As educators continually strive to engage students in their lessons, incorporating technology into education can bring numerous accessibility benefits. Students have shown a preference for the convenience and flexibility of technology, allowing them to consume course material at their own pace.
Distance Learning Before and During a Global Pandemic
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, 57% of students have a more favorable view of virtual learning, and 68% would like to see an increase in the use of technology for traditional, in-person courses. However, distance learning has been a long-standing part of higher education, with most colleges and universities offering partially or fully online degrees before the widespread adoption of virtual learning.
In 2019, it was found that almost 80% of educational institutions were offering some form of an online learning program. However, with the sudden shift to remote learning brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a marked increase in the use of Learning Management Systems (LMS) to deliver education through technology. Before the pandemic, LMS were mainly used as simple bulletin boards and were not entirely using their interactive capabilities. The pandemic necessitated a more sophisticated approach to online learning, leading to a greater reliance on LMS.
Videos as Learning Tools
Video is now widely recognized as one of the most valuable and versatile teaching tools. From live-streamed lectures for Ph.D. candidates to recorded animations of the introductory letter phonetics for primary students, video in education is only starting to be explored and utilized to its full potential. However, technology should not be viewed as a substitute for teachers but as a supportive tool.
Recent research indicates that incorporating video consistently enhances student engagement. Moreover, students benefit the most when a video is used in conjunction with traditional, in-person instruction.
Accommodating Different Learning Styles
Every student has unique learning abilities and needs. For example, the VARK (Visual, Auditory, Read/write, and Kinesthetic) model recognizes different learning styles, and it’s easy to see how video and accessibility accommodations can cater to these varying styles.
An excellent example of how captions and subtitles can help accommodate different learning styles is this: Students with difficulty with reading tend to avoid text, resulting in limited exposure to printed materials. With captions and subtitles, the amount of reading exposure your students would receive if captions were enabled every time they watched videos can be increased by just toggling the CC button on their video learning materials.
Accessibility for All Students
The production of recorded video lectures allows students to consume educational content in a manner that suits their pace. This is particularly beneficial for students who may have family or medical emergencies and require alternative forms of instruction. In the past, students could request recorded lectures or notes to supplement in-person instruction. Still, with the rise of virtual learning, all students can now benefit from the convenience of recorded video lectures.
Additionally, video lectures provide students with the added benefit of captions and subtitles, making it easier for those with hearing or visual impairments to access and understand the content. In this way, recorded video lectures offer a flexible learning experience and provide a more inclusive and accessible environment for students of all abilities.
Using Subtitles and Captions in Learning Materials
Captions and subtitles can play a crucial role in improving learning materials for students. Utilizing captioned media can make sure students can access essential material effectively.
For English language learners, captions and subtitles serve as excellent support systems to help them improve their language skills. The written text and audio allow them to understand better the material they are consuming and help with vocabulary acquisition, listening comprehension, and word recognition and decoding skills. By providing captioned media, educators can ensure that these students have access to important information which may otherwise be difficult for them to understand.
For struggling readers, using captioned media can be an excellent tool for improving their reading skills. Seeing and hearing unfamiliar words can help these students expand their vocabulary and better understand the material. Additionally, videos aimed at a younger audience or relevant to their interests can be beneficial for very low-level readers. Such videos tend to have a less challenging vocabulary but still provide the literacy benefits of reading while listening.
Furthermore, captions and subtitles can also be beneficial for students who have hearing impairments or visual impairments. For students with hearing impairments, captions can provide a written text representation of the audio, enabling them to follow along and understand the material better. Similarly, for students with visual impairments, subtitles can help to make the material more accessible, improving their overall learning experience.
Utilizing Professional Subtitling and Captioning Services
To ensure that your educational content is accessible to all students, it’s crucial to have professional captioning and subtitling services. Incorrect captions and subtitles that need to be accurately synchronized with the audio can hinder the learning experience and be a distraction. Additionally, transcription companies such as Daily Transcription also provide noise-removal services that can come in handy when you’re filming your lectures in a noisy environment, i.e., construction sounds while filming at home.
By partnering with a professional captioning and subtitling provider, you can guarantee that the captions and subtitles are precise and adequately aligned with the audio, providing an inclusive and engaging learning experience for all students.
Conclusion
Daily Transcription provides affordable captioning services, which can be crucial for those who are looking to make their lectures more accessible but are limited by budget constraints.
In addition to affordability, Daily Transcription prioritizes accuracy, ensuring that the captions and subtitles produced are of the highest quality. We have a long-standing reputation for delivering error-free work and are known for our attention to detail. This has been achieved through our extensive experience serving a wide range of clients, making us a leader in the industry.
Finally, Daily Transcription offers a fast turnaround time, which is critical for tight deadlines.
Whether you need closed captions, subtitles, translation services, or other audio transcription services, we can meet your needs and deliver results within your desired timeframe.
Feel free to contact us; we will be happy to assist you.