National Education Union

CUSTOMER SPOTLIGHT

In a Nutshell

The National Education Union needed to make its Zoom meetings accessible to 450,000 UK members and teachers. The union’s team sought out a solution to meet the demand for Zoom captioning and transcription to virtually engage with NEU members with the move to remote meetings and online education. Both British Sign Language and Verbit’s AI software have now been implemented to ensure that all NEU members and their students have accessible content. Teachers and students expect captions and transcripts in hybrid and online learning environments, and Verbit has enabled the NEU to meet these needs.

The Challenges

One of the biggest challenges across the UK involved addressing the issue of inclusion. With the shift to remote and hybrid learning environments, the NEU has undertaken the colossal challenge of helping teachers adapt to the new norm of teaching through video platforms like Zoom. Switching to video lessons heightened the complaints associated with the disability law in the UK, with many hard-of-hearing students left unable to partake in class. Not all students wanted British Sign Language (BSL), with many requesting transcripts and subtitles. After trialing Otter’s transcription service, a transcript error resulting in a misspelling of the NEU leader’s name caused reputational damage. The NEU needed effective tools that were reliable, quick and accurate.

Live accessibility tools for Zoom meetings & courses

Services that don't compromise on quality or accuracy

More interactive tools for virtual engagement

Guidance on remote communication & accessibility needs

"Making sure that people have access is so important, and as such, you need people that you can rely on. My opinion is that Verbit has the best people to be able to do that."

Mike JoslinLead Marketing Officer, NEU

The Results

A Trusted Provider

“We came across Verbit right from the start… Straight away, it was clearly the best product, most reliable, most accurate. It’s become ingrained in the Union.”

Inclusive Materials on a Mass Scale

“The biggest success has been engaging with our members on a massive scale to help them through the COVID crisis.”

Adapting to a New Normal

“The amount of people who use [Verbit’s] captioning software who don’t actually have accessibility needs [is surprising]. There’s a significant amount of people who request a transcript and subtitles for all of our calls…People do expect those things now and when we don’t have them, people complain.”

Raising Awareness of Accessibility Issues

“All calls are made accessible through BSL and Verbit’s software. This has helped raise awareness to others that there are people who have accessibility issues.”