As the size and scope of eLearning courses increases, learning institutions must change the way they interact with their students. They are increasingly supplementing (or even replacing) in-person lectures with video and audio resources, but for many students, this is not enough.
When it comes to conveying information, the written word is still key. It allows students to read at their own pace, allows for a broader range of language abilities, and helps those who have difficulties learning from other types of content.
Institutions are increasingly using specialist academic transcription services to provide this written content, allowing them to efficiently convert video and audio into high-quality written content.
6 Ways Academic Transcription Benefits Students
There are many benefits to transcribing audio and video course materials:
1. Support ESL Students
Because eLearning enables students to access courses from any location, institutions are serving increasing numbers of ESL students. While these students are usually proficient in English, issues such as the speed of communication, the challenge of understanding different regional accents, and the need to learn new technical words in their subject can cause them difficulties.
These students benefit immensely from transcribed content, which enables them to access materials free of accent and at their own pace.
2. Support Students With Hearing Impairments
Students with hearing impairments also benefit from transcription. For these students, video, audio, and live content may be difficult or even impossible. The addition of transcribed content enables them to access the same resources as every other student.
3. Support a Wide-Range of Learning Styles
It’s not just ESL and hearing-impaired students who benefit from transcription; many students naturally find it easier to learn from written material. By using transcription, institutions support these students and enable them to select from the best medium for their learning style.
4. Improved Learning In Lectures
Ideally, students taking notes should have the time to jot down their own ideas and questions for later studying. However, in many lecture scenarios, students are too busy writing down every word to think or ask questions. By providing them with the transcription, students are freed up to concentrate fully on the lecture; if they do miss a critical point, they know they can check it later.
5. Make Courses Internet Speed Agnostic
While internet access and download speeds have never been faster, this isn’t the case for everyone, everywhere. By offering transcribed lectures, learning institutions ensure that even students with poor or very slow internet connections can still access learning materials.
The smaller file size of the transcribed document allows them to download it on even the slowest connections and then view it later. This also gives them the option of printing out the transcribed materials to read.
6. Recording Group Discussions For Later Review
Discussion and conversation between students and lecturer form a key part of learning, especially in smaller teaching groups. In this scenario, effective note-taking is almost impossible, since the students should be contributing, not writing. Recording the lesson and then transcribing it enables students to participate fully and still review the material later.
Hiring an Academic Transcription Service
Academic transcription is one of the most specialized forms of transcription. The diverse range of subjects and specialist words makes it harder, more time-consuming and increases the need for accuracy. A wrong word could cause confusion or harm a student’s learning.
For these reasons, many schools and universities are increasingly turning to professional services, such as those offered by Dynamic Language, to achieve high-quality results at scale.
Photo credits: Startup Stock Photos
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