Abstract
• Initiated by the Centre for Sign Linguistics and Deaf Studies and the Department of Electronic Engineering, the proposed project is a cross-profession experimental initiative that combines university-level expertise in linguistics, SEN support, information accessibility, and language technology, to explore how real-time auto-captioning service as an assistive technology in education could improve classroom information accessibility, and as a mean of Universal Design in Learning (UDL) which proactively addresses learning needs and enhances the overall learning experience of SEN students who are prone to loss of classroom information, including deaf/hard-of-hearing students who experience difficulty in receiving information spontaneously in spoken languages, as well as students who face difficulty in maintaining prolonged focus (e.g. students with mental illness, attention deficit or autism).
• The project team will work closely with the Office of Student Affairs to identify SEN students who are willing to participate in this project and through them to identify suitable courses under the four university core learning components, including English Language, Chinese Language, General Education, and Information Technology. Our ultimate goal is to explore the potential benefits of real-time auto-captioning support service to SEN students in tertiary education.
• The real-time auto-captioning support service to be put on trial is a new service to be initiated by SLCO Community Resources, a CUHK incubated non-profit social enterprise.
• The project will result in a use-case study on (1) the needs of SEN students in information accessibility in an academic setting, (2) how SEN students could potentially benefit from real-time auto-captioning to fill their gaps of needs, and (3) an evaluation on the technology capability and user experience of the trial service, and (4) how the university could make use of such technology to support SEN students effectively .
• The knowledge accumulated and concluded from this project can be transferred and replicated not only to other courses and programs but across the tertiary education sector.
Brief write-up
Project objectives
The project is to explore how real-time auto-captioning serves as an assistive technology in education can improve classroom information accessibility of students with Special Education Needs (SENs).
Activities, process and outcomes
The project consists of two different areas of testing: technical testing by EE and user experience testing by CSLDS. The technical testing evaluated the overall technical capability and the accuracy rates of two real-time auto-captioning software. The user experience testing consists of trials in online learning, questionnaire surveys and focus group discussions with the users. According to the results, auto-captioning tools with satisfying performance in accuracy and processing time are helpful in enhancing the attention and information accessibility of the students with hearing impairment or ADHD in this project.
Deliverables and evaluation
Documents including a simple guideline and a video showing how to use auto-captioning in class will be uploaded to the centre’s webpage and provided to OSA (Office of Student Affairs) and ITSC (Information Technology Services Centre) for future support of SEN students.
Dissemination, diffusion, impact and sharing of good practices
The use-case report based on the users’ feedback and technical evaluation is a good reference for further review of other captioning systems. A sharing talk was conducted to help different departmental representatives understand the potential benefits of auto-captioning service to SEN students.
Impact on teaching and learning
The results of this project show that auto-captioning is a support measure that can enhance effectiveness of online learning of different types of SEN students.
