Some learners won't be able to hear the audio for your videos. Perhaps they don't have perfect hearing. Perhaps their on the bus or in a busy cafe without their headphones. Or perhaps they just flat out don't want to listen to the audio, they find reading quicker and easier. Including a transcript with all your videos makes sure you're not disadvantaging any of your learners. It makes your course more accessible.

There are paid transcribing services that cost a few dollars per minute of video or audio (a simple web search will turn up loads of options). But, for many of us, we need free. So, Word and Google docs provide us with two easy options that can save us time.

In Word, it's dictate...

In Google docs, it's voice typing...

How to

Open your preferred document creator (Word or Google docs) on a device - DeviceA.
Open the video (or audio) you wish to transcribe on another device (e.g. your phone) - DeviceB.
(Your computers microphone will often be set to ignore it's own audio, so you'll need to play the video/audio through another device.)
Turn up the volume on DeviceB.
Select Dictate (Word) or Voice typing (Google docs) on DeviceA.
Hit play on the video/audio on DeviceB.
You'll see the words being typed on DeviceA.
It's best not to try edit while the transcribing is happening, so once you've got everything set up, leave it playing and pop off and make yourself a hot drink.
Once the transcribing has finished, replay the video/audio and make any slight edits where the technology didn't quite pick up what was being said.
Copy-paste your new transcript into the transcript area when uploading a video.

Tips

Make sure...

Your surroundings are quiet
Your microphone (on DeviceA) is turned on
You've set up the speaker on DeviceB to be directed at DeviceA

How to

Tips

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