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Madison, WI 53706

(phone) 608-263-2741
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McBurney Disability Resource Center Student Captioner Request Form

Classroom Real Time Captioning (RTC) Policy and Procedures for Students McBurney Disability Resource Center

Student Responsibilities:

  1. Requesting RTC before the Semester Begins:
    1. Students should contact the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program Manager as soon as they learn their admission status to communicate enrollment plans and need for accommodation(s). RTC service requires advance coordination time. Student contact should be initiated with as much notice as possible, even months in advance.
    2. Students should send a recent copy of an audiogram (within 3 years if progressive) and schedule an intake meeting with the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program Manager for a review and evaluation of accommodation needs.
    3. Students will attend a RTC service orientation and become familiar with the content of the Classroom Real Time Captioning Policy and Procedures for Students.
  2. Requesting RTC before the Semester Begins:
    1. Students should request captioning services as soon as they register for classes each semester. Undergraduates may be granted priority registration to provide additional time for McBurney to coordinate services. To maintain priority registration, students must continue to request services as soon as they register for classes.

      • Coordination Responsibilities: The McBurney Disability Resource Center provides services and accommodations for registered UW-Madison students with a documented hearing loss for curricular activities. UW departments or other campus organizations are administratively and financially responsible for provision of accommodations for some co-curricular and non-academically related events that they sponsor such as dormitory meetings or campus events (if the sponsor/department need assistance, feel free to direct them to the McBurney Center).
      • Refer to the Legal and Fiscal Issues Regarding Curricular and Co-Curricular Interpreting and Real Time Captioning Requests policy. Contact the McBurney Center Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services to inquire about the coordination responsibilities for the nature of your request when in doubt.
      • Expressing Consumer Preference: The provision of quality and consistent captioning service is a requisite. The McBurney Center also needs to operate within state and university policies and practices, consider overall master scheduling needs, consider student preferences, consider captioner qualifications, backgrounds and work schedule conducive to captioning. Additionally, the McBurney Center considers feedback from captioners regarding their appropriateness for assignments.

        Reasonable efforts will be made to accommodate specific captioner requests; however, recognizing the reality of balancing the needs of all students and schedules, the McBurney Center reserves the right to make final scheduling decisions.
  3. Student Responsibilities Throughout the Semester:
    1. Scheduling Changes (e.g., missing class, room change, instructor cancels class): Contact the McBurney Center front desk, 263-6393 TTY or 263-2741 Voice, as soon as you learn about a scheduling change. Do not e-mail or call the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program Manager's direct TTY line, 262-6051, as your message will be relayed at once to the captioner and/or Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program Manager by contacting the front desk staff.

      Note: Scheduled captioner(s) and the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program Manager do not necessarily know about cancellations announced during class, listed in the syllabus, written on the board, etc.
    2. Communicating Attendance Plan (No Show, Early Cancel, Late Cancel, Late Arrival): Students need to communicate attendance plans with the McBurney Center following these steps to maintain RTC coverage for courses. As a rule of thumb, cancel captioners as soon as you know you will not attend class.
      • No Show is defined as when a student misses class without any prior notification or any form of communication with the McBurney Center prior to class time. After a cancellation or no-show, we assume you will return to the next scheduled class session unless you notify us otherwise.

        Occasional absences are understandable; however, RTC service will be temporarily suspended for any course section (lecture/seminar, discussion, lab) when a student has 2 consecutive absences.
      • Early Cancel is defined as contacting the McBurney Center at least 48 hours before the start of the captioning assignment (i.e., class).

        Less than 48 hours notice is defined as Late Cancel. Habitual late cancellations may be considered No Shows.
      • Contact the McBurney Center front desk staff and specify a time you will be at class if you will be late to class. Without notice, captioners follow the appropriate wait lengths before leaving the assignment site. If you call ahead of time and still do not show up at the time you indicated you would be present, captioners will then follow the appropriate wait length for a "No Show". While the McBurney Center does not set numerical nor cumulative limits on no-shows or late cancels, we record all scheduling changes (cancels, no-shows, illnesses, substitutions, additional classes) in a master schedule for statistical purposes, employee evaluation and monitoring responsible usage of RTC service.
    3. Wait Lengths for No Show/Late Arrival: Captioners will wait 15 minutes from the start of the scheduled assignment. For late arrivals, observing the wait length begins once the student is not at class at the time of the anticipated arrival time.
    4. Reinstating RTC Service for Irregular Attendances: Irregular attendance patterns may result into an interruption of RTC service. Reinstating RTC coverage occurs after these steps are satisfied:
      • Attendance patterns are discussed between the DHH Program Manager and yourself.
      • Both you and the DHH Program Manager are clear on your enrollment status in the course.
      • Both you and the DHH Program Manager develop a plan for offering appropriate notice for changes in attendance plan.
      • Both you and the DHH Program Manager are clear on the two consecutive absences and/or established pattern of absences to the same course session without prior notification policy.
    5. Additional RTC Service Requests (i.e., review session, additional curricular work): The Online Request Form, accessed via the "Request Core Services" link on McBurney's home page, covers RTC service for regularly scheduled courses only. It does not include additional RTC coverage for final exam, review sessions, and additional curricular work nor co-curricular related activities (refer to the Legal and Fiscal Issues Regarding Curricular and Co-Curricular Interpreting and Real Time Captioning Requests policy). Additional RTC Service requests should be made by completing the request form located at http:www.mcburney.wisc.edu/support/request. To expedite coordination work for your request, these details need to be included in your request, make sureyour complete the form completely, including brief description of the request (i.e., group project meeting, meeting professor, review session - all pertinent information to offer the captioner enough background and dictionary preparation information
      6. .

      Please make your RTC service request as early as possible to improve the chances of securing captioner(s) even if you do not have all the details (i.e., professor announces a make-up class for next Thursday but does not know what time yet).

  4. Policy Emphasis: The McBurney Center, based on captioner availability and time request was made, will make every effort to schedule captioners. Alternative accommodations will be suggested if captioners are not available. Plan on communicating this consideration with your instructor in the beginning of the semester to minimize last minute requests and requests outside the scope of McBurney services.
  5. Procedure for Reporting Captioner Absence/Tardiness: You should contact the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program Manager or the front desk immediately should a captioner miss or arrive late to an assignment. Efforts will be made to send a substitute or arrange a reasonable accommodation.
  6. Offering Evaluation of a Captioner's Performance: Your captioner aims to provide as functional equivalent real time translation of spoken information as possible of all speaker(s) in the classroom. Working with captioners is a dynamic teamwork process that warrants ongoing communication diligence for maximum benefits. Collaboration and providing feedback should be done regularly.
    • Initially, take time to share consumer needs and expectations with new captioners through a formal meeting prior to the first class session.
    • Thereafter, continue to offer captioners regular, constructive feedback about their work and your expectations for particular assignments.
    • If you are not satisfied with the captioner's work, determine the problem and discuss it with the captioner during a set meeting time.

      OR

    • If you'd prefer not to approach the captioner directly, make an appointment to share your concerns with the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program Manager.
    • Bring unresolved problems or problems warranting immediate coordinator involvement to the attention of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program Manager.
    Please extend offering feedback not only to captioners but also to instructional staff. Students are the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Community's ambassador to an university population that does not necessarily realize the dynamics involved in working with Deaf and Hard of Hearing individuals and captioners.
  7. "In-House" Confidentiality/Communication Policy: Captioners abide by the Code of Ethics as delineated by the National Court Reporter Association (NCRA). When necessary per university policies, captioners may communicate typically confidential work-related information with appropriate administrators: the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program Manager and/or the McBurney Center Director.
  8. RTC Equipment Maintenance: Please do your best to protect the longevity of RTC equipment. Communicate all irregularities (e.g., lap top computer screen looks damaged) with the captioner promptly. Students may be held liable for deliberate or reckless damage to the RTC equipment.

    Requests for hardware and software modifications (i.e., addition of student owned software to take personal notes, student supplied disk/CD ROM, requesting the use of a personal lap top computer) require the express consent of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services Coordinator.
  9. Requesting Transcripts:Transcripts are provided by request. You can request transcripts from your captioner. Transcripts should be sent to you via email within 48 hours.
  10. Policy Emphasis: Transcripts are for your educational uses only. No one else can have access to the transcripts regardless of whether the instructor says it is permissible. Instructors/speakers cannot be held liable for the transcripts' content, as the transcripts are the Real Time Captioner's immediate translation of spoken information within the best of the captioner's abilities, contextual accuracy and cumulative background in the subject matter, and hardware and software capabilities. Works cited from transcripts should be noted appropriately.

McBurney Center Responsibilities:

  1. The McBurney Center confirms student priority registration status with the Registrar's Office.
  2. The McBurney Center hires and schedules qualified captioners considering inputs from students on their needs. An internal evaluation of the skill level of captioners who are not certified with the National Court Reporter Association (NCRA) is done.
  3. The McBurney Center will relay messages to students quickly any changes in RTC service (i.e., substitute captioner). Reasonable accommodation options (i.e., interpreting, videotaping or audio recording for later transcription) will be discussed with students when a captioner becomes unavailable.
  4. The McBurney Center provides course materials for captioners and expects diligence in the captioner's use of preparation time.
  5. To continuously monitor the quality of RTC service and supplement annual supervisor evaluations, an evaluation form for each course will be sent to you at mid-semester or at the end of the semester. Please complete your evaluation following one of the identified, in order of preference, modes of evaluation:
    • Meeting with the captioner, and Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program Manager, if requested, as a way to culminate discussion involving feedback provided regularly throughout the semester; or
    • Fill out evaluation form and meet with the DHH Program Manager; or
    • Fill out evaluation form and return to McBurney Center.
  6. Provide course instructor(s) with resources allowing them to effectively work with captioners and Deaf and hard of hearing students.
  7. Inform students of the process for challenging the adequacy of services and for appealing modifications and/or denial of services.
  8. Stay abreast of technological advancements in RTC practices and computer equipment including computer applications, both hardware and software, through a continuous collection of real time resources (i.e., software options, ideal and compatible steno machine and computer equipment brands/versions).

Real Time Captioner Responsibilities:

  1. Adoption of a consistent, accurate and conflict-free theory as well as familiarity and sensitivity to the professional standards of the Court Reporter Bill of Rights as delineated by the guidelines of the National Court Reporter Association (NCRA), McBurney Center and university policies. Represent the captioning profession to the highest standards.
  2. Attend all scheduled classes, except in cases of illness or emergency, or arrange for substitution through appropriate procedures.
  3. Seek feedback from students, faculty members and colleagues. Observe other captioners whenever appropriate and done unobtrusively.
  4. Prepare, maintain and research job-specific terminology for optimum real time captioning and readability including speaker identification, user-friendly real time formats and effective dictionary building through advance preparation of course materials and consultation with resources including faculty and student.
  5. Maintain healthy captioning through awareness of ergonomics and engage active prevention of injuries (i.e., stretching before working, correct posture).
  6. Maintain working knowledge of Deafness and actively learn sign language.

Professor/TA Responsibilities:

  1. Realize the significance of supporting the provided accommodation(s) to ensure academic access and smooth working relationship with student(s) and captioner(s).
  2. Provide support to captioners through provision of supplementary materials (e.g., hand outs, copy of overhead diagrams) or information that will enhance captioning work.
  3. Realize that captioners are professionals providing communication access for everyone.
  4. Make arrangements to ensure Deaf and hard of hearing students are provided with appropriate and readily achievable opportunities to equally participate and enjoy the benefits of educational programs and activities within the course.
File last updated: April 28, 2007. 14:14:45 pm
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