So, for a new class I’m having to work with a lot of audio. Podcasts, vlogs, video downloads etc. And they . . . just don’t work for me. I’ve been around tech for years , and I’ve been exposed to enough new types of tech to know that not everything works for everyone, and boy, is this not my learning method.

For one – I can read faster than you can speak, so anything work or school related that comes this way just seems inefficient to me. But it’s not just time – there’s something about the audio format that doesn’t pull me in. I get distracted, my mind wanders, in a way that doesn’t happen when I’m reading, or even watching a presentation. I’ll start clicking elsewhere, looking away, reading something else.

It’s not just podcasts – I don’t like audiobooks, I almost never listen to NPR. I’d rather watch the pitch-by-pitch cartoon updates on my blackberry then listen to a baseball game on the radio.

I’m hoping that having to take notes while listening should help. Video definitely does.  And I’m hoping that learning how to *create* the audio will help me learn how to listen to them. But I do think that some of this is just innate – some people are just visual, and not aural. I suppose that’s a good general lesson as well; a reminder that while some tools are great, not everything works for everyone, and you can’t expect students (or library patrons) to all react the same way.