Founded in 1961, Portland Community College (PCC) is the largest post-secondary institution in Oregon with over 60,000 students. PCC is an open enrollment institution, serving a diverse population of adult learners.

As part of the PCC’s commitment to equal access for all students, the College has partnered with TypeWell since 2002 to offer live transcription services. As a result of using TypeWell, PCC is able to provide real-time communication access, with particularly strong support for STEM students as well as value for students with a range of disabilities.

PCC’s Community and Commitment

Many of PCC’s students are adult learners returning to education after significant time away. These students seek opportunities to engage in a variety of credit and non-credit programs, full- and part-time, and many are unsure what barriers they might experience.

As Director of Accessible Ed & Disability Resources Kaela Parks shares, “PCC’s mission is to ensure that a wide range of students, who each bring different lived experiences, can all feel a sense of belonging, and be supported in growing their skills and demonstrating competency in the College’s learning environments.” 

PCC also offers one of the longest-standing American Sign Language interpreting programs on the West Coast and, as such, has strong ties to the Deaf community. The College invests in serving students across disabilities and has attracted a range of students with accessibility needs. The Accessible Ed & Disability Resources Department (formerly known as Disability Services) ensures students who experience disability have equal opportunities at PCC through an individualized, student-centered accommodation process, as well as resources for staff, faculty, and the larger community.

“TypeWell is one of many tools and techniques that our college uses to ensure that communication access barriers are less likely to impede access and engagement”

Mel DeLeon, Coordinator of Interpreting & Transcribing Services, served as a sign language interpreter for years before joining PCC and says, “We go above and beyond when it comes to working with students with disabilities. It’s my passion, it’s my heart. I always like to say to students, ‘How are we going to get to yes?’ If you want this, let’s figure this out. I’m not going to throw up a barrier.” 

As part of a host of services and options available to students at PCC, the College offers TypeWell transcription for one-quarter of its deaf and hard-of-hearing students, as well as other students with disabilities who benefit from the service. “TypeWell is one of many tools and techniques that our college uses to ensure that communication access barriers are less likely to impede access and engagement,” says Kaela.

Finding the best solution for students

Accessible Ed & Disability Resources team members use an interactive process to determine the best accommodation for individual students. 

“Our team typically begins with a conversation. We need to understand what a student is experiencing, and how things have gone for them so far. We do review any medical or diagnostic and evaluative reports a student may bring, but we don’t start there. We start with a conversation. In those conversations, there are all kinds of things a student may say that could lead to deeper conversation about the types of approaches that might be most effective,” Kaela says.

There are several needs students might express that would indicate TypeWell as an appropriate solution. The first is a desire for real-time services, as opposed to notetaking support, for example, or the chance to preview or review material shared in class. “When it comes to TypeWell, one of the first questions our practitioners consider is whether there is a need for real-time communication access. If there is, then we want to determine if there is a history and preference for signed language vs. text-based representations.” 

“TypeWell helps us ensure we are providing communication access in ways that work best for each situation. For situations in which a student benefits from being able to read a transcript in real-time, it is nice to have a choice that is highly readable.”

For students who would benefit from a text-based approach, Kaela’s team will then consider the class content. “If there is a lot of technical jargon, a word-for-word approach may be best, but otherwise, and especially if it is a foundational math course, then TypeWell may be the best place to start. Because our process is interactive, wherever we start, we can always touch back in, and revise our plans to ensure students are getting the tools and techniques that work best for their situation.” 

Three key benefits of TypeWell 

For the right students, TypeWell plays an increasingly important role in meeting educational communication needs. Since fall of 2020, PCC has received 175 requests for TypeWell services, an increase of 102% over previous years.

Kaela Parks, Director of Accessible Ed & Disability Resources

This positive reception is in part because of TypeWell’s format. As Kaela says, “TypeWell helps us ensure we are providing communication access in ways that work best for each situation. For situations in which a student benefits from being able to read a transcript in real-time, it is nice to have a choice that is highly readable. Because TypeWell provides meaning-for-meaning access, rather than word-for-word, the transcript has more white space, and can be easier to access during a live class where it’s also important to pay attention to what is being presented or shown.”

“We find that there are many students who benefit from TypeWell who are not necessarily deaf or hard-of-hearing.”

In addition to ease of use for students, TypeWell can be especially helpful for STEM students. Features like Math Mode (a separate, built-in math dictionary that Sharon Allen, Mel’s predecessor at PCC, helped design) ensure students can access math and science notation in a format that mimics what they see in their textbooks and on the board during class.

“One of the awesome things about TypeWell is Math Mode,” Kaela says, especially considering the particular needs of the PCC community. “There are a lot of community college students who need to engage in coursework to build foundational skills in areas like math. Because math is a prerequisite skill for engaging in pathways that lead to a variety of certificates and degrees, it is essential for us to ensure our foundational math courses are as accessible as possible. Being able to deploy TypeWell with Math Mode is really helpful.”

TypeWell has also been an important support for students with a variety of disabilities. Kaela says, “We find that there are many students who benefit from TypeWell who are not necessarily deaf or hard-of-hearing. Sometimes students have been diagnosed with an auditory processing disorder, or a non-verbal learning disability. Sometimes a student experiences neurological or other health conditions that can make multi-modal input, and the ability to review what has just been said, really important.” The student’s individual need is the most important indicator of the best accommodation.

“For us at PCC, it is important to understand what the barriers are, and provide responsive approaches that mitigate those barriers—it is less about specific diagnoses, and more about understanding the student experience,” Kaela says. 

A powerful example of personal impact

Students who express their appreciation for TypeWell serve as perhaps the most powerful testimonial for the service. According to Kaela, many students who are new to the service regret not having used it before. “We find that students who are coming to us as transfer students may be more likely to have been exposed to transcribing services than those who have been out in the workforce. Students do often say they wish they had known about TypeWell sooner.” 

The student was offered TypeWell as a way to provide multi-modal input and she found it terrifically helpful. “She was so impacted by the effectiveness that she talked about it with everyone she knew and even partnered with our professional staff to offer presentations at conferences.”

Kaela shares an example from one student for whom TypeWell was particularly transformative. “We had a former student who came to PCC after a traumatic brain injury. This student had been a successful professional in the high tech industry prior to her injury, and was coming to our college not because she needed a degree, but because her life had been profoundly changed, and she was trying to re-train her brain,” she says. 

The student was offered TypeWell as a way to provide multi-modal input and she found it terrifically helpful. “She was so impacted by the effectiveness that she talked about it with everyone she knew and even partnered with our professional staff to offer presentations at conferences,” Kaela says. “The other thing she did was to establish an endowment for our department, and after she passed, we received a generous gift that we have used to help ensure other students who could benefit from accommodation are able to get the psychoeducational testing they couldn’t otherwise afford.”

Lifting up the PCC transcriber community

Any benefits TypeWell affords are, in large part, a direct result of talented, dedicated transcribers. As an experienced accessibility practitioner herself, Mel knows how important it is to ensure transcribers at PCC have a great experience. Mel and the PCC team are dedicated to supporting and engaging with their pool of transcribers to build community.

Mel DeLeon, Coordinator of Interpreting & Transcribing Services

As Mel shares, “Every term, we have a face-to-face meeting that’s paid. We talk about what’s working, what’s not working, and then people share tips. We also just get to know each other and, you know, just share a funny story about what somebody’s looking forward to working in isolation.” Especially in an increasingly hybrid environment, where many transcribers are remote, community matters. “I think you miss the water cooler talk, the ‘lunchroom camaraderie,’ so to speak. And so trying to have a bit of that is a good thing,” she says.

At PCC, transcribers also collaborate and share responsibility. “I team everything,” Mel says. “Even if it’s an hour, I team it, especially in remote times because somebody’s internet can go down and it can be such a relief. And I think the transcribers feel like if something happens, there’s a backup. It takes off a little layer of stress for everybody.” Additionally, PCC has recently adjusted transcriber pay. “We pay really well. A few years ago, we gave everyone a decent raise because their pay hadn’t been adjusted in a while. And the demand has risen so much.”

Accessible Education and Disability Resources leads the PCC community to recognize disability as a valued aspect of diversity, embrace access as a matter of social justice, and to promote universal design and inclusive environments. Find out more here. 

TypeWell develops software used by professional transcribers to provide communication access. Using advanced speech-to-text transcription software, transcribers provide real-time access to communication for people with hearing, visual, physical, or learning difficulties. Find out more here. 

**All images courtesy of PCC