Echo360 has partnered with several transcription service companies to provide an automatic speech recognition (ASR) service. The ASR service provides machine-generated automatic transcriptions for video/audio media. Once transcribed, the media can be played back with the transcription panel open, allowing users to both read and hear the text of the speech in the media.
Currently there are two triggers for automatic media transcription:
- When the item is added to or edited in Echo360
- When the item is published to an Echo360 course (this article)
This article discusses the ASR Course Media feature toggle, which sends the media for transcription at the time it is published to any Echo360 section/course. Meaning the capture can be created or video can be uploaded, but it will not have transcriptions generated or added until the item is published. See the ASR overview article for more details and limitations surrounding transcriptions.
Providing transcriptions for media allows you to provide a text-based option for speech in your media, as well as the ability to easily apply closed captions to video/audio media by reviewing and editing the transcript then applying it as closed captions. Alternately, if you find that your ASR transcripts are normally quite accurate, you can configure Echo360 to automatically apply ASR transcripts to the closed captions track, if they meet a set confidence score.
Administrators can set this feature default at the institution, organization, or department level. Instructors can also set this at the Section level (if overrides are allowed). As with all multi-level feature toggles, as long as the Allow override checkbox is enabled, ASR for Course Media can be turned on or off at lower levels as appropriate. This functionality is in line with other institution toggles that allow independent configuration at the organization, department, and/or section levels.
IMPORTANT: If your institution plans to implement a manual transcription process, do not enable either ASR Toggle. Echo360 provides the ability to manually upload then edit transcription files (in WebVTT format) for video/audio media. The ASR toggles ONLY determine whether videos and captures are sent for automatic, machine-generated transcriptions. See Automatic Transcriptioning Service or ASR for additional details on how ASR works.
To enable the ASR course media option for the institution
- Log into Echo360 as an Institution-level administrator.
- Click the Settings icon and select Institution Settings.
- If you are an Institution-level Administrator:
- Select the Institution at the top of the list on the left. It should be selected by default.
- Select Features from the options in the right panel.
- Scroll down to the Transcripts and Captions area of the page, shown in the below figure.
- If you are a Delegated Administrator and/or you want to set ASR Course Media for an Organization or Department:
- Select the Organization or Department from the list on the left.
- Select Section Features from the right panel.
- If necessary, scroll down to the Content Creation and Management area of the page, as shown below.
- Click the toggle to turn the ASR Course Media feature on or off. It is OFF by default. Review the warning message that appears.
- Check or uncheck the Allow override checkbox to determine whether this toggle setting can be changed at any of the lower levels.
NOTE: The ASR toggle does NOT have to be turned on at the institution level unless you want all published videos/captures for the institution to be transcribed. As long as the Allow override checkbox is checked, the toggle can be configured independently at the lower levels as needed.
Once enabled, captures or uploaded video/audio media posted to courses from this point forward will be sent for transcriptions. After completion, the transcriptions are automatically returned and applied to the media, and are visible wherever a transcript panel is available. If you also enable the Auto Send Transcripts to the Closed Caption Track feature, transcripts with confidence scores that meet or exceed the set level will also automatically be visible as closed captions on the media. See also Automatic Transcriptioning Service or ASR for additional details surrounding the automated service.