Caption.Ed, developed by CareScribe, is assistive technology that provides highly accurate, multi-lingual, and subject-specific captions for any live or pre-recorded media, including face-to-face conversations. And this April, Caption.Ed gets even better as all-new features launch in its new version.
The next generation of Caption.Ed software, live April 4th, lets users take meaningful notes alongside their transcripts so that they never miss out on what’s important. With Caption.Ed, you can annotate notes against any audio or video, highlight key information and upload additional media to support your notetaking.
All of your Caption.Ed sessions are then available to revisit at a later date, meaning you can scroll back over what was missed, revise what was said and recall why it was important.
Caption.Ed is offered as tiered packages where users can upgrade or downgrade to suit their needs. It comprises:
· Caption.Ed Lite – For individuals who need notes, with slimmed down captioning and transcription requirements.
· Caption.Ed Pro – For individuals who need notes, with full captioning and transcription functionality.
· Caption.Ed Notes – For individuals who just need to take notes without transcription.
People can register their interest now via the Caption.Ed website and book a demo with a member of the CareScribe team.
What sets Caption.Ed apart?
Caption.Ed is designed with accessibility at its heart. In fact, it was developed by people who have accessibility needs which is why Caption.Ed has accessibility requirements baked into its very design. It has an unobtrusive user interface (UI) which takes up only a small amount of your screen, and also has the ability for the user to change the text size or the appearance of their captions to help with readability.
It’s designed to work seamlessly across in-person and online teaching, making it the perfect solution for the future of hybrid learning.
Caption.Ed is also fantastic at captioning topics which use complex terminology such as health and life science classes, social sciences, or law. It also works across different languages including: French, Spanish, Italian, German, Swedish, Dutch, Danish and Simplified Chinese.
Richard Purcell, CareScribe Director comments; “I really struggled with my dyslexia at school, medical school and finally at work. Ever since it’s been my mission to level the playing field. I founded CareScribe with the aim of improving accessibility and inclusion for everyone – be that in education or the workplace.”
Captioning is not just for deaf students
Captioning is often seen as a solution for people who are deaf or who have hearing loss but it has much wider applications. Netflix recently reported that 80% of people watching their platform use subtitles. Most have no hearing loss but find that captions help to focus attention and boost comprehension. This can be an essential aid for people with neurodiverse traits that may affect working memory, concentration, writing speed and even those learning English as an additional language. For example, Caption.Ed is benefiting people with:
· Dyslexia
· Autistic spectrum disorder
· ADHD
· Auditory processing disorder
· Mental Health Conditions
Purcell adds, “Thousands of people are already using Caption.Ed to allow them to remove barriers and participate more fully in their studies or in the workplace. As with all great assistive technology, Caption.Ed can be useful for just about anyone. Caption.Ed should be a game-changer for work, study and home life and I’m so excited to introduce our new version to users.”
The development of Caption.Ed
Dr Richard Purcell is both a director at CareScribe and an NHS Doctor. In 2013 he worked with a fellow medical student to create Medincle, a piece of software to help students cope with some of the complexities of medical jargon which has since been adopted across the UK healthcare and education space.
Richard has been developing assistive software ever since but in 2020 he put the company on hold to go back and work full time as an NHS doctor during the start of the pandemic, followed by a brief stint at St. Peter’s Hospice in Bristol. At the end of 2020 he returned to full time software development and his company CareScribe has grown from three to 30 members over the last year.
Key features of Caption.Ed
· Works across live or pre-recorded media including: online meetings, classes and presentations as well as face-to-face conversations.
· Caption.Ed provides highly accurate and subject-specific captions, for subjects such as scientific, medical or legal content.
· Caption.Ed can capture and transcribe speech in many different languages including French, Italian, Spanish and Simplified Chinese.
· Alongside their transcripts, users can add annotations in real time, upload additional media, and highlight important pieces of information to refer back to with ease at a later date
· Users can revisit their past sessions and listen back to their lecture, seminar or meeting in order to recall what was said, revise and add to their annotations and export everything in a variety of formats.
· Caption.Ed supports PC, Mac and mobile devices.
· It works where you do, including: Panopto, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Echo360, Blackboard, Google Meet and many more!
Caption.Ed is already being used across many colleges and UK universities, including the University of Cambridge, St Andrews University, Edgehill University and many more. It’s also recommended by assessors within the Disabled Student Allowance and Access To Work.
How can Caption.Ed support staff in education?
In both schools and universities, Caption.Ed ensures that teaching is accessible to everyone, regardless of ability. This helps create independent learners and also allows institutions to save money on costly human note-takers.
Universities typically have to caption large amounts of media across different platforms. Caption.Ed allows content producers (such as lecturers) to generate highly accurate and subject specific captions for any of their media instantly. Transcription tasks can also be delegated across the team, which helps to reduce workloads for individuals and editing of transcripts can be done within Caption.Ed’s editing suite.
For administrators at schools and universities, Caption.Ed can help these users:
· Take more effective minutes alongside your meetings in real time
· Write up, download and circulate notes from meetings at a much quicker rate
· Transcribe interviews and edit them with ease
With this in mind, Caption.Ed will be especially useful for pastoral staff and those who deal with SEND and Pupil Premium learners.