Audio material
I played with some voice altering software. I was considering the potential of using changed vocal quality to explore cultural biases.
For example having a single speaker record statements or opinions or questions. Using the voice altering software the timbre and pitch of the sound track could be changed to sound like a child, a young female adult, a young male adult, an old female or an old male etc.
The samples could be uploaded onto a wiki and learners could be asked to respond to the statement or question in a pre-structured form. Only after the fact would it be revealed that there was only a single speaker.
This software could also be used as part of a lesson in online safety, introducing learners to voice altering software as a technique that can obscure the identity of the person they are interacting with, particularly as it can be used real time. Or it could be used as a tool in online simulations.
I downloaded trial versions of Voice Changer Software Diamond and VOX Screaming Bee.
The free trial versions of both had only very limited features enabled, which meant I couldn't record a sample. I wasn't sufficiently interested in them to take out a subscripton. The link below is to a YouTube demonstration clip.
Of more direct relevance to my field is the use of audio material to simulate the impact of hearing loss. An example of this is a free application StarkeyHLS. This hearing loss simulator has sixteen pre-loaded profiles of hearing. The learner selects a profile of hearing loss and then can tap on icons to apply the effect of the hearing loss to everyday sounds such as a lawnmower, a tap, a mobile phone or the voice of a man, woman of child.
There isn't an option to download the audiofiles.
A simpler version is accessible off the Starkey.com website. It has only three profiles of hearing loss and pre-recorded samples of adult male, adult female, chile, outdoors sound and restaurant noise. Again, the sound samples cannot be downloaded so screen capture software would be required to capture the output, and it appears that would be in breach of copyright.
The most common audio files are podcasts or music. Podcasts serve as a personal radio station to the world. Among my personal favourites is the ABC produced Conversations with Ricard Fidler. The tagline "Spend an hour in someone else's life each weekday" captures the essence of the listening experience. Listeners can subcribe to podcasts with notifications sent by Really Simple Syndication (RSS) or iTunes.
Podcasts can be a way of accessing information from reputable sources, but as in all media, the onus is on the learner to be a discerning consumer. iTunes U provides accessto expert opinion on a wealth of topics.
I've created a podcast on the use of insert earphones when recording vestibular evoked myogenic potentials..... this could be used as a microlearning event. The sort of very short learning a clinician might fit in between clients, or access with a smart phone on the bus or train.
This type of file can either be linked to a podcasting site:
The insertion of earphones in vemp testing
Or the podcast can be embedded in the blog.
Or for a lengthier exposition, try this podcast from the American Tinnitus Associaton
In my context, the other use of music files would for learners to include them in shared or published learning artefacts. Music can be a powerful tool to convey or affect emotion. In schools the use of music creation programs, such as Garage Band could play a role in a creative arts.
The learning affordances of blogs
Online spaces
I regard the primary affordance of blogs as serving as a communication tool between the author and a selected audience. The author may be either the trainer or the learner. In my context this affords the use of reflective writing. Collaboration from the trainer or other learners can be provided in the form of Comments. Like the postings themselves, the comments are listed in chronological order, allowing the development of a logic thread. It also allows for the learner to display development of both thought and writing process.The trainer's blog can be used for setting tasks while the learners post completed assignments on their personal blogs. Alternatively, the learners could use the comment function on the trainer's blog to suggest future learning topics or to post questions on the current task.
An example of the collaborative affordane of Blogger is that multiple authors have access rights, for example co-teachers or even a whole class, as long as each author has a Google account.
The blog is established by a single author who then invites other authors to join.
Administrator rights can be assigned to as many of the authors as desired, which allows them to edit the posts created by other authors. Those not assigned administrator rights can post to the blog and edit their own postings, but not material posted by other authors.
Since authors can also be removed from the list, it allows the capacity to invite guest authors. For example if there was a theme on balance assessments, a vestibular physiotherapist could be invited as a guest blogger.
The invitation is sent to them by email, and appears like this.
Polls can be uploaded as a gadget to the blog home page. This could allow the collection of opinion that becomes the subject for a future blog post, or reader feedback which is used to modify aspects of the blog. In an educational setting this could be a way of creating relevant data for a graphing lesson, with the resulting graph then published back on the blog as part of a post on the results.
There are literally hundreds of gadgets which can be added. I have included several the on side bar to this blog. One way in which the gadgets can enhance access is the translator function. I've also improved the access of my blog by uploadng a text to voice widget. This functionality is accessed by clicking on the 'Hear this post' icon just above the comments area. I haven't yet identified how to move this icon to a more prominent location as it would be easily overlooked in the current location.
Networking can be scaffolded by the inclusion of Blog lists. The display format can be customised - I've chose to display the topic of the most recent post.
A different tool around 'technological access' is the Bandwidth Speed Test gadget. This has a particular significance to me, as issues around bandwidth and the audio versus data versus video prioritisation settings on our central and site servers, while optimising our voice over internet phone system, seriously impacted video download capacity. In effect this means that at some of our sites there are times that you cannot watch a YouTube clip online without the sound quality breaking up or waiting for buffering. This varies from day to day and site to site but has seriously impacted on an attempt to employ a blended learning approach. The first attempt to use recorded video lessons and quizes, as a prelude to a face to face session was less than a stellar success. This gives me a tool that I could ask my learners to install on their blogs as part of our exploration of the problem. if the were experiencing difficulty accessing the 'flipped classroom' materials they could log onto their blog to report this and note the download speed at the time.
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