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If the learner needs to read something as part of the learning process, give them a book or a PDF.

I agree that most online courses have too much text. However, many other training materials also have too much text. The core problem is often unedited information dumping. If that's the case, shifting the content to print doesn't cure the problem.

It would be an interesting challenge to develop an online course that used no text at all. Since that's unlikely to become a widespread practice, it's useful to discuss the implications of reading text aloud to adult learners.

To me, it's not about eliminating text, it's about designing learning correctly in the first place. I believe the core of the problem consists of two key issues:

1) putting the cart before the horse -- choosing e-learning as the delivery mode before one even knows that it is the most appropriate way to deliver the learning

2) the continued practice of creating materials before designing learning

Of course, these problems are caused by other things such as having someone do the instructional design just because they know the subject matter, etc.

In any case, there is nothing inherently wrong with having reading as part of the learning process. What is wrong is - if reading is necessary as part of the process, people continue to push it out in these glorified powerpoint presentation snooze-fests.

Addressing this "to narrate or not to narrate" question without examining the core of the problem does a disservice to everyone (learners, designers, stakeholders, etc.).

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I believe the core of the problem consists of two key issues:

1) putting the cart before the horse -- choosing e-learning as the delivery mode before one even knows that it is the most appropriate way to deliver the learning

2) the continued practice of creating materials before designing learning

Agreed. This is what I referred to as "information dumping." Usually the content already exists in some format, and the choice is made to "deliver" this content through elearning.

Any design that occurs is often content-centered, not learner-centered, and the decision to use elearning is often influenced by factors other than what works best for learners.

Since this is an extremely common problem, it's likely to be at the core of many questions about the details of online delivery (audio or not? animation or none? etc.).

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Originally posted by Fanatic Facilitator:
To me, it's not about eliminating text, it's about designing learning correctly in the first place.

Addressing this "to narrate or not to narrate" question without examining the core of the problem does a disservice to everyone (learners, designers, stakeholders, etc.).

I started this topic because it is an ongoing, specific issue in my eLearning programs. I did not intend to cheer on eLearning as the only delivery mode, nor suggest that learning design take a back seat to content development. Those are good discussions to have...BUT I do not think discussing the redundancy issue as it relates to cognitive processing is doing a disservice.

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I do not think discussing the redundancy issue as it relates to cognitive processing is doing a disservice.

I'm glad you've posted this. I should have been more clear in my own post that I also don't see how discussing a specific detail of elearning design and delivery does a disservice, especially when the larger concerns are widely known and discussed already.