Interpreter vs Real time captioning for upper level chemistry course

ecp

ecp

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I'm about to enroll in 2 advanced chemistry courses that are all that stand between me and medical school.
I have the option to choose an ASL/PSE interpreter or a captioner.
I can see pros and cons to both.
Cons that apply to both- if the interpreter or captioner aren't familiar with the subject, they are likely to make mistakes which would put me at a disadvantage.

The pros for the interpreter are multiple- I need to brush up on my ASL, I really need to learn science/medicine terms in ASL and maybe the interpreter would get to learn some new terms.

Captioner- the pros aren't as much fun. I know the English vocab. The captions might be more consistent, depending on the captioner.

Any thoughts? Any interpreters out there know the difference between alkanes, alkenes and alkynes? (carbon-carbon single bond, carbon-carbon double bond and carbon-carbon triple bond is the answer:)

Are there even signs for this stuff?? I know the material well and if I would choose the interpreter if I got to choose the interpreter (I'd choose the really awesome lady I met once from Ohio State).
 
Contact NTID. The interpreters I had for the hard sciences use references from them.

Real-time captioning? If you are going to be moving around a lot in a lab setting, then it will be a pain in the butt. I used almost exclusively real-time captioning until I took a biology and chemistry course, then I ended up having to switch to an interpreter because the classes and labs were very mobile and the captioner couldn't really relocate frequently enough to keep up.
 
Good point about labs

Captioners can't exactly set up shop in a fume hood (not that interpreters should be in fume hoods either:) but interpreters can at least move from fume hood to NMR room and whatnot.

In undergrad I used an FM system for all my classes for the first 2 years. It was great in lab but it also sucked in lab. Interference from equipment was annoying and distracting, my professor (a very sweet old man from Germany- with a very German accent) often forgot to switch the mic off when he was talking with other students (I overheard quite a few conversations) or he forgot to turn it back on when talking to me. More than a few times he'd be standing behind me talking and I'd be in my own world titrating or whatever.
I did try turning one BTE to the FM and the other on environmental (normal) sounds but I found I couldn't understand either. And one ear is worse than the other.
 
souggy said:
Contact NTID. The interpreters I had for the hard sciences use references from them.

Real-time captioning? If you are going to be moving around a lot in a lab setting, then it will be a pain in the butt. I used almost exclusively real-time captioning until I took a biology and chemistry course, then I ended up having to switch to an interpreter because the classes and labs were very mobile and the captioner couldn't really relocate frequently enough to keep up.
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excellent point souggy!
but lets say if for theory classes, captioning would be a great addition all for notes purposes
 
Would it be possible to use a terp for labs and captioning for lectures? Or can you use a terp/captioner team? The terp could pick up where the captioner has to leave off when you're doing active lab work. I know that's expensive but that would cover all bases.

Also, does your lecture include lots of Power Point notes and outlines? If so, can you download those for your own use?

When I terp for new classes I request the Power Points and sometimes the text book ahead of time so I can practice the spelling of terms and names, and look up any concepts that I'm not familiar with. I probably do as much "homework" as some students. :lol:
 
all good ideas

Thanks for the ideas.

Reba- do you know of any science asl dictionaries? My hearing loss is progressive and my local elementary happened to be the TC (mostly ASL) school so I learned sign language back when I could hear and I've always found that I remember concepts when I sign them to myself. I guess it has to do with the movement involved (the more senses you use to learn something, the more neural connections and easier learning).
 
Reba said:
Would it be possible to use a terp for labs and captioning for lectures? Or can you use a terp/captioner team? The terp could pick up where the captioner has to leave off when you're doing active lab work. I know that's expensive but that would cover all bases.

Also, does your lecture include lots of Power Point notes and outlines? If so, can you download those for your own use?

When I terp for new classes I request the Power Points and sometimes the text book ahead of time so I can practice the spelling of terms and names, and look up any concepts that I'm not familiar with. I probably do as much "homework" as some students. :lol:
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That's what I was thinking too.

Since the lab is hands on and covers what you've already learned in class, then you should be able to understand what the interpreter is saying.

In class, you're learning everything firsthand... which is why using captioning in class would give you a better idea exactly what the teacher is saying. With captioning, words are typed out and you see the full word as it is said. Since you already have full knowledge on how to read and spell, you can learn easily.

Once you've learned the materials, then the interpreting approach would be fine in those labs. :)
 
ecp said:
Thanks for the ideas.

Reba- do you know of any science asl dictionaries? My hearing loss is progressive and my local elementary happened to be the TC (mostly ASL) school so I learned sign language back when I could hear and I've always found that I remember concepts when I sign them to myself. I guess it has to do with the movement involved (the more senses you use to learn something, the more neural connections and easier learning).
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There are giant expensive technical sign dictionaries, I have seen them at Gallaudet but I don't know if they are available elsewhere...the books DO exist though!
 
Etoile said:
There are giant expensive technical sign dictionaries, I have seen them at Gallaudet but I don't know if they are available elsewhere...the books DO exist though!
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Perhaps the library at ecp' college could buy or borrow them? Or are they available as an on-line resource? :dunno:

I wonder also if Rochester has some? VamPyroX, do you know?
 
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I'm currently a CART provider for a fifth year pharmacy student. He prefers interpreters for his labs and CART (aka captioning) for his lectures. I do think that sometimes with very technical material CART can be more straightforward simply because the CART provider can write what they hear rather than having to translate everything into conceptual terms or fingerspell long chemical words. I've got hundreds of technical prefixes and suffixes in my steno dictionary, from "methyl-" and "oligo-" to "-emia" and "-malacia". Also, in the alkene-alkane-alkyne scenario, an advantage to CART is that the words will stay up on the screen for a minute or two, whereas if you miss seeing one of those letters in the middle of a hurriedly fingerspelled phrase, you might be out of luck unless you can catch your interpreter's eye and have them fingerspell it again so you know what's being talked about.
 
StenoKnight said:
I'm currently a CART provider for a fifth year pharmacy student. He prefers interpreters for his labs and CART (aka captioning) for his lectures. I do think that sometimes with very technical material CART can be more straightforward simply because the CART provider can write what they hear rather than having to translate everything into conceptual terms or fingerspell long chemical words. I've got hundreds of technical prefixes and suffixes in my steno dictionary, from "methyl-" and "oligo-" to "-emia" and "-malacia". Also, in the alkene-alkane-alkyne scenario, an advantage to CART is that the words will stay up on the screen for a minute or two, whereas if you miss seeing one of those letters in the middle of a hurriedly fingerspelled phrase, you might be out of luck unless you can catch your interpreter's eye and have them fingerspell it again so you know what's being talked about.
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this might be the best route... also you can use remote cart like i did so u dont have to worry about a captionist in the room w u as long as u have internet access to the room you are in. for me learning a new subject or new class is hard w interpreter because i may or may not be familiar with the signs for that terminology. with CART all i had to do was read and my notes were emailed to me everyday from each class. CART is a very reliable service.
just my thoughts.
 
In college, my brother favored CART while I favored interpreters. Once in a while, we would have the same class together, and having both interpreters and CART in the same class. They all work well :)
 
Not all CART providers offer mobile wireless CART, but some do, and it can sometimes be an advantage over remote CART, though it's still probably not quite as mobile as interpreters are. The student I CART for tried remote CART initially, but the walls of the lab were so thick that the connection kept dropping and it was very frustrating. Also, remote CART can be less accurate than live CART just because microphones generally pick up less sound than the ear of someone sitting in the class itself. As I mentioned before, he eventually decided on interpreters for his lab classes, but if he had wanted live CART instead, I think we could have made it work.

I have a wireless steno machine equipped with Bluetooth, a laptop with a tripod, and a portable wireless tablet, also equipped with Bluetooth. So I could conceivably sit in the lab classroom reading off the display of my laptop, safely away from fumes and equipment, and transcribe whatever I could hear while sitting in my chair. Meanwhile, the student could just carry around the wireless tablet (or set it up on its stand on the lab table) and read its realtime display (identical to the one on my laptop) without having to worry about where I'm located. Obviously that depends on your CART provider having a wireless setup like this, and on there being good enough acoustics for the CART provider to be able to hear even when not in the middle of the action, but it's certainly a possibility.
 
I thought I'd post an update- 2 weeks of class with an interpreter

Class has been going pretty well, except that there is a shortage of interpreters, but that is being worked out.

My fears that the interpreters would not be able to faithfully interpret very technical information was an issue but I've been working with the interpreters and a [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Signs-science-mathematics-resource-teachers/dp/B0006RULII/ref=sr_1_40?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252826629&sr=1-40"]book I found [/ame] (which is out of print).

My professor has a very thick accent and I can't understand what she says even in quiet. The interpreter really helps.

Thanks for the help and tips.

The one annoying thing is that the interpreters (well, 2 of them) seem surprised that I already have a college degree and that I got it from a really good college at age 22. They seem to have some preconceived notions that deaf students don't go to college or don't graduate on time.
Then when I tell them I'm taking the class so that I can go to medical school, they kind of grimace and nod "yeah...sure....". Maybe these two interpreters (who both come from Deaf families) have based their ideas of what deaf people can do on the deaf people they know. I don't mind shattering their low expectations:)
 
Well, 90% of deaf graduated from Gallaudet. Normally there are few deaf undergraduate grads (unlike HOH). There are not many deaf graduate students majoring in the sciences since most deaf grads went on to major in deaf education, psychology, etc for their MA. Maybe that is why the interpreters were surprised.
The NSF reported that 80% of all PhDs recipients int he sciences (physic, chemistry, engineering, etc) are foreign-born/non-U.S. citizen. thus the accent. I had a Chinese prof in grad school and the interpreters couldn't understand her well and I got a B......

there is a deaf medical organization.


ecp said:
Class has been going pretty well, except that there is a shortage of interpreters, but that is being worked out.

My fears that the interpreters would not be able to faithfully interpret very technical information was an issue but I've been working with the interpreters and a book I found (which is out of print).

My professor has a very thick accent and I can't understand what she says even in quiet. The interpreter really helps.

Thanks for the help and tips.

The one annoying thing is that the interpreters (well, 2 of them) seem surprised that I already have a college degree and that I got it from a really good college at age 22. They seem to have some preconceived notions that deaf students don't go to college or don't graduate on time.
Then when I tell them I'm taking the class so that I can go to medical school, they kind of grimace and nod "yeah...sure....". Maybe these two interpreters (who both come from Deaf families) have based their ideas of what deaf people can do on the deaf people they know. I don't mind shattering their low expectations:)
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I am a member of AMPHL.

To DURAY- I classify myself as d/Deaf (I purposefully include the big and little d). Audiologically, I'm deaf. I've known sign language since I was 4 but my hearing loss is progressive, so I mostly live (very isolated) in the hearing world.

I'm getting tired of labels though. Hearing people say I'm DEAF! and Deaf people, or at least the subset I've met, sort of look down on me.

After spending the weekend with some highschool friends (all are hearing) I realized that my social life is non-existant. My friends from college only ever knew "d/Deaf ecp" and thus had no assumptions. I think I might spend the rest of my life wishing I was back in college. One of the interpreters invited me to a Deaf event but I'm scared. I'm usually nervous about going to any social gathering but this one seems even more scary because I know I'll be able to understand what people are saying but I will probably have to fingerspell every other word of anything I say because I really need to work on expressive ASL.
 
ecp said:
I am a member of AMPHL.

To DURAY- I classify myself as d/Deaf (I purposefully include the big and little d). Audiologically, I'm deaf. I've known sign language since I was 4 but my hearing loss is progressive, so I mostly live (very isolated) in the hearing world.

I'm getting tired of labels though. Hearing people say I'm DEAF! and Deaf people, or at least the subset I've met, sort of look down on me.

After spending the weekend with some highschool friends (all are hearing) I realized that my social life is non-existant. My friends from college only ever knew "d/Deaf ecp" and thus had no assumptions. I think I might spend the rest of my life wishing I was back in college. One of the interpreters invited me to a Deaf event but I'm scared. I'm usually nervous about going to any social gathering but this one seems even more scary because I know I'll be able to understand what people are saying but I will probably have to fingerspell every other word of anything I say because I really need to work on expressive ASL.
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You're like me then, well with a bit more than the fingerspelling part. All you can do is strap down your boots and get 'er done. I can't count how time I regret not reaching out in the past regarding those Deaf events.
 
souggy said:
You're like me then, well with a bit more than the fingerspelling part. All you can do is strap down your boots and get 'er done. I can't count how time I regret not reaching out in the past regarding those Deaf events.
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My Deaf community here is amazingly welcome of everyone. Especially if you are deaf and trying to learn ASL. It bothers me that more communities are not like that...
 
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