Understanding the importance of inclusive learning design
A Q&A with Elizabeth Yong and John Murphy
In 2018, Elizabeth Yong was awarded a Learning Enhancement & Innovation (LEI) Grant for her application entitled: 鈥淰ideo captions and inclusive learning design鈥.
The goal of this LEI Grant project was to explore the use of video captioning to promote inclusion, accessibility and digital capabilities and find out if the use of captions could assist in promoting self-reported learning gains and student satisfaction.
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As Project Leader, Elizabeth Yong along with other ECMS academic staff Dr Hiromi Teramoto and Catherine Irving worked closely with Learning Designer, John Murphy who mentored and supported them in the design and implementation of the project in the UofA blended learning environment.
As part of this project, eight short videos from the Engineering Communication Unit were recorded in Echo 360 Personal Capture. These videos were then auto-captioned using the ARC tool in MyUni and then edited for accuracy and published in a range of courses. After the roll-out of these captioned videos, a student survey was completed to evaluate the effectiveness of the captions.
We talked to both Learning Designer: John Murphy and Academic: Elizabeth Yong on their involvement in this project, and why we should be moving towards embedding inclusive learning design in all courses.
What was your main motivation for wanting to get involved in this project?
Learning Designer Voice, John Murphy:
As a learning designer, with a background in university teaching in education, I am interested in the use of technologies to support diversity and inclusion and enhance accessibility, particularly for students of English as an additional language (EAL) and those with sensory disabilities such as hearing impairments.听I was also motivated by the opportunity to enhance the digital capabilities of staff in online and blended learning environments 鈥 in this case in the creation of key concept videos using platforms such as ARC and Echo 360 Personal Capture.听From a broader perspective, I was interested in exploring to what extent this project could enhance learning and teaching and contribute to student success, retention and their overall experience.
Academic Voice, Elizabeth Yong:
I was interested to find out if by captioning videos, we could increase the likelihood of students watching them, and thus enhance their learning. I am always keen to provide various modes for students to learn and I was excited about the opportunity myself to learn a new tool in MyUni.听
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What was your role in the project?
Learning Designer Voice, John Murphy:
As a Learning Designer working with the Faculty of Engineering, Computer Science & Maths, I initiated the idea for this project and invited Elizabeth Yong in as the Academic Lead. Elizabeth is the Director of The Engineering Communication Unit at ECMS. Elizabeth invited a diverse group of other academic staff on board who were interested in piloting captions in their courses, each of which had a high number of students with English as an additional language (EAL).
I worked with the academic staff on the background research, scoping out the project and the design of survey questions. I also up-skilled them in the use of ARC (which was added to each of their courses), as well as the auto-generation and editing of transcripts and captions. I also provided advice on the purchase and use of video editing software and wireless microphones, as well as some advice and assistance with video editing and production as proof of concept.
Academic Voice, Elizabeth Yong:
In consultation with John Murphy, Learning Designer and my colleagues from the Engineering Communication Unit, I selected a range of courses and student cohorts, best suited to a pilot of the captioning project.
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What was the most surprising discovery you made during the project?
Learning Designer, John Murphy:
The results of the survey supported previous research that showed that captions were popular among all students and that there was a correlation between language proficiency and preference for caption type 鈥 the lower the proficiency, the greater the preference for word-for-word captions. Students reported that captions enhanced clarity and understanding of the video presentations, while stressing the importance of well-organised and clear presentations.
However, the most surprising discovery for me was in how video captions can also be used to support diversity and inclusion among staff. When generating captions in ARC, there was an option to select US, UK or AUS English, depending on the speaker鈥檚 accent. Three of the academics involved in the pilot were native speakers of Japanese, Vietnamese and Mandarin respectively. Surprisingly, selection of AUS English in ARC resulted in a more accurate transcr