Captioning Beyond Compliance
Using the DECT Grant and AST To Deliver Effective Distance
Learning
Pat Brogan, Ph.D.
pat@automaticsync.com
November 18, 2009
Agenda
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Accessibility compliance
Benefits of captioning beyond compliance for
distance ed
Examples of uses of captions and transcripts
Captioning options, process and workflow
Evaluating the impact on learning
Using the DECT Grant with AST
Automatic Sync Technologies
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Funded in part by DoE grant to evaluate
captioning automation
Provides offline captioning in 40+ formats and
transcription as DECT-approved vendor under
the CollegeBuys program
Extensively use automation to keep costs low
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AST price for DECT Grant lowest of all three vendors
by considerable amount
Transcription services performed by trained
stenographers, not speech recognition
Available 24/7 via web interface
Pat Brogan, Ph.D.
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25 years ed tech experience
Worked on accessibility and elearning (SCORM)
initiatives
Published “Standards” chapter in recently
released “The eLearning Handbook”
Former adjunct faculty member Santa Clara
University
Ph.D. research conducted on distance learning
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Studies conducted on remedial math students at
DeAnza College and Dallas County Community
College District
Federal Accessibility Mandates
CCC DE Accessibility Guidelines
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All distance education resources must be designed to afford
students with disabilities maximum opportunity to access
distance education resources "anytime, anywhere" without the
need for outside assistance (i.e. sign language interpreters,
aides, etc.).
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Distance education resources must be designed to provide
"built-in" accommodation where possible (i.e. closed
captioning, descriptive narration) and/or interface
design/content layout which is accessible to "industry
standard" assistive computer technology in common use by
persons with disabilities.
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Whenever possible, information should be provided in the
alternative format preferred by the student
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Source: HTCTU
http://www.htctu.net/publications/guidelines/distance_ed/diste
d.htm
California AB 386
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Facilitates the approval for permission to caption
non-captioned publishers’ materials
AB 386 expands the definition of non-printed
instructional materials to include “audiovisual works
and digital media files”
Public colleges and universities can create
captioned versions of audiovisual works if a
publisher does not respond to a written request
within two weeks
Information at:
http://www.cccco.edu/Portals/4/GR/AB%20386%20
Fact%20Sheet%20-Final.pdf
AST can provide captioning
Reframing Captioning: Not Just For The Deaf
Critical for deaf and hard of hearing, beneficial for all
Disability Types of College Freshmen
Undergradute freshmen disability type for students
reporting one or more disability
Hearing
9
Speech
3
Orthopedic
7
Learning Disability
40
Health-related
15
Partially sighted or blind
16
Other
17
0
10
20
30
40
50
Percent
Note: Freshmen could report more than one disability
Source: HEATH Resource Center, American Council on Education: 2001.
LD Students benefit from hearing and seeing words together
CCC Challenges
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Attract and retain students
Serve more with less $
Keep them on task and motivated
Provide instruction and materials to suit
digital natives’ learning styles
Ensure academic proficiency
Marketing
Continually rethink models of instruction
Distance Ed For Community Colleges
More Critical Now Than Ever
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Budget cuts mean fewer classes, impact
CCC students’ schedules
Increasing cost of transportation-students
can’t afford gas
Increasing preference for online interaction
Job and family considerations
Reduced geographic barriers
Economy impact: job retraining
Instruction Is Evolving
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Synchronous vs. asynchronous course delivery
Students prefer asynchronous
UCSF offered live CourseStream classes to remote users, almost ALL preferred to watch
asynchronously
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Content is queen, context is king
Any time, any place learning
So, How Do Captions and
Transcripts Help?
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Address accessibility requirements
Provide text to make content discoverable
and navigable which is essential for reuse
Provide a basis for foreign language
translation
Provide content relevant to different learning
styles
Provide study tools
Captions and Transcripts Uses in DE
Video instruction
Recorded “learning objects”
Podcasts/VODcasts
Archived classes
Publishers’ materials
Broadcast video
Student generated content
DVDs
Transcript Use Example
Students retain more if they are able to 'read ahead' and have more of
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the transcript visible
Study at: http://www.sei.cmu.edu/publications/documents/09.reports/09tr005.html
Transcript Use Example
Captions To Go
Captioned VODcast
Using Recorded Lectures For DE
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18
Portals: iTunes/iTunesU
Portals:YouTube
Portals: Edustream
Video Search
Searching can be performed at different levels:
A specified directory, campus server or across the Internet
Research on Benefits of Captions
• Augmenting an auditory experience with captions more than doubles the retention
and comprehension levels.” Gary Robson, The Closed Captioning Handbook
• Adult students that used captioned video presentations progressed significantly
better than those using traditional literacy techniques. Benjamin Michael Rogner,
Adult Literacy: Captioned Videotapes and Word Recognition
• Dual Coding Theory postulates that both visual and verbal information are
processed differently and along distinct channels with the human mind creating
separate representations for information processed in each channel. Allan Paivio,
University of Western Ontario
• Multi-Modal Learning: See It, Hear It, Do It, Master It. Use 2 or more senses to
avoid sensory overload (Granström, House, & Karlsson 2002, Clark & Mayer 2003)
San Francisco State Study
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American Indian Studies Class, 2007
Instructional materials delivered randomly to
students- 50% got captioned videos, 50% did not
Students who watched captioned videos were more
engaged, more responsive to questions about video,
were able to make the connections to their lives
better.
Students who received captioned video averaged 1
GPA increase over students not exposed to
captions.
Source: http://ctfd.sfsu.edu/feature/and-captions-forall.htm
Captioning With AST
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AST has negotiated pricing under the CollegeBuys program. This pricing applies to
both DECT grant-funded projects and non-DECT grant captioning projects
For eligible DECT grant captioning or transcription services:
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For non-DECT grant captioning and transcription, two options are available:
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Option A: apply, get approval and have project direct billed to the grant
Option B: Submit media to AST and apply for reimbursement upon completion
Option A: Purchase under the CollegeBuys program by creating an account with AST. You
will be receive the negotiated rate and be billed directly
Option B: Purchase under AST’s non-College Buys volume discount program (for large
projects or non-DECT work)
Options explained in detail at: http://www.automaticsync.com/caption/edu_ccc.htm
Evaluating The Impact
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Caption use studies are sparse, as are tools to
see who uses captions
Encourage data-gathering: surveys
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Who uses captions?
Why?
What impact did they have?
View system metrics: Did content usage
increase?
Was the content more “discoverable”? Gather
SEO data
Did the overall course metrics show
improvements?
Applying For DECT Grant
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Ensure that media qualifies as Distance Ed material
Fill out an application agreement:
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Obtain a login account with Automatic Sync at:
www.automaticsync.com/caption/signup_dect.php.
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http://www.canyons.edu/Offices/Distance_Learning/Caption
ing/forms/forms.htm
You will need to fill in the project number assigned to you
by the DECT project office.
You will receive instructions via email about logging
in and submitting media
You project will be directly billed to the project office
Using AST’s CaptionSync
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Create an account. If you have large volumes of files, AST-Link can be
enabled allowing you to FTP files in bulk.
Logon at http://www.automaticsync.com
Upload your media or transcript if captions-only are needed
Specify service timeframe: 24 hour or 3 business days
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If you provide a transcript captions are generated in minutes
Receive caption files back via email or by downloading from AST’s website
Watch AST’s “How To” videos on integrating your captions with different
media types
Your files are available anytime on your account. If you make edits or need
new formats, you can “redo” your files at no charge for 6 months from
original submission date
Caption Output Types Supported by AST
More than 40 different outputs. Pick and choose.
http://www.automaticsync.com/caption/results_faq.htm
Media Players
Content Systems
Search Data
YouTube
Google Video
Echo360/Apreso
Flash
AST Search
Panopto
iTunes/iPods
Pixtron
MediaSite
Windows Media
Browsable Transcripts
Tegrity
QuickTime
Reel Surfer
Ooyala
DVD
Real
Broadcast/Videotape
Encore
DVD Studio Pro
CPC
Sonic
Cheetah
DVDLab Pro
RapidText
Sony DVD Architect
MPEG
MicroDVD
AVID
Advanced Features
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Video search
Browsable transcripts: HTML transcript which
allows searching at the word level and
launching audio and video from the word
Word level captioning: Karaoke-style
captioning for foreign language, music and
classes where word-level emphasis is needed
Lecture Capture System Integration-Echo360,
Mediasite and Panopto
Resources
SF State Study: http://ctfd.sfsu.edu/feature/and-captions-for-all.htm
AST DECT project Website: http://www.automaticsync.com/caption/edu_ccc.htm
DECT Site: http://www.canyons.edu/captioning
“How-to” videos at: http://www.automaticsync.com/help
Result types and what they are used for:
http://www.automaticsync.com/caption/results_faq.htm
In-depth presentation on different ways to caption:
http://easi.cc/archive/caption/caption-webinar.htm
Thank you for your
attention
The end goal