Robin Walsh Portfolio
Dramatized Audio Syllabus
Date: August 2025
Role: Script Writer, Voice Director and Editor, Sound Editor with SME Sound Editing Assistance
Designed Tools: ChatGPT for Script refinement, Voice capture using ElevenLabs.io, Adobe Audition for Sound editing, Westar Music for music and sound effects
Learning Objective & Target Audience
This Story-Driven Dramatized Audio Syllabus was designed to deliver an accessible, immersive orientation to Fairytales from Grimm to Disney for blind students at Duke University.
The objective extended beyond syllabus compliance. The experience communicates full course expectations, structure, themes, and academic rigor while modeling how fairytales shape culture, morality, politics, and modern storytelling.
Because learners rely primarily on auditory processing, accessibility was the core design driver—not an accommodation. The syllabus was engineered to:
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Provide complete academic clarity
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Sustain engagement through intentional sound design
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Eliminate informational monotony
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Create clear orientation without visual cues
Research into Duke’s campus culture identified WXDU 88.7 FM as a recognizable institutional touchpoint. Framing the syllabus as a simulated live radio broadcast grounded the experience in an authentic Duke context, increasing immersion and relevance.
Research Methodology
This project integrates Narrative-Centered Learning (Bruner, 1996), social agency theory, and principles from the Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning (Mayer, 2009), particularly the principles of personalization and voice.
Framed Narrative Structure
The syllabus employs a framed narrative structure.
The story begins as the professor is scheduled to interview Little Red Riding Hood on Duke’s fictional “Fairytale Frequency” radio broadcast. However, the interviewer posing as the professor is revealed to be the Big Bad Wolf, who has kidnapped him.
This narrative tension serves two instructional purposes:
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It establishes a reason why the professor is not narrating his own course.
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It transfers authority respectfully to Little Red Riding Hood, who has been legitimately invited to discuss the class.
By removing the wolf, Red becomes a trusted proxy for the professor's narrative. This preserves academic credibility while allowing for a dramatized format.
Dramatized Audio & Dialogic Learning
The syllabus unfolds as a simulated radio broadcast hosted by Little Red, who invites other fairytale characters into dialogue. Each speaks in alignment with their narrative identity, transforming dense syllabus content into engaging, character-driven segments.
This structure:
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Breaks complex information into digestible moments
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Connects course themes to recognizable archetypes
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Uses humor to strengthen retention
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Reinforces links between Grimm tales and modern adaptations
The design integrates first-person hosting, brief reenactments, dialogic exchange, and a concluding informational segment. The tonal shift at the end functions as instructional signaling, ensuring clear academic expectations.
Audio as Primary Modality
Because learners are blind, immersive audio served as the sole modality. Seven distinct character voices were generated using ElevenLabs and refined in Adobe Audition through intentional mixing, layering, and sound effects. The emphasis was not technical exhibition, but instructional direction, conceptualizing an immersive auditory experience, aligning sound with narrative purpose, and collaborating with specialists when appropriate.
Instructional Impact
This approach transforms a static syllabus into an immersive academic orientation. It models the course thesis: fairytales are not trivial stories, but cultural forces shaping identity, politics, and imagination from Grimm to Disney. Students do not simply read that claim—they experience it.
