An exploration of the potential of Automatic Speech Recognition to assist and enable receptive communication in higher education

The potential use of Automatic Speech Recognition to assist receptive communication is explored. The opportunities and challenges that this technology presents students and staff to provide captioning of speech online or in classrooms for deaf or hard of hearing students and assist blind, visually impaired or dyslexic learners to read and search learning material more readily by augmenting synthetic speech with natural recorded real speech is also discussed and evaluated. The automatic provision of online lecture notes, synchronised with speech, enables staff and students to focus on learning and teaching issues, while also benefiting learners unable to attend the lecture or who find it difficult or impossible to take notes at the same time as listening, watching and thinking

Synote: Multimedia Annotation ‘Designed for all'

This paper describes the development and evaluation of Synote, a freely available web based application that makes multimedia web resources (e.g. podcasts) easier to access, search, manage, and exploit for all learners, teachers and other users through the creation of notes, bookmarks, tags, links, images and text captions synchronized to any part of the recording. Synote uniquely enables users to easily find, or associate their notes or resources with any part of a podcast or video recording available on the web and the students surveyed would like to be able to access all their lectures through Synot

Synote: Designed for all Advanced Learning Technology for Disabled and Non-Disabled People

This paper describes the development and evaluation of Synote, a freely available accessible web based application that makes multimedia web resources (e.g. podcasts) easier to access, search, manage, and exploit for all learners, teachers and other users through the creation of accessible notes, bookmarks, tags, links, images and text captions synchronized to any part of the recording

New communication technologies for inclusive education in and outside the classroom

This chapter explores new communication technologies and methods for avoiding accessibility and communication barriers in the educational environment. It is focused on providing real-time captions so students with hearing disabilities and foreign students, among others, could participate in an inclusive way in and outside the classroom. The inclusive proposals are based on the APEINTA educational project, which aims for accessible education for all. The research work proposes the use of mobile devices for teacher and students in order to provide more flexibility using the APEINTA real-time captioning service. This allows using this service from anywhere and at anytime, not only in the classroom.APEINTA is the result of collaboration among the Department of Computer Science and the Department of Electronic Technology, Universidad Carlos III, and the Spanish Centre of Captioning and Audiodescription (CESyA)1. This project was initially supported by the Ministry of Science and Innovation (2007 I+D projects - EA2008-0312) within the program of Studies and Analyses - Actions to Improve the Quality of Higher Education and the Activity of University Professors. Currently, the research presented in this chapter is being partially supported by France Telecom España S.A. and the MA2VICMR (S2009/TIC-1542), GEMMA (TSI-020302-2010-141) and SAGAS (TSI-020100-2010-184) research projects.Publicad

Avoiding communication barriers in the classroom: the APEINTA project

Education is a fundamental human right, however unfortunately not everybody has the same learning opportunities. For instance, if a student has hearing impairments, s/he could face communications barriers in the classroom, which could affect his/her learning process. APEINTA is a Spanish educational project that aims for inclusive education for all. This project proposes two main accessible initiatives: (1) real-time captioning and text-to-speech (TTS) services in the classroom and (2) accessible Web-learning platform out of the classroom with accessible digital resources. This paper presents the inclusive initiatives of APEINTA. Also an evaluation of the into-the-classroom initiative (real-time captioning and TTS services) is presented. This evaluation has been conducted during a regular undergraduate course at a university and during a seminar at an integration school for deaf children. Forty-five hearing students, 1 foreign student, 3 experts in captioning, usability and accessibility, and 20 students with hearing impairments evaluated these services in the classroom. Evaluation results show that these initiatives are adequate to be used in the classroom and that students are satisfied with them.Publicad

Evaluating the use of speech technologies in the classroom: The APEINTA Project

Proceeding of: World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia & Telecommunications, ED-MEDIA 2010APEINTA (Spanish acronym for Proposal Aiming for an Inclusive Education based on Assistive Technology) is a Spanish educational project that aims for inclusive education for every student of all abilities in and outside the classroom. The APEINTA project is focused in two main inclusive proposals: One In the classroom and the other one Outside the classroom. This paper is focused on a subjective evaluation of the In the classroom proposal, where Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) and Text to Speech (TTS) technologies have been used in order to avoid communication barriers among teacher and students. The project has been evaluated during different classes in 3rd course of Computer Science degree at the Carlos III University of Madrid, and during a talk in the ACAPPS (Federation of Families and Deaf People of Catalonia) Congress

College Students’ Perceptions of the C-Print Speech-to-Text Transcription System

C-Print is a real-time speech-to-text transcription system used as a support service with deaf students in mainstreamed classes. Questionnaires were administered to 36 college students in 32 courses in which the C-Print system was used in addition to interpreting and notetaking. Twenty-two of these students were also interviewed. Questionnaire items included student ratings of lecture comprehension. Student ratings indicated good comprehension with C-Print, and the mean rating was significantly higher than that for understanding of the interpreter. Students also rated the hard-copy printout provided by C-Print as helpful, and they reported that they used these notes more frequently than the handwritten notes from a paid student notetaker. Interview results were consistent with those for the questionnaire. Questionnaire and interview responses regarding use of C-Print as the only support service indicated that this arrangement would be acceptable to many students, but that it would not be to others. Communication characteristics were related to responses to the questionnaire. Students who were relatively proficient in reading and writing English, and in speech-reading, responded more favorably to C-Print

Accuracy of Sign Interpreting and Real-Time Captioning ofScience Videos for the Delivery of Instruction to Deaf StudentsAccuracy of Sign Interpreting and Real-Time Captioning ofScience Videos for the Delivery of Instruction to Deaf StudentsAccuracy of Sign Interpreting and Real-Time Captioning of Science Videos for the Delivery of Instruction to Deaf Students

The purpose of this study was to quantitatively examine the impact of third-party support service providers on the quality of science information available to deaf students in regular science classrooms. Three different videotapes that were developed by NASA for high school science classrooms were selected for the study, allowing for different concepts and vocabulary to be examined. The focus was on the accuracy of translation as measured by the number of key science words included in the transcripts (captions) or videos (interpreted).Data were collected via transcripts completed by CART (computer assisted real-time captionists) or through videos of sign language interpreters. All participants were required to listen to and translate these NASA educational videos with no prior experience with this information so as not to influence their delivery. CART personnel using captions were found to be significantly more accurate in the delivery of science words as compared to the sign language interpreters in this study

Evaluating the users' satisfaction using inclusive initiatives in two different environments: the university and a research conference

This paper presents evaluation results of the user’s satisfaction using the APEINTA project which main aim is to provide accessibility in education, in and out of the classroom. APEINTA is the Spanish acronym for “Aiming for an Inclusive Education based on Assistive Technology”. The APEINTA project is focused in two main inclusive proposals: first, it deals with eliminating hard of hearing students’ communication barriers in the classroom, providing them automatic real-time captioning and other mechanisms for making easy the communication with the teacher and others students; and second, it deals also in providing an accessible Web learning platform with accessible digital resources, so every student can access them in and out of the classroom

Proud Deaf! An Ethnographic Study of Deaf Culture in a High School

The purpose of this ethnographic study was to examine the culture of students who are deaf and hard of hearing within the broader context of an inclusive high school, specifically as demonstrated though their learning experiences, socialization, and identity. The researcher gathered qualitative data in the form of observations, in-depth interviews, and participant video diary entries to gain insight into the shared cultural model of students who are deaf and hard of hearing. The data provided a holistic picture of cultural phenomena through the points of view of the subjects of the study. The description of the culture of this group of students may prove useful in shaping effective inclusive environments for students who are deaf and hard of hearing