A recent research project led by the CSM DLt showed how beneficial live captions in face-to-face teaching can be.
Captions are designed to improve access to verbal content, and studies have shown them to have broad benefits. For example, Gernsbacher (2014) highlighted over 100 studies not only showing benefits for students with disabilities or those with English as a second language, but also demonstrating benefits the wider population, including hearing adults. Furthermore, the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework by CAST (2023) stresses the importance of providing multiple ways for students to engage with information. It recognises that learners differ in the ways they perceive and comprehend information. Captions provide an alternative way to access and understand any content presented orally.
This research project was specifically designed to investigate how achievable it is to caption live teaching in our context. It focused on the PowerPoint Subtitles tool. All staff have a licence to access to PowerPoint, and it is widely used in teaching across the university.
The research involved attending four separate teaching sessions across UAL. Staff were asked to turn on PowerPoint subtitles during their presentations, the session was then observed, and the students were asked to document their experience via a questionnaire.
We aimed to find the answer to the following four questions:
- How easy are they to use?
- How readable are they for students?
- How accurate are they?
- What do our students think about them?
The research has shown that PowerPoint Subtitles are easy to use. It has also shown that captions are generally easy to read in different room sizes. However, it is a good idea to consider room layout. For example, the orientation of the desks may make them harder to read.
Accuracy of automatic captions is important. The less accurate they are the less accessible the content is. It was reasonable to say that expectations of the participants were not very high. However, accuracy tests exceed expectations, the results showed all teachers participating had an error rate of less than 1% and 70% of students said they found the captions to be accurate.
Student feedback in other categories was also mainly positive. 58% of students found the captions helped them to focus. 64% of students found the captions helped them understand the material presented in the lesson.
On the negative side 21% students said they found the captions to be distracting, and 19% said they found the captions to be confusing.
However, overall, 80% felt they had a positive impact on their learning experience.
In conclusion, the research demonstrates that automatic captions have the potential to enhance teaching in face-to-face settings. Normalising the use of captions can contribute to removing barriers for students and align with our goals of promoting inclusive teaching practices. However, the minimum standard is that all staff should know how to add captions to their teaching. This will help us to meet our legal obligations under the Equalities Act 2010, to make reasonable anticipatory adjustments.
Guidance for staff
To find out how to add captions in your live teaching follow these simple instructions: (link) Using captions in live teaching.docx
Please contact csmdigitallearning@arts.ac.uk if you would prefer 1:1 support.
References
Gernsbacher, M. (2015) ‘Video Captions Benefit Everyone’, Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 2, pp. 195–202. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/2372732215602130.
CAST (no date) UDL: Offer alternatives for auditory information. Available at: https://udlguidelines.cast.org/representation/perception/alternatives-auditory (Accessed: 7 December 2023).
Student voice
Student 1:
I think they’re great and should be implemented across all areas of UAL for accessibility and international students often find the writing easier to read than it is to hear different English accents.
Anonymous, Nov 2023
Student 2:
I liked that if I was a little distracted or missed hearing a bit, I could look at the screen an catch-up instead of requesting repetition from the lecturer.
Anonymous, Nov 2023
Student 3:
There were some words I didn’t understand and it was nice to have a caption on the screen to quickly get it.
Anonymous, Nov 2023