THE AUDIO-TUTORIAL APPROACH to learning is a simple one. Think of it as a taped tour guiding you through your lesson plan, pausing where the "tour guide" tells you to, or working out a problem with guided assistance. The Audio-Tutorial was developed by Dr. S.N. Postlethwaite (1962) at Purdue University. 

Although technologies have changed a great deal since 1962, people still learn the same as they did back then! The audio-tutorial approach to learning is successful because it gives the learner a chance to interact with the content.

Each week's lessons are tape recorded using a very conversationl tone, having the student's attention directed at specific pages in their text or asking them to do a small experiment or watch a brief movie. This process is termed the Independent Study Session (ISS).

The idea behind this learning approach was that the more senses that a learner uses, the more they will comprehend and retain. This approach, although time consuming to produce, allows students to really get involved in their subject matter.

During the ISS period, any activity that is required of the student is done in the school's instructional media lab, where instructors have set up any needed equipment. Depending on how well the instructor is organized, students don't have to attended class at all, except during the General Assembly Session (GAS). 

The GAS happens once every few weeks and the class has a chance to meet together and view long films, conduct complex and large experiments or listen to a guest lecturer. The instructor is available for a question and answer period and students get a chance to talk to one another.

The Integrated Quiz Session or IQS is a scheduled time where 8-10 students get together and meet with the instructor for a 45 minute discussion on the past week's topics. Each student is seated with either a graph, a drawing, an object, a photograph, a diagram or a specimen at their desk. The students are called upon randomly to answer questions about the object and explain its uses, function, attributes, and so forth.

The audio-tutorial approach to learning has been used at various universities throughout the United States, and has enjoyed a resurgance since the inception of distance education where computer mulimedia makes good use of audio.

Tanya Howe
Graduate Student
SDSU Educational Technology