72 Tips for Using Media to Engage and Teach

72TIPS

Using Media to Engage and Teach

i72 Tips for Using Media to Engage and Teach

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ii72 Tips for Using Media to Engage and Teach

72 Tips for Using Media to Engage and Teach

Introduction ��1

About Our Featured Tipsters ��2

Twenty-one Tips for Planning, Process, and Instructional Design for Media ��5

Two Tips for Making Media Accessible �� 10

Five Tips for Recording Live Video �� 11

Eleven Tips for Creating Whiteboard and Animated Videos �� 12

Seven Tips for Editing and Incorporating Video �� 15

Sixteen Tips for Recording Live Audio �� 17

Seven Tips for Editing and Incorporating Audio �� 21

Three Tips for Podcasting �� 23


IntroductionDear Colleagues,

In the early days of eLearning, “multimedia” usually meant illustrations and photos in addition

to text, and maybe a brief sound clip. Today, many organizations expect eLearning profession-

als to be experts in multiple media forms, including full-motion video, voiceovers, multiple

audio effects, and animations that go beyond flying-bullet-points text and spinning logos.

But few of us have formal education and training in videography, narration, sound design, audio

and video editing, and animation design and development. We’re confronted with an unfamil-

iar world of zooming and panning, frame and bit rates, compression, HD vs. SD, codecs, concept

vs. character animation, animation paths, and so on.

Additionally, few of us know what mix of hardware and software will produce the required

level of quality for our videos, audio, and animations. For our needs, is there a significant qual-

ity difference between a $150 and a $1,000 digital camcorder? Which microphone is best in

an insulated sound booth vs. outside? Is professional software worth the price, or will free or

low-cost options do a good enough job? Is a dedicated studio worth the investment?

Finally, many of us are unfamiliar with best practices for capturing and developing multimedia

content. Good video requires good lighting and subject coaching. Good narration requires a

solid script and appropriate voice talent. And designing with sound beyond the human voice

raises other issues as well.

It’s no wonder so many of us either choose to outsource our multimedia learning elements, or

throw up our hands and say, “Text, images, and the occasional sound clip are good enough!”

Don’t despair! With today’s hardware and software, capturing and producing professional-

quality multimedia for learning is easier than ever, and multimedia best practices are well

established. For this eBook, we asked 17 learning professionals who have worked successfully

with multimedia for learning to share their best tips. The 72 tips here provide a wide range of

advice on planning and instructional design; process considerations; accessibility; recording,

editing, and incorporating video and audio; developing whiteboard and animated videos; using

text effects and screen transitions effectively in animations; and podcasting. And even if you

choose to outsource your multimedia, at least you’ll be able to communicate more effectively

with your vendor. We have highlighted the tips from our featured contributors, and you can

learn more about them in the next section of this eBook.

I hope you find some valuable nuggets of information in this eBook, and are able to use many of

these tips to produce beautiful and effective multimedia learning.

Sincerely,

Chris Benz

Director of Online Events, The eLearning Guild

72 Tips for Using Media to Engage and Teach 2

About Our Featured Tipsters

Matt Arnold, Instructional Development Manager, Harrison College

Matt Arnold, an instructional development manager at Harrison College, manages

the design of online courses for the school of business and the Chef’s Academy using

a variety of digital tools to meet the needs of diverse learners. Prior to joining Har-

rison College, he taught for nine years in grades pre-kindergarten through 12. Matt

has extensive experience in educational technology and special education, especially

with instruction of students with learning disabilities. Matt holds a BS degree in

special education of mild disabilities and deaf education and an MA degree in educa-

tional technology and curriculum from Ball State University.

Yuna Buhrman, Senior Instructional Designer, Arizona State University Online

Yuna Buhrman is a senior instructional designer at Arizona State University Online.

Yuna has been in the eLearning field for 15 years, working at such places as Thom-

sonNetG and Pearson. Her roles have ranged from instructional designer to project-

team leader. Recently she managed the search, purchase, and implementation of

an LMS for an international nonprofit organization. Yuna’s goal is to maximize the

learner’s ROI on their time and effort, and working with offshore international teams

has given her a global perspective on design and collaboration. Yuna holds an MS

degree in instructional design and technology from Walden University.

Cory Casella, User Experience Designer, Alden Systems

Cory Casella is a user experience designer for Alden Systems, and also contracts

through Obsidian. A design professional with a passion for communicating complex

ideas through simple and elegant designs, Cory has been animating since middle

school when he used the pages of his textbooks. Now he brings his lifelong passion

for animation and design to the business world through eLearning, graphic design,

and programming..


Stephen Haskin, Principal, Industrial Strength Learning

Stephen Haskin, the principal of Industrial Strength Learning, started in video pro-

duction and computing in the 1970s. He has worked with digital video and eLearning

since the late 1980s, and he has been at the forefront of streaming media. Previ-

ously, Stephen was a producer and director of film and video and won many awards

for his work. He worked for the University of Michigan for several years, but has now

returned to the private sector where he currently directs and consults for distance-

learning projects and video. Stephen frequently speaks at conferences and seminars,

is the author of three books, and is writing a fourth book about media and learning.

Pooja Jaisingh, eLearning Evangelist, Adobe Systems

Pooja Jaisingh, an eLearning evangelist at Adobe Systems, has worked for more

than 12 years as a teacher trainer, eLearning instructional designer, and eLearning

evangelist for Adobe Systems. In all her roles, Pooja has promoted eLearning as a

mode of delivery and has created a host of eLearning courses. In her current role, she

conducts numerous seminars and workshops, educating folks about the features of

Adobe Systems’ eLearning products. Pooja holds a master’s degree in education and

economics and a doctorate in educational technology.

Scott Nipper, Technical Training Manager, Americas, Barco

Scott Nipper, the technical training manager, Americas, for Barco, has been design-

ing and developing eLearning for over 10 years. In addition to numerous awards and

special recognition while at Intel, Scott participated in the design of an eLearning

project that received a prestigious Stevie Award. At Barco, a global high-tech firm,

he manages the learning function and oversees the eLearning program. Scott helped

design and develop the eLearning instructional-design certification program at Sac-

ramento State University’s College of Continuing Education and currently teaches

courses in the program.


TJ Palazzolo, Senior Principal Curriculum Developer, Oracle Corporation

TJ Palazzolo, a senior principal curriculum developer for Oracle Corporation, has

spent the past 10 years consulting on and implementing training-development and

evaluation processes for the enterprise-software industry, including the introduc-

tion and integration of cloud technologies and rapid eLearning tools. TJ’s passions

include hands-on learning and continuous process improvement.

Margaret Wells, Senior Instructional Designer, Arizona State University Online

Margaret Wells, a senior instructional designer at Arizona State University Online,

has more than 10 years of experience in the higher-education industry, focusing on

instructional design, support, and training in various roles. Most recently, Margaret

spent five years in a corporate learning and development department as an eLearning

developer, working with project teams, a learning management system, and a variety

of eLearning software applications to produce online training. At ASU Online for the

past year, her focus is on designing continuing-education courses. Maggie holds a

master’s degree in adult education and training and a master’s degree in curriculum

and instruction from University of Phoenix.

ONLINE CONFERENCESTwo Days. Ten Sessions. Real Learning.

June 12 & 13: Using Media to Engage and Teach

July 17 & 18: New Instructional Design for New

Instructional Technology

August 14 & 15: Managing and Repurposing

Learning Content

September 18 & 19: mLearning: Best Practices

for Supporting Learning in Motion

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Using Media to Engage and Teach: Tips, Techniques, and Best Practices

Join this Online Forum as we examine tips, techniques, and best practices for successfully using media to engage learners and drive knowledge retention.

Looking for more tips on using multimedia to en-gage your learners? Join our June Online Forum!

T H U R S DAY, J U N E 1 2 F R I DAY, J U N E 1 3

• New Ideas for New Media

• Audio Tools to Enhance Online Learning

• Making Time-lapse and Stop-motion Video for eLearning

• Sounds Great: The Top 5 Things You Need to Know for Great eLearning Audio

• Using GoAnimate, Sparkol VideoScribe, and Plotagon to Engage the Learner

• From Scratchy to Natural! Adding VTML Magic to Text-to-speech Narration

• Back to School: Quickly Create Effective Whiteboard Videos

• Using Your Voice to Engage and Teach

• Build Your Own Studio: Stop Outsourcing Multimedia

• The Media Cookbook: An Analogy

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Twenty-one Tips for Planning, Process, and Instructional Design for MediaDon’t plan on winging it: Doing your homework and planning every step will give you the best chance of successfully incorporating media into your eLearning� Let these 21 tips help you start on the right track�

Working with media is great, but it presents new challenges. Just like cooking with a new ingredient, you need to figure out how it works with your current recipes. Depending on the ingredient, it could dramatically change or take over a dish; or it could be an accent to an already tasty flavor profile. Working with me-dia is no different. Figure out if you want your media as an accent or as the focal point first, and then build your process around that.

Cory Casella

Don’t bite off more than you can chew. Too often in eLearning production, we don’t get the time to do it the way we might see it in our head. Learn how to judge how much time it will take you to do any task.

Steve Haskin

After you’re done shooting, if you’ve shot your video on tape, capture the tape and store it on two different drives. If it’s on a chip, you’d better do the same, except this way, you can drag files.

Steve Haskin

Have a script for voiceovers. Don’t wing it. Don’t! Ever! Wing it! Write down what you are going to say. No matter how short the module may be or how little you may say. And write it the way you would naturally say it. If someone else gives you the content, put it down on paper the way you would say it. If someone gives you an actual script of what to say, make sure you look it over and check that they wrote it in a way you would say it. If not, make adjustments and get their approval.

Scott Nipper


When using media to enhance learning, worry less about the media and worry more about whether the media is adding to the learning and WHAT it is adding. Creating a business requirement that forces media into a course is about the worst thing you can do. Figure out your message first. Then figure out how you are going to convey that message. Sometimes a 10-second video can save you three paragraphs of text.

Cory Casella

Do your homework—that means pre-production. You can’t always fix it in post-production. There’s an old saying in video: “We’ll fix it in post.” Unless you go into the production knowing that you can’t get exactly what you want and you have a way to do what you want in post-production, don’t even shoot it.

Steve Haskin

Development should be a two-way street. A lot of times, when building courses, you have these buckets. For a lot of companies, these buckets have labels some-thing like “Gather Requirements,” “Build the Course,” “Design the Course,” and “Deliver the Course.” A course goes through the process of development being thrown from one bucket to the next. Do away with buckets. The person gather-ing requirements shouldn’t just hand those requirements off and never see them again. That person should have input throughout the process. Also, putting de-sign earlier in the process could help solve visual problems earlier (and for much less cost). Having people with the right skills helping in each phase of develop-ment will solve the big problems early.

Cory Casella

Create a thorough script prior to recording to keep audio content short and to the point.

Matt Arnold

Back up everything—more than once. Everything!

Steve Haskin


If you are a one-person eLearning shop and must pretty much develop the course on your own, try splitting your eLearning development tasks into logical seg-ments instead of juggling all of them at the same time. Each task in an eLearning development cycle requires specialized skills—when you need to do them all, wear one cap at a time to accomplish the tasks. Concentrating on one task at a time will give you wonderful results. Here’s the plan I follow when I’m developing eLearning courses:

• Wear the instructional designer’s cap to analyze the content and develop a storyboard. Having the storyboard ready relieves me of keeping watch on content flow and clarity.

• Wear the graphic designer’s cap, and develop course layout and screen assets using a photo-editing tool. This helps me start with a bunch of assets instead of a blank screen in the eLearning authoring tool. It also helps me concentrate on the aesthetics and usability aspect of the course.

• Wear the audio composer’s hat and complete the recording and editing of the narration.

• Wear the eLearning designer’s hat and start building the course using the assets. This makes the eLearning development a breeze because now I can exclusively concentrate on building the screens, adding objects, and creat-ing interactions.

Pooja Jaisingh

At the end of the day, learners want to learn. Anything that facilitates that is posi-tive. Anything that detracts from it is negative. Media can do either.

Cory Casella

The project-management life cycle methodology can be useful as a process framework for developing new learning media.

Adrian Tam, Baldwin Wallace University

Sometimes the best option is NOT media.

Tricia Ransom, Guardian Analytics

Don’t let learners passively watch. Ask them to reflect on what they just saw and tie it into the lesson.

Kristen Hayden Safdie, ATPCO


The Four Programme Areas

Keep it simple! Use text effects and screen transitions to communicate concepts in animations. Using BIG text and purposeful movement can keep the learner engaged without sensory overload.

Jacqueline Bessette, Dare Mighty Things

Never distract the learner with unnecessary text or graphics. Go through your product with a critical eye and describe the instructional purpose of each high-light, animation, and graphic.


Always keep the learner and learning outcomes in mind when developing media. Think of long, text-heavy PowerPoint presentations—they are easy to create, but the viewer may find them dull and lifeless.


Review empirical studies and evidence. Sometimes things that you think will help the learner, such as showing a transcript of the narration on the screen, only leads to cognitive overload.


Always begin with the written word. Refine, refine, refine the script, and then worry about the media.

Tricia Ransom, Guardian Analytics


Mix up your media! Select a theme for each lesson and use it consistently in mul-timedia visuals and interactivities. Choose from concept animation, character animation, vignettes, stock imagery, and more!

Jacqueline Bessette, Dare Mighty Things

Even if your organization has not gone mobile, consider how projects in develop-ment and vendor services will fare in a mobile environment. Media that is not mobile-ready may be obsolete sooner than you think.


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Two Tips for Making Media AccessibleYou want your media to reach as many people as possible; these tips will help�

For your narration-based courses, don’t forget to add closed captions. If you are an advanced user of your eLearning authoring tool, try adding an Audio On/Off button that can toggle audio and closed captions with a click. Hide closed captions when audio is on, and show closed captions when audio is off. This will allow the users to access either audio or closed captions and will help you avoid redundancy.

Pooja Jaisingh

For all your media and interactive elements, add accessibility text to make learn-ing more meaningful for your learners with special needs. Keep the accessibility text crisp and clear to explain the visuals and actions on the screen.

Pooja Jaisingh


Five Tips for Recording Live VideoDon’t forget the basics: Check your equipment� Use proper lighting� You will kick yourself if you mess up these foundational elements�

Check your equipment. It doesn’t matter if you’re even shooting with a smart-phone—check the operation of the camera, etc., before you go out. If you’re shooting with a “regular” video camera or a DSLR, check everything.

Steve Haskin

Always carry spares. There’s nothing worse than having a battery die and not having a spare. Or having a bad cable for sound and not having a spare. Or hav-ing a light burn out and not having a spare bulb. Anything that can go wrong will eventually go wrong. Be a Boy Scout. Be Prepared.

Steve Haskin

First rule of video production: If it can go wrong it will … eventually. Maybe not on this shoot or on the next 10, but it will.

Steve Haskin

Make sure you light your subject properly. Nothing distracts a viewer more than bad lighting. And if you’re recording an SME, she or he will get angry too!

Steve Haskin

Make sure your microphone is operating properly. Check the sound and see above about SMEs. It has happened to me.

Steve Haskin


Eleven Tips for Creating Whiteboard and Animated VideosFrom simple transitions to matching the timing of whiteboard videos to presentations, our tipsters provide some valuable pointers�

Design before you build! Although the GoAnimate interface is quite friendly and easy to navigate, knowing exactly how you want your final video to look is a huge time saver. Since you insert each character motion and speech on individual slides, a robust storyboard detailing when a character enters, what she or he will say, if there is music, etc., will make your development much smoother. Your sto-ryboard does not need to be a work of art; it can be stick figures or just shapes. All you need is a roadmap that can get you from that first blank screen to the last.

Yuna Buhrman and Margaret Wells

As an alternative to using Articulate or similar tools to animate and narrate slides, consider recording yourself on a video camera while drawing on a white-board. All you need is a digital camera that can record HD video, a microphone, and some type of basic video-editing software such as Apple iMovie, Sony Movie Studio, or CyberLink PowerDirector.

TJ Palazzolo

Consider delivery methods first: Just like for any other project, when using Go-Animate it’s important to consider how your audience will experience the final video. The final product of GoAnimate is a video file. Are you going to embed this video into a larger course? Is your audience behind a firewall that will block the video? If you are planning on linking the physical files to your course, are there file size limitations to take into account? Deciding how you will use your video should be part of your initial design to avoid delays later on in the process.


Don’t rush your whiteboard recording. Draw and write slowly and clearly, and try to do it at a constant pace. It doesn’t hurt to practice each scene a few times. Remember that you’ll speed things up a lot later on when you import and edit the video on your computer.

TJ Palazzolo


Think about the story you wish to tell: Sparkol VideoScribe works best for short, animated pieces. To pack the most punch in a short amount of time, we recom-mend some pre-planning. You can think of it as a commercial or advertising spot where you must set the scene, pick your characters, and decide how to deliver your message or main selling points in a way that sticks. Drafting this short story on paper will help you determine the visuals you wish to include, their sequence, and the camera angles or effects to add to each element in Sparkol.


Determine the output needed for delivery: Sparkol VideoScribe can output a few different video formats. We generally recommend QuickTime. However, we recommend FLVs if you will post your VideoScribe to YouTube. If you want to do post-production work outside of Sparkol, you can output to a PNG sequence.


Ideally, the duration of your published whiteboard video (normally about two times faster than you originally drew it) should be the same duration as your planned audio narration. You can adjust the playback rate of the video for each scene to match the audio length, but, if possible, try to keep a similar rate for all scenes. You want to avoid a video in which you draw slowly in one scene and then really fast in the next scene.

TJ Palazzolo

When planning to use Plotagon, pretend you are writing a movie or television script. Describe the scene and its actors. To shape the dialogue and action in your script, think about the characters’ personalities, the kinds of interaction they will have, and why these interactions will occur. Remember to add sound effects and music to your script for dramatic effect. Plotagon will do the rest by converting your script into a movie you can share.


Before recording yourself at the whiteboard, draw a box on the whiteboard and then position your camera so that the box is just outside the viewing area. This will help you visualize the real estate you have to work with. If you don’t have a camera stand or tripod, use some tape to make sure the camera doesn’t move from its original position.

TJ Palazzolo


Plotagon export and sharing: You can share Plotagon videos via the Plotagon website and YouTube.


After you record a scene at the whiteboard, don’t forget to use the eraser. The eraser provides easy-to-do and natural transitions between the scenes in your video. Alternatively, take advantage of the transition effects of your video editor.

TJ Palazzolo

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Seven Tips for Editing and Incorporating VideoDon’t underestimate the value of the right equipment for editing your video� But don’t go shopping just yet—what you need might be on your computer right now�

Make sure your editing software is up to the task. Frequently, free software seduces many of us, but if you’re serious about video at all, the freebies won’t do. You’ll hit the possibility ceiling and usually the files aren’t transportable to differ-ent software.

Steve Haskin

When prepping to compress your audio and/or video, take a small sample of con-tent—less than a minute—and then export and test your compression settings. Once you are happy with the export, run the larger files. This will save time and allow for faster compression.

Nick Floro, Sealworks Interactive Studios

I’ve used a couple of tools in Articulate Presenter to create software simulations. For the “show me” section, I used the Path animation to show learners a hand tapping through the screens on a handheld device. Then I let learners practice those steps themselves using hotspots and layers. If they tapped on the hotspot, it would take them to a positive feedback layer. If they clicked anywhere else, they would get hints from the negative feedback layer and an opportunity to try again.

Daniel Sweigert, E-Learning with Dan

For video- or screen-based content, reduce your pixel ratio to 960x540 or small-er based on your output device. For your frame rate, use 15 frames per second (fps) for your compressed content to reduce your file size by half and still have amazing playback quality. You can also compress your content to a smaller size and then, when laying out your content, size it up to 2x. Because of the built-in pixel doubling in modern codecs, your content will still look great.



Video can add a lot to an interactive software simulation. More than once I have imported a video into an eLearning module and cropped, sized, and placed it where the UI or viewing screen would be to provide a more realistic simulation. I’ve also used a combination of triggers, states, layers, and variables to tell Ar-ticulate Storyline when the videos should play, pause, or disappear altogether, all in response to the learner’s clicks on the simulated interface.


For screen recordings and screencasts, you can test your data rate; lowering the number will decrease the size of your file. Run several tests for the optimal set-ting. On average, we use a starter setting of 500 – 1,200 kilobits per second (Kbps).


Many people don’t realize that you can use Microsoft PowerPoint to resize, crop, and arrange multiple videos on one slide, and then save them as a new video file using the Save As option. You can then import those videos into eLearning tools or into most video-editing tools to add other effects and edits.



Sixteen Tips for Recording Live AudioIf audio isn’t clear, it doesn’t matter how valuable the content is� These 16 tips will help you record high-quality audio�

Use a real microphone. The microphone in your laptop or mobile device doesn’t have the dynamic range, sensitivity, signal-to-noise ratio, frequency response, desired polar response, sound-pressure-level handling capability, or equivalent noise level of a microphone designed for voice recording. The one thing that you cannot tell from the types of specifications listed above, but is equally important, is how the microphone actually sounds. They are all different. But even the least expensive microphone is better than the one in your laptop. It is the single most important investment you will make towards good audio, so get the best you can afford. Nothing is more important than the original, raw audio signal that you record. You can make a good audio recording sound terrible, but you can’t make a terrible audio recording sound good.

Scott Nipper

Record your audio in the quietest place you can find. And then try to make it even quieter. You may think your cubicle is quiet, or the small conference room down the hall is quiet, but your microphone doesn’t. Locations with lots of hard surfac-es are bad. Windows, bare walls, tile or hardwood floors, desks, tables, cabinets, and other furniture or objects with sharp edges take audio waves and bounce them all around, and all those bounced sound waves enter the microphone at dif-ferent angles and at different times. That’s bad. Locations with lots of soft, cushy, plush surfaces are good. Drapes, curtains, carpet, couches, cushions, padded chairs, mattresses, blankets, quilts, or even boxes filled with packing foam take audio waves and keep them. That’s good. Your goal is to keep all the bouncing sound waves from entering the microphone from anywhere but your mouth and at any time other than when you speak. Remember the forts you used to build as a kid using couch cushions and blankets? That’s the idea. Recording at home? Do it in a closet filled with clothes. Or, build a fort. Recording at work? Bring in a blanket or comforter and throw it over your head, laptop, and microphone. There are also inexpensive sound baffles you can buy specifically designed for voice-over work.

Scott Nipper


When necessary, hire voice talents to create high-quality professional audio content.

Matt Arnold

Make sure the time and place of your recording is not conducive to interruptions. You don’t want the phone to ring or the dog to bark just when you are getting it right.

Scott Nipper

Speak well. Good diction, proper enunciation, clarity of voice, and careful attention to the way you pronounce words will go a long way to achieving a good audio track.

Scott Nipper

Create good-quality audio recordings to ensure clear production of content. Eliminate background noises as best as possible. When available, use an omnidi-rectional microphone.

Matt Arnold

Speak with conviction. Have you ever noticed the way someone talks who is convinced their message is correct and is confident in their delivery? They tend to speak more slowly and with articulation. They don’t rush. Be that person.

Scott Nipper

Be interested. The tone of your voice is an integral part of your recording. If it doesn’t reflect an interest in the subject and topic, then you can’t expect it to generate interest with your audience. It shouldn’t be exaggerated or contrived, either. It must be real. People can, and will, pick up on that.

Scott Nipper

Rehearse. Practice what you are going to say the way you are going to say it. You will save yourself lots of time in the long run by avoiding false starts and retakes or having to punch in changes.

Scott Nipper


Be ready, rested, and relaxed. Clear your mind of distractions, issues, fires, and other day-to-day stuff that tends to have you worried and stressed out. All of that will come across in your delivery. Do your recording early in the morning or late at night, depending on when you tend to be the most rested and relaxed. When you hit the record button, be there and nowhere else.

Scott Nipper

First time is a charm. I can’t tell you how often I have repeatedly recorded some-thing trying to get it just right, only to listen back to the first take and realize it sounds the best. If you are rehearsed, relaxed, and ready to perform, then just go for it and get through it. You can always edit out mistakes or punch in changes. It is much easier to do that than to keep going over and over it trying to get it all just right from the beginning.

Scott Nipper

Do it all at once. Having different parts or sections sound different will make your audio sound unprofessional. The hardest thing to do is to match up the sound of a recording done on Monday morning with one done Tuesday afternoon or even later on Monday. Why? Because you’re different. The environment’s dif-ferent. Your attitude, demeanor, mood, and your general state of being changes. The air temperature, humidity, and pressure are different and that affects the way the sound waves enter the microphone which, in turn, affects the way your voice sounds on the recording. The best way to get a smooth, consistent record-ing that sounds like it was recorded all at the same time is to actually record it all at the same time. If that’s not possible, do these things: Make a note of how you feel when you’re recording, the time of day, and the environment and try to record again when you can replicate those conditions as closely as possible. Also take note of the distance your mouth is from the microphone and the settings you are using and replicate those as closely as possible.

Scott Nipper

Monitor with headphones. Too many people make the mistake of listening back to their recorded audio through their laptop speakers or external speakers. You can’t hear all of the nuances and finer details of a recording using speakers. To hear the details and prevent any noise around you from confusing what you are hearing, you should use closed headphones. A decent pair of closed headphones is inexpensive and will go a long way in helping you create a great audio track.

Scott Nipper


Always make sure you check your microphone recording level before you start. You want to set the level so that the loudest part of your delivery doesn’t go into the red zone on your recording indicator. But you also want to make sure the softest parts aren’t too soft. The best way to control that is at the source. That is, your mouth. Microphone technique is the practice of knowing when to back off the microphone so you don’t overload the signal and when to get closer so that the softer passages aren’t too soft. It takes practice, but good microphone tech-nique is something to strive for. Another way is by using compressors and limit-ers which are often part of the software and can be invoked either at the time of recording or afterwards when editing and mixing. However, know that driving a signal into the red in a digital domain will result in a distorted sound that is very unpleasant and you should avoid it completely. Having a uniform level will also help when transitioning between voice audio and other forms of audio such as music and sound effects. Knowing what level everything is set at will ensure that one form, such as a music track, doesn’t come in too loud, unless that’s the desired effect.

Scott Nipper

Do a dry run. Once you have your levels set and your script is ready and you are ready, do a test of the recording. Hit record and go through a minute or so of recording and then stop. Play it back and see how it sounds. Is it too loud, too soft, too much background noise, too much room noise, too much “popping”? “Popping” is the sound you get when you pronounce hard consonants, like “p,” and force too much air into the microphone. You can reduce the effect by being softer on the pronunciation of those consonants, moving your head to one side when pronouncing them, or using a pop filter. Make any necessary adjustments to correct the issues and test again. Once you are satisfied that it sounds fine, hit record and take one.

Scott Nipper

Just because a person is capable of reading a script aloud doesn’t mean they should record your voiceover. If there’s no engagement or interest on the part of your voiceover artist, there will be no engagement or interest on the part of your learner.

Jackie Van Nice, Freelancer

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Seven Tips for Editing and Incorporating AudioAudio is an important way to connect with your audience—if you use it right� Are you matching your audio to the way your learners use audio? Are you giving them audio feedback? Some of these tips might surprise you�

Think of how learners listen to content when creating audio. Do they listen with only one earbud? If so, then record important audio content in mono instead of stereo.

Matt Arnold

If you are planning to add voiceover to your course, find some time to learn how to normalize audio, apply noise cancellation, and match volume for all your audio clips. These three operations are very simple to perform and most of the audio-editing tools have these options readily available under an Effects or Favorites section. Treat your recorded audio with these three filters and you’ll be amazed to get near-professional audio output.

Pooja Jaisingh

Learners feel more valued and engaged when receiving audio feedback as op-posed to text feedback. Audio is an intimate format of communication that trig-gers affective learning.

Matt Arnold

Edit, edit, edit. You don’t need to live with that “um,” sniffle, mistake, too-long pause, too-short pause, or too-loud transition to music. There is free audio-edit-ing software available that provides plenty of capability to edit out noise (noise = anything you don’t want in the recording), edit-in silence or new takes, adjust lev-els, even apply effects. They all work basically the same, and the learning curve is not high. Invest the time. You’ll be glad you did.

Scott Nipper

Use sound effects and music sparingly and purposefully. As with anything in media, content is key.

Matt Arnold


If you have audio narration with step-by-step instructions on one slide that you don’t want to play all at once, you can use triggers in Articulate Storyline to get them to play when the learner clicks something. This is especially helpful with software training. Just break up the audio into separate tracks on the same slide and apply the triggers to each track individually.


If you are going to use audio to read the words on the screen, give the learner full control of when the audio starts and stops. Automatically reading the text on the screen to the learner will always be at a different rate to the learner’s own read-ing speed, and this will be distracting.

Neil Lasher, FireEye


Three Tips for PodcastingPodcasts can be a valuable learning tool� These three tips will help you make the most of the technology�

Need some ideas to get you started on podcasting? Try recording internal sub-ject-matter experts, like your compliance officer, HR benefits specialist, or even your CEO sharing their views on industry issues.

Frank Morris, LeaderLink

Want to extend the benefits of coaching to more than just a few in your com-pany? Record the best career tips and strategies and share them via podcast to your whole staff.


Design training at the speed of need. Record your company’s training sessions, speakers, and executive interviews. Podcast the recordings so your staff can learn in the gym and in the car.
