Inclusive Teaching, Synchronous Sessions, and Auto Captions

Since the Lockdown the use of videoconferencing can no longer be denied as a key part of online education.  Whether you are teaching a synchronous course, a hybrid, holding virtual office hours, or providing a sense of community with an optional introduction in an asynchronous session, you will need to select a video conferencing tool the suits your needs.  But which one?

 

Collaborate in Blackboard and Bongos Virtual Classroom in Brightspace are free and are conveniently embedded inside the LMS. However, not everything that is free, such as the flu, is good. Both of these free applications refuse to provide automatic captioning.  They do ‘claim’ to have captions provided you arrange for a transcriptionist to transcribe them in real-time. Free and not toxic at all!

But why should I care if I do not have any deaf students?  First, in many cases you are not aware of all of your students’ disabilities. One in ten college students report having a disability and this should not be ignored.  Second, The American Disabilities Act requires organizations to provide accessible online content and missing captions is frequently cited in ADA lawsuits.  Don’t be that guy - meet WCAG standards.

Captions expand your audience and increase their engagement often in unexpected ways.  In 2022 50% of US citizens surveyed stated they use captions ‘most of the time’.  The study also revealed that 70% of members of Gen Z (ages 11-25) frequently use subtitles. They are a growing demographic of students, and they will expect captioning. 

Luckily, you can easily provide captioning in video conferences by using MS Teams.  When you enter a meeting, you merely select the “more’ feature on the menu – its symbol is three dots.  Go to “Language and Speech” and select “Turn On Live Captions”. Now you have live captions. You could also do this by selecting “Accessibility” and turning on the Captioning tab.  This is an individual feature, so all your students can access it and use it privately.  A similar feature exists in Zoom.

Live captioning also helps you be more inclusive by assisting ELL students or offering translations for non-English speakers.  MS Teams, as well as Zoom (with the Wordly App add-on), not only offer real-time captioning, but language translation.  Once the captioning is on in Teams, select the three dots on the top right corner of the captions bar.  This will offer the following options:

1.       Change the spoken language.  This is handy when your class is not in English.

2.       Translate the captioning language. Yes, this feature can translate your session into more than 30 languages. This helps level the bar for ELL students who may have difficulty understanding their second or third language in the online environment.

The translation tool is not as good as an interpreter. For example, ‘Warming the cockles of your heart’ does not mean to “heating the mollusks inside your cardiac organ”. However, the translation feature is a handy tool when you need something. It is effectively an electronic dictionary/translator to assist your students.

Remember, not all instructional technology is the same, and this definitely applies to video conferencing applications.  Choose one that has auto-captioning and translations.  It is not only more inclusive and accessible but demonstrates your commitment to being so.   

References

Adelson, B. (2021) Google Translate has “an alarming capacity for miscommunication and error, ” U.S. federal judge decides. Bromberg.

Amin, F. M., & Sundari, H. (2020). EFL students’ preferences on digital platforms during emergency remote teaching: Video conference, LMS, or messenger application? Studies in English Language and Education, 7(2), 362-378.

BOIA (2023) Gen Z More Likely to Use Captions When Viewing Video Content. Bureau of Internet Accessibility.

Patil S & Davies P. (2014) Use of Google Translate in medical communication: evaluation of accuracy BMJ 2014; 349: g 7392 doi:10.1136/bmj.g7392

Kaliyadan F, & Gopinath Pillai S. (2010)The use of google language tools as an interpretation aid in cross-cultural doctor-patient interaction: a pilot study. Inform Prim Care 18:141-3.

National Center for Education Statistics. (2018). Table 311.10. Number and percentage distribution of students enrolled in postsecondary institutions, by level, disability status, and selected student characteristics: 2015–16 [Data table]. In Digest of education statistics. U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences. [Retrieved 2022]

United States v. Ramirez-Mendoza, 4:20-CR-00107 (M.D. Pa. Oct. 1, 2021)

World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) (2018) Success Criterion 1.2.4 Captions (Live) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1. [Retrieved 2023]

Wormeester, Veron (2020) Hoe toegankelijk zijn videoconferentietools? iBestuur Online. 

Youngs, Ian (2021) Young viewers prefer TV subtitles, research suggests. BBC News Nov 15.

Zajechowski, Matt (2023) Survey: Why America is obsessed with subtitles. Preply