Getting to grips with audio concepts is never exactly easy, but often with the right people around you, you can find a way to learn quickly. Getting yourself motivated to learn and stay focussed is half the battle. One of the methods Audiocourses.com uses to make learning fun is through LIVE interaction.
Audiocourses.com is an online virtual college specialising in delivering, and actually pioneering, the City & Guilds 1820 Sound Engineering Part 3 qualification. The City & Guilds Part 3 (soon to be known as simply Level 4) has been in existence in face-to-face audio colleges and schools for a number of years. John Mizzi, of Sound Engineering International (SEI), was the man leading the way for making such a great qualification available to so many people over the last 10 years.
Times change in the age of the technological revolution and adult learners now demand far more flexible learning environments that accommodate their busy schedules. Audicourses.com has been addressing those students’ needs throughout its operation, and by combining strong academic values with modern delivery methods and methodologies it is, without a doubt, at the “cutting edge” of online audio education.
The City & Guilds Sound Engineering Part 3 has now been run online successfully for 12 months seeing two complete cohorts through from an incredibly wide demographic area. Last year saw Audiocourses.com graduate students in the following countries: America, Canada, Portugal, Spain, United Kingdom, Estonia and Ireland with this year seeing further countries coming online such as Denmark and Italy.
Education is about more than just obtaining an audio qualification.
Ease of Technology Use
The idea that paper based courses that have been so over used for so long in the traditional classroom can be merely transferred to work in an online mode is simply short-sighted. Educators that do take that approach are unfortunately not doing their reputation or their students any favours. Technology really does need to become as transparent as possible when it comes to educational delivery and systems ought to be in place that do that, “support” the learner in the use of technology, whatever the subject material.
Availability (system working)
If the online system is not functional 100% of the time then student motivation will suffer dramatically. Student expectations in the online mode are far greater when it comes to things working. That’s understandable in that the equivalent of the technology not working in the face-to-face mode would be the actual teacher not showing up! Audiocourses.com took the decision 12 months ago to build its City & Guilds 1820 Sound Engineering Part 3 learning nodes on dedicated servers which are backed-up every hour. You simply cannot run learning technology on virtual servers that are bandwidth limited or slow in responsiveness.
Quantity of Production advisor input
Quantity levels certainly do not account for academic quality though research does suggest that moderate to high levels of instructor presence will initiate a more sustained and motivated approach by the learners. Students often need regular feedback and encouragement to check their own progress with a high level of instructor input retention rates could also suffer.
Quantity of learner Input
Remember the phrase “you get out what you put in”? Well with suitably constructed learning environments online audio education can borrow that philosophy. The inter-connected nature of online learning systems, by its nature, means that the possibilities for exploration are massive. Audicourses.com has seen this first hand in that the more a student spends online and engaged on tasks the far greater the learning outcomes and enjoyment factor.
Module Discussions
Naturally learners sign up, as they are thirsty for audio knowledge and techniques to improve their mixes or their recordings. This is where strong content and modules are needed that provides enough material for the students to become completely engrossed in.
Enjoyment Factor
So it’s not all-hard work then? Learning should be fun, shouldn’t it? Remember those feelings as a child when everything is new and exciting and we are discovering. Discovery is the keyword here for the methods Audiocourses.com adopts. The dynamic audio staff works in the audio field and have also witnessed first hand what it means to deliver audio education in traditional institutions where the main line is “bums on seats”. The move away from instructor lead education continues worldwide (slowly) though at Audiocourses.com it is exclusively STUDENT LED instruction. It’s still so amusing to see so many instructors not being able to hand over that academic power to their students.
Support
Supporting the learner is essential if you consider that online one can become isolated far quicker than offline. Offline the student only needs to make an appointment with the faculty secretary and pop into the lecturer’s office. So adequate support means providing that ease in the online mode such as telephones, e-mails, live paging and forums, coupled with responsive and timely returns.
Assignments
Let it flow…. It’s pleasurable having outcomes based learning models as this really does open up the creative choices the online instructors have in delivering ideas, in order to reach those outcomes. If assignments are too prescribed and “fixed” there is not much room for “tailoring” a course to those who are currently enrolled. If the model used has room for cohort customising greater success will follow, not to mention far greater student enjoyment.
Sense of Online Community
Replacing the social gap online is all about encouraging “interaction” and regular contact with peers and instructors. This is not as hard as it sounds and in fact Audicourses.com holds its weekly “Live Workshops” to reinforce the sense of an audio community. The student feedback regarding these sessions is always excellent and it is uplifting to see such a great “buzz” week in week out. Imagine it, 10 people from 10 countries all online together and discussing vocal compression.
Quantity of your Input (student)
Quantity vs. quality is an age-old argument, though rather than encouraging less is more why not encourage high levels of communication? It’s about removing obstacles and fears so that a student can feel comfortable and not embarrassed to speak up.
Overall Impression of the System
If it isn’t broke don’t fix it. Audiocourses.com uses tried and tested methods which; though rigorous and determined, do in fact achieve incredible results. A 100% pass rate for 2003 is no mean feat for any institution let alone an online one! This is not a reflection that the courses are “easy” or “ simple” in fact quite the opposite where we have seen students burning the candle at both ends and loosing sleep in order to study. No, this is about excellence and a mission of continued achievement in online audio education.
Please visit http://www.audiocourses.com for further information. This article may be re-produced on the web providing an active link is left in place.
Christopher Hambly MA ODE
Admissions @ audiocourses.com
Tel: +39 3389482554
http://www.audiocourses.com
About Audiocourses.com
Audiocourses.com is primarily concerned with the development of an online learning community and the continued research of online audio education. Audiocourses.com has pioneered the City & Guilds 1820 Sound Engineering Part 3 qualification in the online mode and continues to reach out worldwide. Audiocourses.com is also a syndicated news services that accepts news submissions from audio related fields.
