Improving e-Learning Videos by Adding Sign Language Interpretation and Subtitles

Abstract

As a professional academic supporting unit of the University, The Independent Learning Centre (ILC) at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) has decided to provide additional support by adding sign language interpretation versions and subtitles to the existing self-learning videos. Such a project is pioneering in Hong Kong in addressing the needs of Special Education Needs (SEN) students. The project aims to benefit students with different levels of hearing impairment or other SEN as well as general students. While the revised videos will allow and encourage a wide range of students with different levels of learning difficulties to foster their independent learning skills, the added subtitles (Cantonese, Mandarin or English) can aid learning in terms of retention, comprehension, accuracy and engagement. Such benefit means general students are also expected to have their learning effectiveness increased by viewing these inclusive design videos. The whole project selected 98 videos from different self-designed online platforms, which would be over 10 hours in total. Once ready, the videos will be incorporated into the redesigned online platform and revised micro-modules accordingly. This paper aims to offer a first-handed and thorough perspective on the whole project in order to share the experience of supporting SEN and general students by making eLearning more accessible. When we are carrying out the project, we hope we can further benefit academia by sharing our successful experience. We believe the aims of the project can be further extended by sharing our experience with our academic peers, that is, our partners.