TranscribePod Make Podcasts Fully Accessible

September 23, 2009

Accessibility is a primary focus in modern education. Recent years have brought the introduction of new tools like CaptionTube (a captioning tool for YouTube videos), interactivewhiteboards and now podcast transcripts.

Teachers and lecturers can face challenges in preparing for a class where a student has hearing issues. If a teacher is showing a video in class they must check for subtitles, or the student will miss out on the learning process.

With podcasts increasingly used in teaching, there is a new challenge. What should teachers do if assignments are based on listening to a podcast? Do you set a different task for one student, or do you try and include them? Irish companyTranscribePod helps give everyone equal treatment and means teachers don’t have to drop podcasts because of accessibility issues.

Earlier this month, TranscribePod announced that they had completed the transcription of Enterprise Ireland’s eBusiness podcast archive which is now available on the dedicated eBusiness website.

The TranscribePod process enables increased social inclusion in everyday life, the workplace and the education system by promising to make online podcast content “accessible, searchable, indexable [and] quotable”.

Offering podcasts in a text format makes the content accessible to people with hearing issues, and to those with English as a second language. Until now, no Irish company has accommodated these two groups of people.

In a comment, Eoin O’Siochrus of Enterprise Ireland said “Having the podcasts available in audio and now text format extends the reach of this key subject matter to an audience that has been overlooked in the past.”

(compiled by Miriam Walsh)