Improve Engagement, Focus, and Comprehension with Closed Captions for eLearning Videos
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Written By
Pamela Hogle
January 05, 2017
Topics
- accessibility
- accessible learning
- video
One simple addition to eLearning videos can improve learner engagement with and comprehension of the material, as well as increasing learners’ focus while viewing the videos. It’s closed captioning.
Many eLearning developers make two critical errors in the way they think about closed captions: They see captioning only as an accessibility aid. And they assume that, since they have no deaf learners, they do not need to implement captions. Actually, make that three errors: Many developers also believe that, if they ever “needed to,” they could easily add captioning later.
Research around how people use closed captioning with eLearning videos or TV-watching debunks the first two errors, showing that the primary reasons people use captions have nothing to do with hearing loss!
A 2006 UK study of television viewers found that 80 percent of the TV viewers who regularly used captioning had no hearing impairment. They told researchers that the captions helped them focus on and better understand the shows they were watching.
A national study of US college students found similar uses for captioning. Even though this study looked at higher-ed students, and much of [...]