Across the world, schools, colleges, and universities are experiencing an unprecedented digitisation of the educational system while going through a transformation from on-campus educational activities to remote learning solutions.
E-Learning videos are indispensable and a necessity for creating a successful and effective online course. These videos not only help students in reinforcing the course material with more efficacy but also help them retain the knowledge for a longer period of time. Nonetheless, to achieve the desired learning outcomes, the videos alone, might not be sufficient.
An additional and prescribed tool for increasing the efficacy is adding Captions and Subtitles to your videos.
Closed captions provide added value for your content by increasing its outreach and spiralling the learner experience while simultaneously providing accessibility and inclusion to Deaf/Hard-of-hearing students. Therefore, it is of paramount importance that your educational video content has high quality, perfectly synchronised captions, which are derived from transcripts that are produced by professionals.
Here are few solid reasons, supported by accredited studies, as to why educators must caption their educational videos.
Captions Result in Enhanced Retention:
According to a study conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor, when provided with both visual and auditory learning aids, a 65% increase is observed in the retention of educational material by an average student three days after receiving it. However, the retention plunges down to 10% if only auditory aids are used.
Captions Provide a Quality E-learning Experience
A study projected by Oneclass.com, which included more than 1000 students from 45 competitive colleges and universities across the United States, three out of four students were not happy with the quality of E-learning experiences because their respective institutes did not plan properly or utilized modern accessibility services like captions.
Captions Result in Better Comprehension and Engagement
A comprehensive study backed by San Francisco State University suggests that captions help in improving student s’ comprehension of topics and, consequently, test scores.
Further, when captions were used, students’ levels of engagement and class participation were quite high, and the quality of notes taken by them improved significantly. As a result, an overall increase in average grades from C to B was observed.
Captions Help in Reducing Stress and Improving Focus
A study organized by Oregon State University highlights that 98.6% of students consider captions in educational videos to be helpful to their studies. While attending classes online, students do not have to write down notes word- by- word as the teacher is delivering the lecture, which not only diverts their attention but also results in students missing out on crucial information. Instead, they can focus more on the material presented rather than trying to catch up with the wording of the teacher.
Captions are Required By Law:
The ADA or The American Disability Act of 1990 directs that closed captions or video transcripts are necessary for public organizations such as state/local governments while using internal or external communications. Further, closed captions are also required for places accommodating masses such as hotels, libraries, museums, public transportation, or educational entities, which include colleges and universities (American Disability Act, 1990).
Therefore, although instructors and educators might have students who are Deaf/Hard-of-Hearing in their ongoing sessions, when they include videos in their course material, they must have a closed caption as required by law to serve students with other types of disabilities.
How ECS is Working with Learning Institutions to Utilize Captions in Education
ECS has the honor of working with educational institutions across the US and beyond to ensure a professional and top- notch e-learning experience. Our captioning and audio transcripts services have helped thousands of students improve their writing skills and listening comprehension, thereby achieving better grades. We also help educators in delivering quality e-learning lectures.
At ECS, we have embraced the best accessibility practices as recommended by W3C. Our captions and video transcripts are created in compliance with WCAG 2.1 & WCAG 3.0 guidelines to ensure premium quality and adherence to compliance requirements while being mindful of our clients’ timelines and budgets.
Feel free to check out our service plans HERE.
