I recently received the following question from a reader of my skills & drills newsletter:
Question: I have been asked to make the text captions in my Captivate project exactly match the audio. The thinking by management here is that people without speakers or headphones can still see the text captions. I argue that hearing and seeing the same text is redundant and distracting. Do you have any advice on the use of Audio and Text captions in terms of effectiveness?
Answer: Generally speaking, captions that exactly match the audio are NOT effective. Instead, the captions should be treated as bullets and the audio should expand upon the text. If you want to include an exact transcription of the audio voiceover, consider adding closed captions (which are required if you are creating Section 508-compliant eLearning). For more information about screen text that matches the slide audio, read this article by Jennie Ruby.
Totally Agree Kevin: In fact here’s a recent eSeminar on just the topic of Redundancy. http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/event/index.cfm?event=register_no_session&id=1721935&loc=en_us
Research backs you up completely. Saying the same thing you are reading – discourages learning. Just as you say.
Totally Agree Kevin: In fact here’s a recent eSeminar on just the topic of Redundancy. http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/event/index.cfm?event=register_no_session&id=1721935&loc=en_us
Research backs you up completely. Saying the same thing you are reading – discourages learning. Just as you say.
Totally Agree Kevin: In fact here’s a recent eSeminar on just the topic of Redundancy. http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/event/index.cfm?event=register_no_session&id=1721935&loc=en_us
Research backs you up completely. Saying the same thing you are reading – discourages learning. Just as you say.