Comparison of accuracy of machine-generated or human-generated captions of Zoom live lectures in a comparative theriogenology course

Abstract

Captions are available with captured lectures for student review. In this study, automatically generated captions from Zoom, Kaltura, and YouTube were compared for accuracy with captions generated by a human being. Also investigated was the effect of speaker on accuracy of captioning – does the speed with which someone speaks or their accent alter accuracy of captioning? YouTube was by far the most accurate of the automatic captioning systems. There were numerous mistakes made by Zoom and Kaltura and some significantly altered meaning. Mistakes were due to the transcribing systems, not to things specific to the presenters. Instructors should get in the habit of reviewing tran scripts of their lectures to ensure students are not misled.