Instructors are constantly seeking new ways to improve student engagement and enhance the learning experience. Teachers and students are incorporating technology in the classroom to record lectures. Lecture transcription is a reliable strategy that is helping students to better consume course content. The process involves converting audio or video recordings of lectures into text using audio transcription services. This can improve student engagement in many ways.
Why Lectures are Recorded
Recording lectures can be done by the instructor or by the student. These audio/video recordings can support teaching and learning in many ways:
- Helps develop learning materials for in-person, hybrid and/or fully online courses
- To create study materials and help students learn
- Lecture recordings and transcripts provide access to materials to learners who missed class or are located in a different time zone
- To provide learners with cognitive or physical disability with access the learning material
- Students with hearing disabilities may create their own audio or video recording of a lecture as a personal study aid
Benefits of Lecture Transcription
Transcribing recorded lectures provides many benefits for both students and instructors:
- Increases access to the material: Transcribing classroom lectures is a practical way to ensure that students with hearing disabilities have access to higher education. Lecture transcripts help avoid misunderstandings and confusion among deaf students. Likewise, transcripts also support students who are visual learners. They can better understand the material by reading the transcript while also following the recorded lecture.
- Allows for reviewing of materials: This proved immensely useful during the pandemic when teaching and learning moved to online platforms. Students could review the recordings and text material from the comfort of their home. Even with physical classes, lecture recordings and transcripts help students understand complex materials better.
- Provides access to the material for those unable to attend class: Illness, emergencies, and other unexpected events can lead to students missing classes. Lecture transcripts can prove very useful in such situations by allowing them access to the content for review and study. As transcripts are searchable, they can find the specific information they need easily.
- Allows for learning in students’ own time and schedule: With audio transcripts of their classes, students can learn in their own time and pace and organize their thoughts. This is very useful for students who find it difficult to keep pace with the instructor’s speed and style of speech. Lecture transcripts are a valuable resource that they can refer back to and review whenever they want.
- Boosts comprehension and retention: Studies show that when educational material is presented as audio and text, it improves comprehension and retention. When students are trying to learn something new, listening to the lecture and reading the text or transcript later can help them comprehend the information better and retain it. They have more time to process core concepts and check the transcribed lecture any clarification they need. This can help them improve their grades. Having written notes is especially beneficial for international students.
- Provides a permanent record of study material: By transcribing lectures, students will have a permanent record of the material for reference at any time. Transcripts are useful for further study as well as to share information with others.
- Helps instructors save time: With lecture transcripts, instructors can save time spent on repeating ideas in the classroom and writing notes on the whiteboard. It can also reduce the need to type out summaries and other teaching material. This can give instructors more time to communicate with students.
- Helps improve teaching style: Instructors can use the lecture transcripts to improve their teaching methods. Reading the transcripts will help them identify flaws and speech habits such as unnecessary repetitions, overuse of words or phrases, speed, etc. and correct them.
Creating the Recordings and Transcripts
Converting recorded lectures into transcripts can improve and speed up the learning process. Students usually require approval at multiple levels to record classroom sessions. Most institutions provide recording resources and services for instructors. Using good audio equipment is crucial for quality recordings and high-quality accurate transcripts.
When it comes to transcription, you can either use audio transcription software or opt for professional transcription services. Hiring an experienced audio transcription company will ensure accurate, timely and cost-effective lecture transcription.
