Captions differ from foreign language subtitles in that they can be coloured and positioned to indicate who is speaking, and provide information on music and sound effects which may be central to the understanding of the program. Subtitles are simply a translation of a foreign language into English which appears on the bottom of the screen.
Audiovisual resources have become integral to the classroom. A high percentage of these materials are used to support the curriculum, yet the access barriers for many students that this presents are not being adequately addressed by all states and systems.
Schools cater for a wide range of student learning needs and styles while responding to curriculum demands and an increasing use of technology and online media. Teachers need to plan effectively to ensure that the needs of all students in their classes are being met in the more technology-dependant classroom.
Advances in technology have seen the concept of learning escape the confines of the classroom, however teachers need to ensure that BYOD and other devices or equipment in the classroom don’t pose a barrier for students with diverse learning needs. Accessibility features may need to be enabled on the devices.
To achieve best practice, modelling accessible use of media in your school communities can be facilitated by:
Access to media and technology in schools is a necessity for all students, to ensure that they can learn and interact with the curriculum, and to assist in the meeting of age appropriate learning outcomes. This access empowers students to be more independent learners, gain knowledge, and to become active members of our society.
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The NLA also provides an impressive and the most substantial list of captioned videos nationally, via its search engine. Once a captioned title has been located, borrowers can organise an interlibrary loan between relevant libraries.
With over 61,400 captioned videos and DVDs available for discovery by the search engine Trove, the NLA offers huge opportunity for the provision of access to captioned educational content for teachers and students in Australian schools.
“I began promoting captions in the last three years after coming across an article about them. Curiosity got the better of me and I began researching the impact of captions and the sourcing of captions. I had a student who was in Year 7 and he was having major difficulties accessing auditory information in his lessons at high school.
“The captions have allowed him to understand the context of the video information, as before this he just couldn't.
The theme of the conference for teachers, led by teachers, was ‘Teachers driving school improvement’. Over 60 papers, workshops and poster presentations from teachers, principals and researchers were presented. Some of the topics included collaborative professional communities and the use of new technology for real-time data collection.
