Comment/Suggestion
During August new faculty Days all Faculty were told that we CANNOT put voice recordings/lecture recordings --often times accompanied by a PowerPoint or teaching demonstration-- in Moodle without a transcript/closed captioning that accompanies it.
Faculty were told that if we have voice recordings/lecture recordings in our Moodle shells that we need to remove them or provide a transcript with them.
It is exasperating that the college holds faculty to different standards then they hold themselves. There are several items that we are told to share with students on the college website that do not provide a transcript/closed captioning. For example: faculty are encouraged to show “Shot’s Fired” to students at the beginning of the semester, yet there is not transcript/closed captioning provided.
By mandating that transcripts/closed captioning are needed before faculty can upload or keep voice recordings/lecture recordings in Moodle is beyond troublesome. We are told we can upload a plain old PowerPoint, but no voice recording due to students that may be hard of hearing. What about those who are blind etcetera –voice recording would be beneficial-? While faculty are willing to provide accommodations that is what voice recordings, typed notes, provided PowerPoint’s, enlarged print, and transcripts should be…accommodations, which are granted through Disability Services.
Please address this as soon as possible by a response. Many Suggestion Boxes are submitted, yet never addressed with a response via Suggestion Box.
When Deans and College Administration mandate faculty to provide transcripts then the college should do so as well.
OR
Do not require faculty to provide transcripts in Moodle of their recorded lectures. This is tedious and it is not being done throughout the college. Students who need such accommodations (transcripts is one of many) should register through Disability Services and provide instructors said proof of accommodation requests.
Please reconsider this mandate and inform Deans that faculty can provide voice recordings/teaching demonstrations without a transcript/closed captioning.
Response
Comment from College Cabinet
We acknowledge being in compliance with the ADA’s requirements requires extra considerations by all our employees, but the outcome of providing equal access to education is worthy of our employees’ time and efforts
“The ADA requires that title II entities (State and local governments) and title III entities (businesses and nonprofit organizations that serve the public) communicate effectively with people who have communication disabilities. The goal is to ensure that communication with people with these disabilities is equally effective as communication with people without disabilities” (Effective Communication, 2014).
The above requirement extends to all materials. The college utilizes a vast number of videos and audio productions. We appreciate the author of the email alerting us to the concern of lack of captioning on the video in question and encourage you to assist your colleagues by bringing non-compliant materials to your supervisor’s attention and making sure we are using compliant materials in all Central Community College activities including our classrooms.
Reference:
Effective Communication, (2014). ADA. U.S. Department of Justice. Retrieved from https://www.ada.gov/effective-comm.htm
Since January 2017, 56 Suggestion Box postings have been made. Of those, 5 are currently not answered. CCC administration is in the process of answering those posts.