A **Beat** in augmented live-learning is the smallest unit of reflection. Learners use their phone and earbuds to capture a short daily audio note — usually no more than a minute. This is a kind of audio journaling, recorded on the move or in the moment. The purpose is not polish, but presence. A beat is a snapshot of thought, a portable unit of meaning.
Over time, these beats accumulate. A learner may choose to share a beat with a partner, who listens and responds. In this way, an individual beat can be forked — picked up, replayed, and reshaped by another voice. What begins as a private note can evolve into something shared, participative, or even interactive. When multiple beats are placed side by side, they begin to carry the rhythm of a narrative.
# Classical Meaning The word Beat also has a long history in writing and performance. In script writing, a beat is the smallest unit of dramatic action — a single shift in tone, intention, or emotion. A beat might be as small as a pause, a gesture, or a single line that changes the energy of a scene. Writers use beats to map the pulse of a story, ensuring it carries rhythm and momentum.
# In the Writers’ Room Within a writers’ room, beats are often mapped on a wall or board. Each beat is a card or note representing a moment in the unfolding story. Together, the team arranges beats into scenes and episodes, testing different orders, compressing or expanding as needed. The beat is the creative building block of larger structures.
By borrowing this language, Augmented Live Learning gives learners a way to see their daily reflections as meaningful story elements. A single voice note may not seem like much, but as a beat it is recognised as essential — a moment of rhythm in a larger arc that will grow into a scene, then into an episode.
# See
- Beat Technology and Augmented Journal - Scene and Episode