We all know and appreciate the value and importance of education. However, what many people don’t know is just how popular eLearning services have become and how much of a demand there is for them. Did you know that in 2021, 20 million new learners registered for online courses, making the number of learners using online learning services 92 million? That might not sound impressive, but in 2016 the number was only 21 million. As such, as an eLearning provider, you are probably wondering how you can improve your content. One of the ways that you can do this is by introducing voice-overs to your eLearning content. Voice-over services for online content, like those offered by Voquent, have also been on the rise, and many e-learning providers are using them to increase their reach and success dramatically. If you’re not familiar with the benefits of voice-over in eLearning, let’s catch you up.
What are Voice-Overs?
The first question that you might have is, “what exactly are voice-overs?”. If you have watched a foreign film in your own language, a documentary, or an animated production like cartoons and video games, you have already heard them.
A voice-over is simply a recording of someone’s voice placed over a specific visual media. There are many different types of voice-overs, such as dubbing, UN-style, and narration. Voice-overs within themselves offer a wide range of benefits. However, in terms of the voice-overs used in eLearning, there are even more, such as increased accessibility for students, providing another method of teaching other than reading, and the fact that it helps to retain the student’s attention.
From learning to eLearning
eLearning as a form of education has gained more and more respect over the years since many people, for the longest time, assumed that in-person learning was the most superior.
In America alone, more than 17 million people are taking online courses, whether for extracurricular educational purposes, remote students, to learn a new language, or to freshen up their professional skills. One of the most compelling statistics for the promotion of eLearning is that employees have stated that they learn five times more effectively whilst learning online than they would if they were in a room with an instructor – the following topics are just some of the reasons why.
Increased Accessibility
One of the most significant benefits that voice-overs in eLearning provide is increased accessibility for students. Did you know that only 17% of the world’s global population speaks English? While it is the largest percentage, billions of people speak other languages. If you were to use voice-overs to create language variations of your course, you would no longer be limiting the reach of your audience – everyone is a potential customer.
More importantly, not everyone has time to sit down and read through the material, and this lack of time reduces the accessibility of content. We can see this just by looking at how popular audiobooks have become. Many students prefer to listen to their lessons, especially if they are busy doing other things, which means that in addition to accessibility, it also provides convenience.
Not Everyone Can Read
The next benefit that voice-overs offer for e-learning courses is that not everyone can read, so having voice-overs in the content allows those who can’t read, struggle to read, or have issues with their sight to learn effectively -The current statistics state that around 750 million adults worldwide can’t read.
In addition to providing education to those with reading difficulties, some simply don’t like reading. This statement is made plainly evident by the fact that 24% of Americans haven’t read a book in the past year, and this statistic is most likely larger when including the global population. There could be many reasons for this, such as not having the time or simply because other forms of consuming information are more enjoyable and engaging. Instead of forcing students to enjoy a specific teaching method, voice-over can adapt learning to suit students.
The Types of Learners
As we move towards the future, more is being discovered regarding how people learn, including that there are actually different types of learners.
There are millions of people out there who learn more successfully when listening to the content rather than reading it. It’s essential to keep in mind that everyone is different, and there aren’t only visual learners but auditory learners, learners who benefit more from reading and writing, as well as kinaesthetic learners, who benefit from practical learning over theoretical learning.
Retain Student Attention
One of the biggest benefits of using voice-overs in e-learning content is helping students retain their full attention. Boredom and distractions are some of the biggest reasons learners lose attention over time. It’s easy to understand how this might happen if your eLearning content involves only reading.
When you use voice-overs in your educational material, you are helping the learner to acquire new information, as well as helping them to stay engaged with the lesson at hand. Only reading can be very monotonous; after a certain period, the learner will lose concentration, which hampers the learning process. A combination of visuals and audio increases learning retention, which is why audio-visual mediums have taken off in recent years – voice-over gives your audience options and creates a more engaging product.
