How does captioning work in a college classroom?

Real-time captions in a live classroom setting can be delivered to a student through different mechanisms. If the student is present in person, they are usually receiving captions on a second screen, such as a tablet or laptop, using a solution known as Communication Access Realtime Translation, or CART.

For on-demand or remote classes that are not live, closed captions are usually provided in a sidecar file alongside the video recording, which can be toggled on or off by the user.

Who is captioning college classes?

For student accommodations in a live classroom, real-time captions are usually transcribed by a live professional captioner. Traditionally, CART utilized a stenographer or in-person captioner and displayed captions on a large screen.

Nowadays, remote CART captioning options and alternatives have become very common, with a remote captioner connecting to the classroom’s audio source, such as a clip-on microphone worn by a professor. The captioner then transcribes the lecture or discussion word-for-word, with live captions populating on a second screen or streaming link to the text.

What kinds of qualifications do live professional captioners have?

Real-time captions for college classrooms require a high degree of accuracy to provide an equivalent experience for students requesting accommodations. Live professional captioners should be experienced in providing accurate captions and following best practices for real-time captioning.

At 3Play, live professional captioners undergo a rigorous certification process and use 3Play’s innovative proprietary voice writing technology to produce accurate and comprehensive real-time captions.

How do real-time accommodation professionals order and pay for captions?

Higher education professionals usually have a wide range of needs for live accommodations: lectures, meetings, conferences, webinars, and more.

Ordering and billing needs are going to be different at every institution. 3Play takes a flexible approach to these aspects by giving professionals exactly what they need to track spending and budget, whether it’s full visibility into how the institution is spending on accessibility services like real-time captioning, or small-scale, single projects with specific purchase orders (P.O.s) attached.