Module 3 Table of Contents
Instructors who need to communicate verbally with remote learners but don’t need to send/receive visual information often favor audio technology. Audio technology provides a simple, cost-effective way to communicate verbally with individual learners or groups of learners. It also provides flexibility of location because little technical support and advance setup are required and it adapts easily to most locations wired for basic telephone service.
Audioconferencing devices range from telephones, speakerphones, and cellular phones with walkie-talkie capabilities to specially designed room systems with microphones, speakers, and sound-mixing equipment. Audioconferences can be used for various synchronous purposes, including meetings, program delivery, and guest lecturers. Because minimal equipment is required, learners and instructors have more flexibility of location; with little effort, they can transport a telephone and computer to any suitably wired room.
Audio technology also allows instructors to combine audio and visual information for remote learners. In a synchronous situation, interaction is primarily verbal (as in a teleconference); text and visuals presented via a computer or print media reinforce the interaction in much the same way that overhead transparencies reinforce interaction in a traditional classroom.
With new alternatives in audio and video production, asynchronous reusable and repurposeable audio learning objects can be produced fairly inexpensively and with minimal equipment. Increasingly more affordable, many programs such as Flash, Shockwave, and PowerPoint are set up to play audio and video on the Internet and within instructional materials. Microsoft Windows Media Player and Apple QuickTime Player are two free players that can be used to listen to audio instructional materials as well as music on a computer. Additionally, mp3 files are a widely used method to store and transmit compressed audio, either music or speech which can be played on mp3 players such as iPods or on many cellular phones.
Audio Technology: Characteristics
Audio technology
- is reliable, portable, and fairly easy to use.
- provides audio, the most critical component of remote communication.
- can be inexpensively installed, operated, and maintained.
- is reasonably interactive.
- can transmit both voice and images (audiographic applications).
- can be used for one-to-one or one-to-many instructional delivery.
- requires careful management of interaction between sites.
- limits visual interaction between sites.
- requires instructors to be organized.
- may require instructors to send instructional materials well in advance.
Audio Technology: Applications
Call-Back Devices
One-way video systems, like satellite-delivered programs, can be combined with telephones so that learners at remote sites can call the originating site and interact with instructors and other learners. In this situation one-way video is combined with two-way audio for improved interaction.
Audioconferences
Multiple sites can be bridged together via telephones or VoIP. Participants call into a bridge that interconnects locations. Audioconferences are good for brief presentations, for interaction where visual information isn’t important, and for inexpensive guest presentations in almost any kind of learning environment. Audioconferencing is an example of realtime audio.
Telephones
Learners and instructors can use standard telephones for one-to-one question-answer/feedback sessions. In addition to standard telephone person-to-person calls, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is becoming increasingly practical for such one-to-one sessions
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) VoIP services convert your voice into a digital signal that travels over the Internet. A broadband (high speed Internet) connection is required. Some VoIP services only work over your computer or a special VoIP phone, while other services allow you to use a traditional phone connected to a VoIP adapter. (FCC) Examples include Skype and Vonage.
Voice Mail Voice mail allows learners and instructors to communicate privately and asynchronously and to send voice messages to many people easily. Voice mail provides an effective vehicle for “homework hotlines” and other learner-instructor communication. Recent innovations in voice mail allow messages to be forwarded to email so the audio files can be played on any device that supports the file format.
Portable Audio Players
Portable audio players (including both stand-alone MP3 players and cellular phones with MP3 players) allow learners to listen to audio files on the go. When packaging audio files for portable players it is important to consider the file size as not all players have large quantities of memory. It is very easy for an audio file to be as large as 1MB per minute if not managed carefully.
Streaming Audio
Just as streaming video does, streaming audio provides access to audio on demand without waiting for a large file to download. No files are stored on the users computer. This technology is most commonly found in internet radio. Live streaming audio would be considered realtime audio. Streaming audio is also a useful option for larger audio files that resist compression since only a small bit is transmitted at a time.
Podcasting
Originally coined through Apple’s iPod system, the term podcasting describes technologies that automatically distribute audio and video programs over the Internet via a system of publishing and subscribing. It largely utilizes RSS feeds, which promote independent producers to create self-published radio shows, lectures, etc. Podcasts are normally downloaded for play on portable audio players and not streamed.
Apple iTunes is partnering with many colleges and universities to create iTunes U - a potential hub for academic podcasting. There are many other podcast hosts which will assist you in publishing podcasts such as LibSyn, Podbean, and Odeo. Also, many video hosting sites will also host audio.
Listeners commonly reach podcasts by use of "podcatcher" applications like iTunes, PodcastReady, or WebbIE - an accessible podcatcher. Many regular rss readers will also aggregate podcasts but they are not designed to automatically download and synchronize with the users' player like a podcatcher application.
Since the term "podcast" began with the iPod many people are still under the impression that you must have an iPod brand media player to listen to podcasts. Podcasts and other mp3 audio files can be played on any computer and a wide variety of media players including but not limited to iPods.
Fax Machines and Fax-Back Systems
While not truly “audio,” fax machines use standard phone lines for communication and are a helpful supplement to other technologies. Fax machines can almost instantaneously transmit text and other visual information from one site to another. With fax-back systems, learners can retrieve information by dialing into an automated system or requesting the information via computer; the information is then sent to learners via fax. While the quality of fax transmission is often low, it can provide an expedient way of delivering materials not available in digital form. Fax machines and fax-back systems are in process of being replaced by scanners, portable document format (pdf) files and email.
