Stark State College receives $198,700 from U.S. Department of Education for information reporting/captioning program
A state-of-art captioning training lab in the new W.R. Timken Center for Information Technology at Stark State College has been made possible through a $198,700 grant from the U.S. Department of Education and by funding from Pittsburgh-based VITAC, a leader in the captioning industry.
The lab is designed to train individuals to meet the growing demand for broadcast captioners and judicial reporters. New government mandates mean that the demand for jobs in closed captioning is expected to triple by 2006.
This professional, soundproof captioning lab has 21 computers and four captioning stations, utilizing captioning software to train both current students entering the field and seasoned court reporters transitioning to captioning.
Stark State currently offers an associate degree in information reporting technology (IRT) with three options for students: judicial reporting, captioning and realtime transcription. The program is approved by the National Court Reporters Association. The College’s goal is to provide cutting-edge technology to train individuals in captioning for live television broadcasts, computer realtime translation in courtroom and deposition proceedings, and corporate teleconferencing which includes captioning sales meetings, press conferences, product introductions and technical training seminars and instantly transmitting/displaying the text on computers to distant locations.
The grant enabled the College to upgrade and expand program laboratories, as well as the new captioning lab. The IRT program offers distant learning opportunities through Web-based education.
While the FCC mandate is stimulating the live broadcast side of the industry, a section of the Americans with Disabilities Act will soon require that more and more non-broadcast programming, videotaped movies, corporate teleconferences and Internet programs, also provide closed captioning. There also is a growing need for communication access realtime translation (CART) providers who assist hearing-impaired students and people who are learning English as a second language, by giving them the opportunity to participate in high school and college classes. An untapped market also exists for Webcasting reporters who provide realtime access to all business communications via the Internet.
In recent years, captioning companies have conducted in-house training of transitioning court reporters to meet captioning needs, but it has become more cost effective for them to delegate that training/education to educational institutions. Stark State, in conjunction with VITAC, holds “boot camps” which are three days of intensive, concentrated instruction in broadcast captioning for individuals transitioning from the judicial field to broadcasting.
Stark State’s information
reporting technology program is also part of College Tech
Prep which allows high school students to enter the program
their junior year. For more information about Stark State’s
information technology program, email jhardgrove@starkstate.edu.
