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Dr. Robert H. Paine
Visiting Professor of Chemistry
Department of Chemistry
College of Science, Rochester Institute of Technology
85 Lomb Memorial Drive
Rochester, New York 14623-5603
Telephone: 716-475-2516
Fax: 716-475-7800
E-mail: RHPSCH@RIT.EDU
This presentation described the experiences encountered while
using voice recognition technology (VRT) for instantaneously
creating captioning on videotapes of lectures for two new
sequential chemistry courses to be used for distance-learning
(DL). Part One, titled "Voice Recognition: An Unexpected
Synergism" was presented at the 1999 "Technology and Disabled
Persons" conference. Part Two, titled "Voice Recognition: A More
Complete Story" was presented at the 2000 "Technology and
Disabled Persons" conference. The following describes the work
that has been supported by a grant from the Camille and Henry
Dreyfus Foundation for the advancement of Chemical
Sciences.
Distance Learning as a methodology has been in vogue at
Rochester Institute of Technology for more than 22 years and has
gained wide acceptance throughout educational institutions
globally. Because of Rochester Institute of Technology 's early
entry in this innovative pedagogy, videotapes and compact disks
have become a welcome, non-intimidating means of presenting
lecture material in Chemistry and other courses. It is the intent
of this work to add instantaneous captioning to this present
method of presentation of Distance Learning and to further
Rochester Institute of Technology's leadership in Distance
Learning pedagogy and practices.
Distance Learning is often described as education "anywhere, any
time," which usually means bringing the course material to the
student, rather than the student to the course. Today and well
into the future, this particular definition suits the part time
student who is gainfully employed and is striving to gain his/her
degree concurrently. Videotapes and ancillary functions make this
quite feasible; the student is more able to fit study hours to
his/her own schedule rather than a rigorous class schedule.
However, as we view these techniques, it is readily apparent that
the methodology can be utilized by all students, full-time,
part-time, co-op anywhere in the world. The financial pressures
and burdens of collegiate education have presented us with a
situation where more than 60% of the full time are working
part-time to help pay for their college education. I would like
to suggest the following somewhat broader definition for Distance
Learning: "Distance Learning embraces those technologies which
are utilized for educational processes whenever the student and
the professor are separated by distance and/or time."
Our DL programs have been and continue to be successful student
learning experiences for the following reasons:
The student can study any time he wishes.
The tapes can be rerun, stopped or repeated to match the
students' note taking and comprehension rates.
Videotape material is not as intimidating as a formal lecture
might be.
Rochester Institute of Technology is a comprehensive,
independent technological university, which is predominantly a
teaching institution, that enrolls over 17,000 students in a wide
range of undergraduate and graduate programs. Founded in 1829,
Rochester Institute of Technology has throughout its history been
known as a university that is committed to technology-based
education that has meaningful application to industry and the
community at large.
The University is comprised of seven colleges: Applied Science
and Technology, Business, Continuing Education, Engineering,
Imaging Arts and Sciences, Liberal Arts, National Technical
Institute for the Deaf, and Science.
For many years the National Technical Institute for the Deaf has
been situated at Rochester Institute of Technology; Rochester
Institute of Technology is considered a world leader for
educational support of the hearing impaired. More than 1,100 deaf
students from across the United States as well as from several
U.S. territories and other countries study and reside at
Rochester Institute of Technology each year. The National
Technical Institute for the Deaf provides Rochester Institute of
Technology's deaf students with technical and professional
training in over 30 programs. An the National Technical Institute
for the Deaf education prepares students for technical careers in
areas such as applied accounting, applied art and computer
graphics, applied computer technology, engineering technologies,
ophthalmic optical finishing technology and photomedia
technologies, to name a few. Most of these programs require
proficiency in fundamental chemistry.
Since 1977, Rochester Institute of Technology has been offering
a variety of college courses for Distance Learning students,
employing multi-media techniques, including creation and
presentation of lecture materials via videotapes. Beginning in
1992, the Department of Chemistry prepared Chemistry courses
(Chemical Principles I & II, Fundamentals of Chemistry,
Introduction to Chemistry of Materials, Introduction to Organic
Chemistry, Organic Chemistry I, Biochemistry I, Biochemistry:
Conformation and Dynamics and Biochemistry: Metabolism) for
various Distance Learning programs. This is an expanding effort
and more Chemistry courses offered by this methodology are
planned.
Many National Technical Institute for the Deaf students, as well
as hearing-impaired students throughout the world, desire and
need courses in College Chemistry (listed above). For these
students to avail themselves of Distance Learning courses in
Chemistry, since there has been no closed captioning on these
tapes, there are two alternatives presently available: the
student must hire an interpreter to translate the audio portion
of each tape; or preparation of exact scripts for closed captions
must be prepared well in advance and executed, or if after the
fact, an exact synchronization with each tape is required. Both
of these methods are expensive and lengthy.
To overcome these disadvantages, efforts have been directed
toward conversion of voice signals to printed alpha-numeric. This
project examined the voice recognition technologies available
(IBM et al.) to convert voice signals into visual words which
appear instantaneously on a television monitor and are
simultaneously printed on the videotape (and streaming video as a
future direction) as they are produced. Successful accomplishment
of this means that all study materials will be available to
hearing impaired students right away, rather than after a two to
three week delay. These techniques will also be utilized to close
caption Chemistry tapes which have already been produced.
It is recognized that the Science of Chemistry, like all
mini-cultures, has developed an argot which may require
specialized software preparation to complete these goals. For
example, the spoken syllables "aitch two ess of four" will have
to be translated and printed as "H 2 S 0 4"; "see aa see ell two"
as C a C 1 2" and so forth.
The Department of Chemistry here at RIT initiated DL with
foundation chemistry courses supporting the Electrical/Mechanical
Technology BS degree program in 1992.
The success of this program allowed us to add it to the RIT
Summer program; in this instance, students rented the tapes for
viewing at home, and came to campus for weekly recitations. The
following year these programs were offered at several community
college sites in western New York. As the enrollment of these
classes grew, it was inevitable that some hearing-impaired
students would register; captioning for this portion of our
student body became requisite. The usual methods of scripting and
captioning were both time consuming and expensive.
The original project, instantaneous closed captioning of
videotapes, used with Distance Learning Chemistry courses by
voice recognition technology, was conceived to save both time and
money while maintaining high quality productions. As the initial
work has proceeded, some unexpected pedagogic synergism has
appeared.
One goal of the Department of Chemistry at Rochester Institute
to Technology, and of the Institute itself is the advancement of
Chemistry as a major science throughout the world. As part of
this goal, this paper describes a logical but significantly
unique step in improving the educational effectiveness of
Distance Learning courses in Chemistry. When achieved, these
techniques may be applied to other Distance Learning Science
Courses.
Over the past several years, some modest experimentation has
proceeded with great success, delight and some revelations. One
such experiment is described:
A group of students were gathered in a TV studio/lecture room
(four hearing-impaired students and sixteen others: and were told
of the experiment. The room was prepared for Chemistry Lecture
Demonstrations and all proceedings were recorded on videotape. A
large TV monitor was available so students would see the live
action, but where captioning could be superimposed, as well as on
tape. Two phone lines were available, linked to a
stenotypist-captioner 40 miles distant. The first phone line was
to carry the voice of the Professor (RHP) to the captioner, the
second for the return of the captioning. One half hour before the
start, a list of technical chemical terms was sent by Fax to the
typist-captioner. Present also was an American Sign Language
interpreter. With only two mistakes, this hour experiment
succeeded more than expected.
The return of the captioning was almost instantaneous and none
of the students watched the Professor or the interpreter; all
were glued to their images on the screen! The students asked if
they could expect this every session! (Total costs for this hour:
$400.) What we observed in this live presentation is that
hearing-impaired students (as well as all others present) no
longer had to divide their attention: glance at the interpreter,
then glance at the instructor - back and forth - through the
entire lecture. The students' attention was now directed to one
single place - the TV monitor - where words and actions were
simultaneously displayed. These students exhibited a degree of
concentration not previously seen in our "regular" presentations.
And further, as our original project planned, there will be
significant time and dollar savings. However, our delight is that
we see a significant improvement in teaching effectiveness, and
frustration and intimidation have been minimized.
Further examination of these techniques reveals that the audience
served by closed captioning is much greater and includes:
Hearing-impaired students
Dyslexic students
Students who are slow readers or slow note takers
Students for whom English is a second language
Many are now engaged in Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR). These
are simple, such as short verbal commands into your telephone,
slightly longer commands used to control computer functions; in
2001, Cadillac owners will be able to push a button and then use
voice-activated commands to access their e-mail. On the other
hand, some companies have retailed very extensive software,
designed to recognize many spoken words, often to print them out
on a computer screen. These are very helpful for users in those
categories described earlier. However, there is less effort being
focused on converting the output of these software programs into
the printed word, and more specifically into captions on
tapes.
After examining the available voice-recognition software, the
Dragon Naturally Speaking® software, Professional Version,
was selected. One chief advantage of this software was its
extensive (20,000+-word) vocabulary.
This presentation will describe the efforts, successes and
nuances that have occurred while taping two chemistry courses
before live classes. It will include the expected, the unexpected
and the thrills which occurred during these courses. Following
this, I will speculate on our future course of action and
efforts, and other applications.
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