| MATC
Holds Grand Opening, Student Demonstration of
Captioning Studio Funded by $500,000 Federal Grant;
Recognizes Baldwin for Funding Support
Madison Area Technical College
(MATC) has completed the installation of its new broadcast captioning
studio, funded with part of a $500,000 Congressionally directed grant
awarded by the U.S. Department of Education*. The funding is allowing
MATC to develop a new degree program in broadcast captioning and expand
its educational and job placement services for captioners and court reporters.
Only 13 other colleges across the nation, including Lakeshore Technical
College based in Cleveland, WI, were awarded similar grants.
Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin took part in a live captioning demonstration
and tearing a text “tape,” commonly used by court reporters,
to officially open the new studio on October 28 at MATC Truax. Baldwin
was instrumental in securing the grant funding. MATC also recognized Baldwin
for her efforts in securing a federal grant for $388,000 for WIS-CAP**
also to support broadcast captioning in Wisconsin, as well as $500,000
in funding for TechWorks***, a local project to identify, train and place
people with disabilities in information technology careers.
Broadcast captioners and court reporters, who require similar specialized,
rigorous training, are in high demand and can earn between $35,000 and
$100,000 a year for their skills. Due to its federal funding, MATC was
able to accept approximately 60 students this fall – double its
initial program enrollment goal – into first year classes that lead
to an associate degree in either of these professions. In addition
to the new captioning studio, the grant is funding curriculum development,
instructors, marketing and recruitment activities, student scholarships,
job placement services and equipment needed to support the new program.
The purpose of the grant is to train more broadcast captioners in the
U.S. so that by the year 2006 broadcasters will be able to close caption
100% of all new live and video television programming, as required by
the 1996 Telecommunications Act. Twenty-eight million deaf and hard-of-hearing
people in the United States rely on closed captioning for information
in their civic, educational and professional lives.
Broadcast captioners use court reporter skills on stenotype machines to
translate the audio dialog of television programs into screen text for
use by deaf and hearing-impaired viewers. Today, it is estimated that
only 300 people in the U.S. work as captioners. The broadcast captioning
industry predicts that 2,000 to 3,000 captioners will be needed to meet
employer demands over the next several years.
The annual income of broadcast captioners, who often work from home, ranges
from $35,000 to $100,000, depending on the amount of time spent on air.
Internet or Webcast captioners typically earn $100 to $200 per hour. The
average income of a court reporter, who records proceedings in a court
of law by computerized machine shorthand, is $62,000 a year.
"Being a trained captioner
provides the flexibility and opportunity to earn a good wage to support
a family while filling a critical need," said Rep. Baldwin. "This
is especially important for women and rural residents who are then given
the ability to work from home or continue to work on the family farm."
The captioning and court reporting
fields pay well but demand rigorous training, exceptional English and
keyboarding skills, wide ranging current events and specialized terminology
knowledge, computer technology proficiency, and the ability to meet deadlines
under pressure and concentrate for long periods of time. Graduation from
MATC’s Court and Conference Reporting Program, which has awarded
associate degrees in the subject since 1976, requires a machine shorthand
speed of at least 225 words per minute.
“People who do well in
these fields often love to read and have well-developed English language
and listening skills,” stated Rachel Baker, a court reporting instructor
and the program director for the new captioning program at MATC. “They
are self- motivated, organized and detail-oriented. Musicians also often
succeed in the field –because of their enhanced manual dexterity
and self-discipline to sit and practice for long periods of time.”
Even with advances in voice
recognition technology, the National Court Reporters Association (NCRA)
“expects the need for reporters to remain strong for the foreseeable
future.” The organization notes that no expert is yet predicting
that we are anywhere close to having systems that recognize multiple speakers.
“A trained reporter using the latest real-time computer-aided transcription
processes remains the fastest, most accurate way to turn spoken information
into readable, searchable, permanent text.”
MATC students interested in
becoming either court reporters or broadcast captioners are starting to
build their skills and knowledge this semester by taking the first-year
curriculum of MATC’s Court and Conference Reporting Program, which
is approved by the NCRA. In the second year, those students specializing
in broadcast captioning will complete a curriculum being customized for
captioning.
After successfully completing
approximately 69 course credits, which typically takes a minimum of two
years of full-time study, and passing writing speed requirements, students
will earn an associate degree in applied science in either court and conference
reporting or broadcast captioning. Tuition, fees and the cost of books
and supplies for either of these two-year programs is estimated at $3,900
per year.
MATC is one of the largest
of the Wisconsin Technical College System’s 16 colleges and serves
about 50,000 individuals each year. It provides a comprehensive curriculum
of technical, liberal arts and science, adult basic education and life
enrichment studies and activities. The college serves all or part of 12
counties located in south-central Wisconsin and offers instruction through
five campuses and various other locations.
*The U.S. Department of Education
awarded a $500,000 grant to MATC in May for the Enhancement of Captioning
and Court Reporting Training project. One hundred percent of this project
is funded by the U.S. Department of Education. Enhancement of Captioning
and Court Reporting Training project activities began May 2002 and will
extend through June 2004.
**The U.S. Department of Education
awarded a $388,300 grant to MATC in October for WIS-CAP: Expanding Real
Time Broadcast Captioning in Wisconsin. One hundred percent of this project
is funded by the U.S. Department of Education. WIS-CAP, a partnership
among MATC, Wisconsin captioning providers, deaf and hard of hearing customers,
WKOW-TV and Wisconsin Public Television, will substantially increase both
the quantity and quality of captioned television news and public information
programs available in Wisconsin. WIS-CAP activities began October 2002
and will extend through September 2005.
***The U.S. Department of Education
awarded a $500,000 grant to the Wisconsin Division of Vocational Rehabilitation
in December 2001 for the TechWorks project. One hundred percent of this
project is funded by the U.S. Department of Education. TechWorks is a
partnership among the Wisconsin Division of Vocational Rehabilitation,
MATC, CompTIA Educational Foundation, the Workforce Development Board
of South Central and the TechWorks Business Advisory Council. TechWorks
activities began October 2002 and will extend until 2005.
###
Last
Modified:
October 30, 2002
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