Deaf STEM Community Alliance and Mainstream Real-Time Captioning 
Lisa B. Elliot, Ph.D. Rochester Institute of Technology/ 
National Technical Institute for the Deaf 
Presentation for the Capacity Building Institute: Promoting the 
Successful Participation of People with Disabilities in STEM, 
Seattle, WA February 25-28, 2014 
Successful Practices from?the Deaf STEM Community Alliance and C-
Print Research Projects 
� Background 
		�  Both projects emanate from RIT/NTID ?
		�  Both started with �off the shelf� software ?
		�  C-Print research began in 1989, funding from US 
Department of Education (start 1993), NSF (start 2007) ?
		�  Deaf STEM Community Alliance, NSF (start 2011) ?
C-Print 
� Provides meaning-for-meaning speech-to-text capture displayed 
on a variety of devices 
� Captionist types using phonetically-based abbreviations and 
full words appear on the display, using standard QWERTY 
keyboards 
� Rationale 
		�  Not everyone who is deaf or hard of hearing (D/HH) has 
proficiency in ASL, especially students who have been 
educated in mainstreamed settings ?
		�  ASL vocabulary for STEM is limited, fingerspelling 
complex! ?
		�  Text provides permanent record for very complex 
information ?
C-Print in STEM Labs 
Photo of two students and?their professor in a biology lab. The 
student on the left is holding a mobile device and viewing C- 
Print captioning on the device. 
 
Effective Practices in STEM with C-Print=ADAPABILITY! 
		�  In STEM courses, instructors often use multiple visual 
displays�it�s important to be able to integrate the text 
display with other displays� e.g. �float� text on top of a 
PowerPoint display ?
		�  C-Print started as a text-based display; STEM 
information is graphical as well�software adapted to be 
used on tablets ?
		�  STEM courses often require mobility and/or tables full 
of equipment�C-Print was adapted to be displayed on mobile 
devices as well as laptop computers. ?
Floating C-Print 
The picture at the left shows C-Print text in white in a black 
background box �floating� on top of a Google+ Hangout 
 
C-Print 
For more information on C-Print: hIp://www.rit.edu/ntid/cprint/ 
Deaf STEM Community Alliance 
		�  Initiated in Fall 2011 (NSF HRD-1127955) ?
		�  Goal � to build a model virtual academic community that 
supports the academic success of students who are deaf or 
hard of hearing (D/HH) in STEM majors ?� �Model�= 
incremental + iterative design ?
Deaf STEM Community Alliance 
� Program addresses three critical barriers for D/HH students in 
STEM with these activities: 
� Student preparation (remote tutoring) � Socialization (remote 
mentoring & social media 
community) 
� Accessible media (STEM resources & social media community) 
Deaf STEM Community Alliance 
� Virtual Academic Community Infrastructure � Website 
� YouTube Channel?� Email channel?� Google+ Hangouts platform � 
Google+ private community 
Deaf STEM Community Alliance � What we�ve learned 
� Student preparation & remote tutoring:?� One needs to have 
colleagues who are willing risk takers in 
adopting new technology for teaching 
� Many ways to use technology for remote tutoring, both 
synchronous and asynchronous 
� Socialization:?� Students need encouragement to use social 
media for 
educational purposes 
� Members need encouragement and training to actively 
participate 
Deaf STEM Community Alliance Activities 

Photo below is an example of a synchronous remote tutoring 
session. The tutor is sitting in his office at his desk and the 
student is talking with him using Google+ Hangouts. 

Photo above is an example of a posting in the Google+ private 
community from a mentor about a job opportunity. 
Deaf STEM Community Alliance 
For more information about?the Deaf STEM Community Alliance 
visit: 
hIp://www.dhhvac.org