Echo360 Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR)

Staff Resource

Introducing Echo360 Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR)

From 2021, all videos uploaded to Echo360 will automatically have transcripts generated using Echo360 Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR).

Transcripts are automatically generated using "speech-to-text" technology and can also be used for creating closed captions.

Only videos newly recorded or uploaded using Echo360 will have an automatically generated transcript. Videos created prior to 2021 will not have transcripts automatically generated, but can have transcripts applied by re-publishing the video to a course.

How to turn off Echo360 ASR

Some videos or courses may not be suited to using Echo360. For example, you might be teaching a course with highly technical scientific or mathematical language in lectures which would make the automatic transcripts less accurate than they would otherwise have been.

If you are teaching a course in which ASR is not appropriate, you can turn off Echo360 ASR in the course by following the instructions below.

Navigate to the course in which you want to disable Echo360 ASR.
Click on Echo360 in the course navigation menu.
Click on Settings in the top right of the Echo360 window.
Click on Features in the left-hand Echo360 menu.
Untick the ASR Course Media option.

To turn off Echo360 automatic speech recognition, navigate to the course, click on Echo360, click on Settings, click on Features, and untick ASR Course Media.

How to edit the generated transcript

After turning on the transcripts, all Echo 360 videos will have a transcript automatically generated. It is recommended to review the transcript text to correct any language errors.

It takes around 30 minutes for a video to generate automatic transcriptions, longer for videos that are more than an hour in length and/or if the transcription service is processing a large number of requests at the time.

To edit the Transcript of any video, scroll to the recording that you would like to view and click on green button then Edit Transcript from the dropdown menu.
On the Transcript editor page, select Edit Transcript. Once you click Edit Transcript, the text will become editable and you can make your edits directly into the text.
Click on the play button to begin listening to your recording. The transcript appears on the right and will move to keep time with the audio. You can turn on the Pause when typing option under the video player if you need to edit the text and have the video pause while you do so.
Click in the text where you need to make an edit to insert/delete words or make any corrections.
When you have finished reviewing your recording and transcripts, select Save As New Version. Click Apply to save your edits.
Saving your edits will create a new version while keeping the old versions saved. You can revert back to any past versions using the dropdown menu.
All changes to a transcript can be applied directly to create closed captions (ie. subtitles) by clicking the Apply To CC button. You still can also export and upload the transcripts files if you want to do some offline changes to the transcript text using text editor software, like Notepad.

Notes:

Recordings that are made while ASR is turned off will not include a transcript even after ASR is switched back on.
Editing transcript permission could be given to students if required. It can be turned on from the settings.

Students’ use of the ASR feature is optional, so students have the choice to open or close the transcription panel when watching the recording.

How to Create Transcripts for Pre-2021 Recordings

When ASR was enabled on 19 January 2021, only newly uploaded/recorded media would have transcripts applied.

Please follow the steps below to generate transcripts for recordings that were uploaded to Echo360 prior to 19 January 2021.

In order to generate transcripts for pre-2021 recordings, you will need to re-publish the recording to a class.

Information about how to publish a previous recording to a new class/course can be found in the Sharing Recordings PDF guide.

How to Delete Transcripts

There may be some times when you need to delete all of the transcriptions applied to a piece of media. It could be that the transcription is inaccurate as the recording contains a lot of technical terms not understood by the automated transcript tool, and this makes it too difficult to use. The following guide shows you how to delete transcripts.

https://learn.echo360.com/hc/en-us/articles/360049807652-Deleting-Transcripts-from-Media