Thursday, January 24, 2002

Stanford U. Will Test a Computerized Transcription System By KAREN BIRCHARD Stanford University is the first test site in the United States for a Canadian system designed to give students with disabilities a better shot at succeeding in college. Students testing the Liberated Learning Project (LLP) at colleges and universities in Canada, Britain, and Australia find they no longer need note takers at lectures where LLP is used. Although LLP adds some extra work for the lecturer, students, including those without disabilities, give the innovation positive reviews. Using voice-activated software, the system immediately converts a teacher's words into print that is flashed onto a large screen. After the lecturer edits the session for accuracy and corrects words that sound the same, the lecture is made available to all students online. For the visually impaired, it can be quickly translated into Braille. "The student response has been fantastic," said David Leitch, the head of LLP and director of the Atlantic Centre of Research, Access and Support for Students with Disabilities, at Saint Mary's University, in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Saint Mary's has been using the system for two years. "We find that all students in the classes where LLP is used are using the words on the screen to check their notetaking or find their place," Mr. Leitch said. Students without disabilities also say that the screen, with its real-time display, adds interest to the lectures. But the real winners are students like Jane Bagnall, who has been profoundly deaf since she was 6. In an e-mail interview from Saint Mary's, she said: "I could see the professor's lecture on the screen as he was speaking. I was therefore getting lecture information in two ways (in text and via the Sign Language interpreter). ... The second benefit is having near-verbatim, edited lecture notes afterwards for studying. This gave me an opportunity to reconcile my own classnotes with the actual lecture notes, as my own were far from perfect. If I missed a class, the LLP notes would be available." According to Mr. Leitch, access to lecture material has always been a problem for students with disabilities. "Some wealthy universities can hire court stenographers -- each one costs about $60,000 a year -- but the majority of students with disabilities in most universities depend on volunteer note takers, and this is less than ideal," he said. "LLP certainly improves the accuracy and makes it easier for students to take a course," he said. Mr. Leitch is pleased that Stanford has agreed to test the system, saying that the university's information-technology expertise means it can quickly develop solutions whenever problems arise. "Where we see a glitch, they see an opportunity," he said. Easy-to-print version E-mail this article

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