (I know, that’s not easy.)
3. They want to control the amount of time it takes to complete a course.
When there are regulatory requirements for the amount of training learners need in a particular topic, such as anti-harassment, audio voiceover is particularly tempting. You know exactly how long it takes to complete a course.
Without audio voiceover or timers on pages (another old learning bugbear), timing courses is more art than science.
Instead, we use two tools to time courses:
- Word counts based on the average adult reading speed
- Actual human beings
And, since we’ve avoided cognitive overload, we’re more confident in the quality of the learning taking place during that time period. Which should be the point anyway, right?
Does that mean we hate audio? No! Not at all. Audio can do fantastic things in a course:
- Add storytelling interest
- Add diversity through various accents
- Add richness to the background or set the scene
- Bring a human element to a dry topic
- Perk learners up before fatigue sets in
But a full voiceover doesn’t achieve any of that. And that’s the tough truth.
