Student Disability Services Intends to Change Learning Techniques with Captioning

With the aid of CATS Multimedia, Student Disability Services has cultivated what they intend to be a universal design that helps meet all the needs of students. Through captioning classroom videos, movies, lectures, and other various visual materials, they are able to accomplish a goal that 

predominately serves few but provides assistance to all.

According to Kathy Waggoner, the Director of Student Disability Services, the captioning service that CATS 

Multimedia provides is essential and greatly valued on this campus. Even though there are a noted four to five students with documented hearing impairments, she believes the service provided will help those students who haven’t yet identified with being disabled.

Waggoner also added, “Captioning provides a service that fulfills a need to all learners; for instance, some 

people do much better when they read information instead of hearing it. It’s for different learning styles, 

second-language English speakers, and many more.“ 

Broadening the definition of learning and accessibility on campus, she believes this is progressing the campus in a positive direction. 

Heather Santos, Alternate Media Technology Specialist, added that this change would provide an atmosphere conducive to learning more efficiently on campus. 

Prior to captioning, the student disability services provided lapels for professors and headphones specifically for students with hearing impairments. These students would then receive live feed coming from the professor’s lapel.  While this is still utilized, captioning remains as the preference in helping those with disabilities in the classroom. It provides a more discrete, easier way to catch every word. It also allows those without a disability ease when listening to difficult dialect or topics. 

Kyle Workman, the caption coordinator graduate assistant for CATS, stated, “Students with disabilities and the university as a whole both have a need for captioning services. Our university is comprised of students and faculty from all over the world; captioning support allows content to be accessible for all types of learners and individuals who may not have had the accessibility they needed or wanted without the support of CATS.”

With the help of CATS, student disability services wants to continue to provide the necessary resources for students with disabilities as well as those without.

For Information regarding this story, please contact: klwaggoner@eiu.edu or hnsantos@eiu.edu