UMBC to pilot Collaborate automated transcription recording

Pilot will take place during summer session through 9/15

Update @ 10/1: The pilot has concluded.

In partnership with Blackboard, UMBC will pilot a recording transcription feature in the Collaborate web conferencing platform this summer. This feature will be available from July 15 - September 15, 2021. 

Captions improve the accessibility of content for individuals who are deaf or hearing impaired. However, captions with videos offer opportunities for students to access the information in ways they need or want it. 
  • Anyone working in a noisy environment can read captions.
  • Non-native speakers can read captions to reinforce their understanding.
  • Students learning to read can follow along with the speaker.
  • Students can see the spelling of terms that will be on a test.
In Collaborate, the recording transcription feature is triggered by the instructor through the recording settings page for the session. Please review this FAQ for step by step instructions.

Collaborate leverages AI powered speech to text recognition to generate a transcription of what is said during the session. After the captions are created, captions are available from the recording list. The captions also immediately appear in the recording player for anybody having access to the recording. As with Panopto, if you want to improve or correct anything in the captions, you can download the caption file to edit and replace it.

During the pilot, Blackboard would like to gather feedback from faculty who use the feature. Surveys will be distributed to faculty who use Collaborate recordings during the pilot. Please share your thoughts as this feedback is important to improving the feature for all future users. 

As always, if you have any questions about teaching, learning, and technology at UMBC, please consider the following options:

Posted: July 12, 2021, 8:09 AM