Definition Audiotape (cassette) is an asynchronous tool. Audiocassettes contain recorded sound – usually the human voice, but often other sounds that are relevant to the learning experience. 
Key Characteristics
Audiocassettes are useful for capturing conversations with resource persons, formal speeches, short lectures, or foreign language communications. Learners can then listen to and analyze the content within their own timeframe. It is a means of communicating content that is not so easily expressed in print. Compared with most media other than print, audiotapes are readily accessible, easily duplicated, very versatile, low-tech and is easy for your learners to use and control. It doesn't involve expensive, non-portable playing equipment; and learners can stop, start and replay a tape with minimal fuss. It is also relatively easy and inexpensive (e.g. compared with video) for you to produce the necessary teaching materials. A well-designed audiocassette, when combined with print and other materials, can result in high levels of interactivity between the learner and the learning material. The learner is not limited to a narrow range of pre-determined responses, but can be encouraged to think individually and interpretatively. Audiocassettes can also be used to motivate participants or trigger group sharing of ideas and experiences. They can be used to present the views of experts, which help to increase the credibility of course materials. The replay feature of audiocassettes can be extremely important where the teaching intention is to go beyond mere comprehension and to develop higher level learning skills of analysis, evaluation, etc. Audiocassettes are especially useful for learning activities that require the nuances of inflection, such as foreign languages, or those that are designed for non-readers. » Back to top
Our Experience World Bank Institute course teams have found audiocassettes plus print to be a most cost effective media for delivering learning. Audiocassettes have been used for recording interviews or presentations with key resource persons; capturing highlights of conferences, workshops or events, or delivering short lectures or instructions. Many course teams welcome being able to speak naturally to their participants, exploiting informal, everyday examples and minor asides. With audiocassettes, they find that they can also use their tone of voice to suggest what is important and what is less so, in a way that would not be possible in print. We have found that audiocassettes present an inexpensive way to record case studies and interviews with key players. Use it if... - You want to communicate a clear message.
- You want to record a learning event for distribution to participants who are unable to attend.
- You can reuse the audiotape in other courses, workshops, on your website, etc.
Forget it if… - You do not have the time or budget to produce the audiocassettes to a quality standard.
- Your participants do not have access to audio cassette players.
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Examples Following are some uses/examples of audiocassettes for learning: - Talking participants through parts of the printed material
- Talking about real objects that need to be observed
- Talking participants through practical procedures so their hands and eyes are free for the practical activity
- Analyzing human interaction – here the role of audio and text are reversed, in that text is used to help analyze the audio material
- Providing feedback on participants activities
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Resources » Back to top
Design Suggestions Following are guidelines for creating quality audiocassettes for learning: 1. Write an outline – Before beginning, it is vital to determine the goal(s) of the audiocassette. Do this by outlining what will be on the cassette, including lectures, activities, etc. Think of how your printed material will support the cassette – or vice versa – how the cassette will support your printed material. Deliberate design to exploit some of the control features available to users of cassettes, such as stopping, re-winding, and repeating. Thus, the cassette can be broken up into a number of discrete, non-continuous segments. Activities can be built in, which require the student to stop the cassette and return to it later. 2. Write a script – Once the goal(s) are clear, write an outline. If you will be giving a lecture, look for logical breaks (15-20 minutes), where the learner can stop the cassette. If you will be taping an interview with an expert, write out questions that will assist the expert in expressing the goals of the cassette. If you are taping an activity, determine scenes to capture and people to interview. In all cases it helps to go through your script ahead of time with your team. When recording a lecture, consider using two presenters — two quite different voices, say a man and a woman — who pass the teaching back and forth between them. Also consider bringing in pre-recorded interviews or discussions with other people whose viewpoints or experience are likely to be of interest to your learners. 3. Produce the audio - To be sure you get the highest audio quality, have the cassette properly recorded in a studio to be sure to get the best possible equipment. A low hiss during the recording process may result in a major distraction when the duplicate is played.
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