Category: Education

11/04/2023

Why Global Access to the Metaverse Matters

Posted on | by Jacqueline De Marco | Leave a Comment on Why Global Access to the Metaverse Matters

The metaverse is generating a lot of buzz these days thanks to the exciting potential of the universal and immersive virtual world it promises to present to consumers using virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR).

Many people are waiting on pins and needles to see where this technology can take them, but there’s no guarantee that every fan of the metaverse will be able to access this new virtual world. Why? Chances are, non-English speakers can struggle or fail to access the Metaverse if linguistic barriers leave them at the door.

Let’s take a closer look at why global access matters in the metaverse.

Increased Accessibility

For the metaverse to be truly global, accessibility in all its forms should be considered. Language is one of the elements that can really make a difference when it comes to accessibility as not everybody speaks English as a first or even second language.

Horizon Worlds learned this lesson the hard way when they launched in Spain and France, but failed to localize their content in Spanish or French. The native speakers in those regions who didn’t speak English were left confused. Even if a brand eventually localizes their products, they miss out on a lot of opportunities to attract a new audience from the get-go by not localizing their content from day one. Not only can the technology be unusable, but the audience can feel that the products weren’t designed for them and can lose interest in any future launches in their native languages.

Improved Engagement

The entire point of the metaverse is to create a more cohesive, web-like, integrated virtual experience, with new entertainment options and immersive experiences. But how can someone truly become immersed in a virtual world if they don’t understand the language they need to speak and therefore can’t fully interact in that space? This is why localization is the key to not just accessibility, but to engagement as well.

Companies can encourage customers to engage with their brand in the metaverse by creating virtual goods, branded games, and AR and VR showrooms. With the metaverse still being a new experience for consumers, brands have the chance to really stand out in this space, but can quickly lose their customers’ focus by not creating an experience they can understand and deeply engage with due to language barriers.

While the full potential of the metaverse is yet to be seen, the following industries are already anticipating being able to make big moves in this space:

The Takeaway

Investing in creating a brand presence in the metaverse will require a lot of time and money from brands. The last thing they want is for their investment to fall flat due to a lack of accessibility and engagement because of language barriers. Localizing content into an audience’s native language before launching in their market is key to capturing their initial attention and to retaining them in this virtual space. It’s important to remember that English is not as universal of a language as it gets credit for and that your customers will want to engage with a world they can understand and connect with.

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04/04/2023

What is Language Access and Why is it Important?

Posted on | by Jacqueline De Marco | Leave a Comment on What is Language Access and Why is it Important?

Language access makes it possible for individuals and the businesses or organizations they interact with to communicate when they don’t speak the same language. In some cases, such as with certain federal agencies, language access is actually a legal requirement. Even if language access isn’t required by law, businesses can benefit financially and can improve their customer service efforts and brand reputation by turning to translation services to improve language access for their customers.

Let’s take a closer look at what language access is, why it matters, and how much of the U.S. population it can affect.

What is Language Access?

Language access is an important aspect of accessibility for people with limited English proficiency (LEP). The term language access refers to the ability of individuals to communicate effectively and access information, services, and opportunities in their preferred language. Similar to how certain accommodations must be made for those with physical disabilities (such as businesses having wheelchair ramps), language access is a key element to building an inclusive society.

Why is Language Access important?

Language access can help ensure that LEP individuals have equal access to services and opportunities, all while reducing barriers and promoting inclusivity. This can be especially important in situations where individuals rely on services for essential needs, such as healthcare, education, or legal assistance.

For example, medical patients need to be able to communicate with their medical care team in a language they fully understand. That way, there is no confusion around a diagnosis, treatment, or prescription. Not being able to fully understand medical care can lead to dangerous results. Even medical records and insurance claims can benefit from embracing language access.

Understanding LEP in the US

To better understand why language access matters, it’s important to have context surrounding just how many people this affects in the U.S.

LEP individuals don’t speak English as their primary language and have a limited ability to read, write, speak, or understand English. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that nearly 21 percent of the U.S. population speaks a language other than English, and of that percentage more than 40 percent speak English less than “very well.”

It’s easy to see how a large amount of the U.S. population could lose equal access to vital education, legal, or healthcare services due to language barriers.

The Takeaway

It is important for organizations and businesses to be aware of the language needs of their customers and clients and to take steps to provide language access when necessary. This can involve providing interpretation services, offering materials in multiple languages, or hiring staff who speak multiple languages. Hiring professional translators to translate content can help improve language access across a wide variety of industries. You can work with a highly specialized translation company to ensure you’re providing clear and correct content to LEP individuals.

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HOW-TO-BUILD-AN-EFFECTIVE-GLOBAL-LD-TRAININGPROGRAM_PORTADA
21/03/2023

How to Build an Effective Global L&D Training Program

Posted on | by Jacqueline De Marco | Leave a Comment on How to Build an Effective Global L&D Training Program

Many global businesses adopt an English-first approach to learning and development (L&D) training for their employees. Whilst English is a widely understood language, it’s important for businesses with a global workforce to remember that a strong understanding of the English language is not a guarantee for every single worker they employ.

Understandably, creating L&D materials in English is a popular choice for global organizations that feel they neither have the budget nor time for translations, but assuming people understand English is one thing and assuming they understand the cultural differences is another. The clash is inevitable.

While you’re likely to start with an English training program, there are a few things you can take into consideration and do in the development stage in order to make its localization easier and more cost-effective.

Choose Function over Form

Everyone loves a beautiful design, but when it comes to creating effective L&D training materials, the function must take priority over form. This is especially true when creating L&D content that requires localization. For example, adding animations can be visually appealing and add a fun flair to the L&D experience. However, when you have to localize complex design elements repeatedly, you may find those extra special touches don’t justify the cost of localization. Before choosing design elements, think about how they will affect your localization needs and if they provide enough value to justify localization.

Choose Your Layout Wisely

When you translate written content, this can affect the visuals of your L&D content greatly as other languages can take up much more or less space than written English text after translation. More often than not, other languages take up more space than English text. When choosing your initial layout, it helps to be strategic knowing that your space needs may change. Leaving a decent amount of white space in your original design can make a huge difference. While you can request that the localization specialist keep their new text concise and your designers can shrink the size of the text a bit, having more white space available to add expansive text can give you some much-needed breathing room.

Make the Choice Between Subtitles and Voice-Over

In an ideal world, you would localize all voice-over and subtitle content in your L&D materials, but this cannot be easy to pull off budget-wise as you would need to not only translate the subtitles and voice-over scripts, but hire a new narrator and record new audio content in all target languages. You may find that you need to choose between localization with just subtitles, voice-over, or dubbing to accommodate your budget. Think carefully about which format will best highlight your training materials.

Be Patient

The localization process is one that is best not to rush. To start, it can be helpful to wait until your source content is complete to provide the localization specialist with editable files. This will not only save you time, but money.

It’s also a good idea to coordinate timelines with your localization partner to ensure that the turnaround is viable and won’t require compromising quality to get the job done on time. Your localization partner will be able to advise which steps are needed to complete the project correctly and how long it should take.

The Takeaway

How can you make it easier to incorporate all of these tips into your L&D plans? Don’t leave planning the localization step for the end. If you keep localization needs in mind from day one, you’ll save money, time, and a headache.

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Why the Education Sector Should Embrace Digital Transformation
24/01/2023

Why the Education Sector Should Embrace Digital Transformation

Posted on | by Jacqueline De Marco | Leave a Comment on Why the Education Sector Should Embrace Digital Transformation

The pandemic pushed many traditional educational organizations to enter the online world of digital education. They all dipped their toes into the water by moving classes to Zoom and Google Meet, but the truth is that it takes a lot more than that to meet the demands of a digital generation.

There’s no time like the present for education to catch up with technological advancements to better serve and engage their users—aka learners. There is also a high percentage of teachers leaving traditional education institutions to work in the eLearning industry as of late, which is another factor the education system needs to take into account as they look to the future. Let’s take a closer look at why the education sector should embrace digital transformation.

What Does a Digital Transformation Look Like?

A digital transformation greatly surpasses typical software or hardware upgrades. A true digital transformation is just as philosophical as it is physical. For education institutions, a digital transformation may look like creating a learning environment that connects in-person education resources to digital ones so that students can belong to a robust ecosystem that combines security, technology, and education services.

A digital transformation can help create a more personalized, collaborative, and interactive learning experience.

How to Digitally Transform Education

So, how exactly can the education sector undergo a digital transformation? Let’s look at a few paths education institutions can take to enhance their digital presence in a meaningful way.

  • Multimedia digital textbooks. Heavy textbooks will soon be a thing of the past, as students can now access source materials from their digital devices wherever they are whether that be at home, the library, or in the classroom.
  • Bring your own device (BYOD). Enabling students to use the digital device they work on best in the classroom to take notes and work on their assignments can help foster engagement and retainment.
  • Personalized curriculum. With artificial intelligence, it’s now possible to create customized learning experiences for students by using artificial intelligence.
  • Game-based learning. Not only does game-based learning help encourage students to study, but it can actually help them better retain the information they’re being taught. This is a concept known as gamification and it’s very commonly used in e-learning materials.

The Benefits of Digital Transformation on Education

Why would education systems invest ample time and money in a digital transformation? To start, doing so actually increases access to education from students because the education experience becomes less reliant on one specific geographical location. This accessibility just adds to the convenience associated with a digital transformation. From being able to access source materials from any device, to collaborating and sharing notes digitally, to more spaces for interaction between teachers, students, and peers with their instructors and fellow students, there are tons of valuable benefits of a digital transformation for students.

The Takeaway

Through a digital transformation, educators can help enhance students’ learning experiences by fostering better communication and connecting them to more educational resources and materials.

Digital transformation in education is bringing down geographical barriers, allowing learners worldwide to choose what they want to learn regardless of location. Localization can help expand the target audience of whatever educational program that is already online. In addition, students can benefit greatly from localization as learning in their native language can greatly boost their engagement with the education materials, how they understand it, and how they retain the information.

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Transitioning Teachers in the US Look at New Career Paths in Instructional Design
06/12/2022

Transitioning Teachers in the US Look at New Career Paths in Instructional Design

Posted on | by Jacqueline De Marco | Leave a Comment on Transitioning Teachers in the US Look at New Career Paths in Instructional Design

Post-pandemic burnout is affecting many professionals, but teachers who had to face especially difficult workplace challenges over the past few years are particularly struggling with burnout. Many teachers that are choosing to veer away from their original career path are heading towards the instructional design industry, as it allows them to leverage their backgrounds in education while giving them the opportunity to work remotely instead of in a classroom. They can put their classroom-honed instructional design skills into the creation of eLearning content.

Instructional design involves creating learning experiences and materials resulting in the acquisition and application of knowledge and skills. Even though instructional design encompasses all learning materials, it’s most frequently associated with corporate training and eLearning for universities or other educational institutions.

Let’s look at some tips that teachers can use to find a job in instructional design and to thrive in that role.

Highlight Adaptable Skills

Transitioning teachers are facing the challenge of adapting the skills they gained in classrooms into ones they can utilize in a new career in the learning and development (L&D) space. How they frame their skills during their job search can help them illustrate to potential employers just how adaptable their teaching skills are.

For example, teachers have experience trying different teaching approaches in order to see what works for their students and what doesn’t. They know how to adapt their content to suit “their audience”. They have also seen firsthand the challenge of having students in their classrooms who don’t speak English as their native language. In 2019, 10.4% of K-12 students were English-language learners (ELL) students and by 2025, an estimated 25% percent of public school students will be ELL students.

Expand Their Network

As teachers look for new horizons, it’s key that they find networking spaces that can help them enter the L&D space successfully. There are multiple non-profit organizations, like GLDC (Global Learning & Development Community), that offer resources and create an environment where they can connect with other professionals in the industry and can get career advice.

Mariana Horrisberger, eLearning localization specialist and business development manager at Terra, is one of the organizers of GLDC. She co-leads meetups every Wednesday and Friday, where they get together to meet peers from the industry, discuss L&D topics, and share their knowledge and experience with those making their first steps into this field. They also currently have a Project Club led by Russell Sweep, where they discuss the eLearning Heroes Challenge of the week and provide feedback to each other’s projects. In 2022, this organization hosted a Summer Break Room during the month of July to get transitioning teachers together to network and share information and advice about the industry. Another networking group that could be of interest is Teaching: A path to L&D led by Sara Stevick—where members share important information for teachers looking to transition to the eLearning industry.

Keep Localization In Mind

It’s essential that as teachers transition to this new space—and given the global aspect of the eLearning industry—they keep localization in mind. Meaning that while they work on creating courses, they remain aware of aspects of their work that could potentially present challenges during localization. Accessibility is a top priority nowadays, with students from all corners of the world trying to learn the abilities necessary to work and succeed in the modern world and being knowledgeable of internationalization is a skill that can help them land their first job in the industry.

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How to Utilize VR in Corporate Training
23/07/2021

How to Utilize VR in Corporate Training

Posted on | by Carolina Arriagada | Leave a Comment on How to Utilize VR in Corporate Training

Training new employees or keeping your current employees up to date on company happenings, industry advancements, and important safety information can be expensive and time-consuming. It’s easy to understand why some employers are looking for more efficient and effective ways to train their employees. This is where virtual reality (VR) comes in. E-learning advancements are making waves in the industry, especially VR related techniques. There are many benefits of using VR in e-learning that is utilized for corporate training, such as boosting employee engagement and retainment rates. VR can be incorporated into workplace training in a variety of ways, but three key areas are improving the onboarding process, building on the job skills, and mastering compliance and safety rules.  

For Onboarding Employees

For new employees, the onboarding process is extremely important. It can also be very overwhelming and quite frankly — boring. The onboarding process typically includes an introduction to the organization and its history and key figures within the company, tackles important HR issues, and helps the new employee adjust to the company culture. 

Through games and virtual interactions, VR can make the onboarding experience more engaging and lively, helping new employees weed through a lot of important information in a way that keeps them excited and ready to learn more. Because of COVID-19 restrictions, some companies are even using VR to offer office tours to their new hires safely at home. 

The employees at Ericsson’s USA 5G Smart Factory in Texas utilized VR during their onboarding processes and had almost no face-to-face interaction during their initial training. Instead, they learned directly from their peers in the company’s smart factory in Tallinn from 8,000 km away, thanks to VR-enabled virtual collaboration and knowledge sharing. No travel was required and Ericsson found the process to be more efficient and productive. 

For Practicing On The Job Skills 

One main component of corporate training is to help employees learn how to do their jobs. Employees can practice the skills needed to perform a job across a variety of industries and roles using VR techniques to make training easier and more effective. For example, to make miners’ jobs more safe, cost-effective, and productive, there is VR technology that simulates situations miners encounter at real blast walls. These VR trainings can help them perfect their craft in a safer and less expensive way than building these skills at actual blast walls. 

Airline pilots are another great example of how someone can build their job-required skills in a safe environment. Pilots can interact with virtual cockpits that offer an interactive image of the control panels. They can watch videos of flights from the cockpit jump seat that provide a realistic 360-degree POV. They can also undergo a virtual tour of the aircraft to learn more about their future work environment. 

Compliance and Safety

Employee safety should always be a top priority of employers and VR techniques applied to corporate training can help accomplish that goal. Not only can employees learn the safety and compliance rules they need during e-learning, but if you add in VR, they can also put what they’ve learned into practice to make sure they know how to do their job in a safe and compliant way. There are creators working on OSHA compliance courses that utilize VR techniques.

Jobs that require building muscle memory and to retain important safety information (such as someone who works with live wires) can benefit greatly from practicing their skills in a zero stakes virtual environment. The costs and risks that can come from making mistakes in a VR simulation are practically non-existent, whereas people can get severely injured or even die while training in the real world if they need to perform dangerous tasks. The construction, fire safety, manufacturing, medical, and transportation industries can all benefit from VR in compliance and safety training. 

Why VR Improves Corporate Training

VR offers immersive and engaging experiences that can result in employees learning better and faster during corporate training. That being said, VR is not enough to make up for serious e-learning barriers. For example, language is an important component that can’t be overlooked in corporate training, even when VR is involved. When creating training materials it is imperative that language does not become a distraction for the employee. Localizing e-learning courses into different languages and taking cultural variances into account can help ensure that all of your employees fully understand their training material, feel supported, and stay engaged.

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The Translation of IEPs: 101 
26/05/2021

The Translation of IEPs: 101 

Posted on | by Jacqueline De Marco | Leave a Comment on The Translation of IEPs: 101 

Ensuring their child receives a quality education is something almost every parent strives for. This is a universal goal. Now, imagine if a parent could not participate fully in their child’s education. You can see how damaging that disconnect could potentially be. Especially if their child has a disability that affects their educational needs. This is why it is undeniably important that Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) are available to students and their parents in a language they can clearly understand. Let’s break down the basics of what you need to know about the translation of IEPs and why it matters. 

What is an IEP?

An IEP is a written statement that maps out an education program that was specifically designed to meet a select child’s education requirements. If a child receives special education services, they must have an IEP that will serve two purposes. First, it should outline reasonable learning goals for the child. Second, it should highlight the services the school district will provide for the student. The IEP will be reviewed annually in order to determine whether the educational goals are being met or if they need revision. 

The IEP will examine not only a student’s weaknesses, but their strengths as well. It will set goals for the student and educators to meet and ideally will help foster the success of the student. All IEPs must contain information such as: 

  • Detailed analysis of the student’s current academic performance and challenges faced.
  • Reasonable annual goals for the student determined by the school and parents.
  • What special education and other services are available to the student, such as working with a supplementary aid.
  • How often the student will be separated from nondisabled children for educational or extracurricular purposes.
  • A plan for how the student can take part in state and district-wide testing.
  • A schedule of services and modifications.
  • An assessment of how progress toward annual goals will be measured. 

Why Would an IEP Need Translation?

It is essential that Limited English Proficiency (LEP) students and families have access to properly translated IEPs. An IEP is a foundational document for students with special needs who require additional educational support. Not only should the initial IEP document be accessible to students and parents in a language they are proficient in, but other language support should be provided to them. Such as interpretation for IEP-related meetings or translated documentation throughout the life of the program.

The Legal Responsibilities Associated with the Translation of IEPs

When it comes to making accessible IEPs a reality to LEP students and parents, we have Title VI to thank. This civil rights law determined that federally-funded school districts and state educational agencies have to provide language assistance to LEP students, as has the Equal Opportunities Act. As the United States has declared IEPs are vital to the education process, LEP parents of children with disabilities must receive proper and timely access to complete oral interpretations and translated documents when necessary.

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Microlearning 101: What It Is and What the Benefits Are
28/04/2021

Microlearning 101: What It Is and What the Benefits Are

Posted on | by Jacqueline De Marco | Leave a Comment on Microlearning 101: What It Is and What the Benefits Are

With countless schools and offices having to operate remotely in 2020, and people spending more time at home than ever before, e-learning can provide invaluable education opportunities. Whether a college student needs to finish their course requirements, a retiree wants to pass the time learning a new skill, or a business wants to train their employees, e-learning can come in handy. Even once social distancing comes to an end, our very digital world can greatly benefit from e-learning tools. To make the most out of these tools, there are techniques like gamification and microlearning that course creators can take advantage of. Microlearning for employee training in particular has some benefits worth examining. 

What is Microlearning?

Before looking at the benefits of utilizing microlearning in training, it’s important to understand what microlearning is. Microlearning is a short format for content that is intended to drive a specific learning outcome. Most often, microlearning is seen in e-learning platforms hosted on smartphones, computers, and tablets. One of the goals of microlearning is to make the content learner-centric, easily accessible, and quick to consume. 

Essentially, this is an educational approach that focuses on providing small learning units that only include the necessary amount of information required to help the user meet a certain learning goal. 

What are the Benefits of Microlearning?

Before adapting microlearning techniques for e-learning content creation, you may want to know what the benefits are. The three main benefits are better engagement, retention, and saving time and money. 

Regarding engagement benefits, the numbers don’t lie. From the get-go, employees are more likely to be engaged in microlearning. According to Software Advice survey, 58% of employees stated they would be more likely to utilize online learning tools provided by their company if the content was broken up into multiple smaller lessons. 

When it comes to engaging with the content, shorter e-learning modules can help take advantage of an employee’s focus limitations. The University of California Irvine found that on average, employees work for just 11 minutes before they typically become distracted by outside stimuli such as emails or phone calls. During those 11 minutes, employees tend to work on very short and quick tasks that last about three minutes. Microlearning can provide busy employees with the option of making e-learning work for their hectic schedules and environment. Not only can microlearning allow the user to engage fully in a lesson for a short period of time, but because the lessons are easier to complete, they can retain the content better. 

Saving time and money on e-learning content is a nice perk. According to the author of 3-Minute E-Learning, learning architect Ray Jimenez, PhD, microlearning can actually decrease development costs for training courses by 50% and can increase the speed of developing them by 300%. This is because this digital form of digestible content is much easier to reuse and refresh than more traditional in-person training. Another benefit of having shorter bits of content is that it can make it faster, easier, and more cost effective to localize your training to your employees’ native languages. Being able to adapt e-learning content to different languages and cultures through localization can create a better and more effective e-learning experience.

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Why Mobile Learning Works Well for E-Learning Courses
03/03/2021

Why Mobile Learning Works Well for E-Learning Courses

Posted on | by Jacqueline De Marco | Leave a Comment on Why Mobile Learning Works Well for E-Learning Courses

It’s no secret that we live in a society that values convenience and flexibility. We are accustomed to moving quickly, learning to adapt, and making the most of the time we have. This is why mobile learning can provide invaluable opportunities for e-learning courses. This accessible and advantageous platform for e-learning has benefits for both the creators and users that are worth investigating further. 

What is Mobile Learning?

The term mobile learning, also known as m-learning or mLearning, refers to educational content that the user can access on a mobile device like their smartphone or tablet. This may be a blog post, podcast episode, or a full-blown e-learning course.

Mobile learning has so much potential, the convenience and ease of access being one of the main benefits for consumers. There are 3.5 billion smartphone users in the world, which means that mobile learning resonates on a global scale. 

Mobile learning works well in tandem with microlearning. This technique can offer both formal and informal educational training. Where does the micro in microlearning come into play? Microlearning presents smaller blocks of content, which allows the user to quickly and easily access information. This is an ideal format for those utilizing a mobile device. Microlearning can come in the form of a video, social post, email, or any type of content that is quick and digestible and easy to access on a mobile device. 

The Benefits of Mobile Learning

Before diving into the benefits of mobile learning, take a look at some interesting statistics. 72% of mobile users reported increased engagement, 45% of smartphone users completed their courses faster than those who used a computer, and 70% of people felt more motivated to learn when they were able to utilize mobile based learning. 

These numbers are pretty impressive, so let’s break down the benefits of mobile learning further:

  • Convenience: The user can access their e-learning materials anywhere at any time. 
  • Engaging: Creators can personalize content interactions in a way that is motivating and engaging for users. 
  • Collaborative: Users can utilize online communities to communicate with other learners.
  • Digestible: When using microlearning in tandem with mobile learning, the information presented can be digestible and easier to retain.

Why Design Matters

When it comes to mobile learning, proper design is of the utmost importance. When creating e-learning content, it’s key to design the content using a mobile-first approach. It’s no longer enough to make it mobile friendly or mobile responsive. It has to feel like it was always meant to be consumed from a mobile device. A course with faulty buttons or media that doesn’t work properly could have a counterproductive effect. Mobile users who try to consume content that was not designed specifically for mobile devices can get frustrated and may drop the course altogether.

Developing designs that adapt to a variety of device sizes may take more effort upfront, but the rewards will be worth it if you can attract users on a desktop, smartphone, or tablet. Creating content that is compatible for mobile devices will allow the users to access the e-learning content whenever and wherever they please and will give the creator the opportunity to take advantage of gamification techniques and video-based content.Another step worth taking now rather than later is to create content with internationalization best practices in mind. If the course will be later localized into multiple languages, course developers should follow internationalization best practices from the get-go to prevent having to do extensive work later on. Internationalization falls under globalization and can help adapt a product to a new market with ease. Similar to keeping design in mind up front, internationalization should be prioritized early on as well.

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The Role of Translation in the Education of LEP Students in the US
23/02/2021

The Role of Translation in the Education of LEP Students in the US

Posted on | by Jacqueline De Marco | Leave a Comment on The Role of Translation in the Education of LEP Students in the US

The importance of education is something we at Terra feel strongly about. Education can open doors and provide invaluable opportunities to students. From art history to math to literature, there is no shortage of knowledge worth discovering. Everyone deserves access to a quality education, which brings us to how translation can improve the education of Limited English Proficiency (LEP) students in the US.

LEP students face boundaries that students from native speaking families do not. Let’s investigate what the role of translation in the education of LEP students in the US is and how students and their families can benefit from it. 

The Role of Translation in the Education of LEP Students in the US

Every fall, families sit down with their children to pour over their orientation packets, class syllabuses, and schedules. The influx of important information doesn’t stop in the fall, it continues all year long. Which is why it is essential that students and their families have access to these resources in accessible languages. 

Many families require vital education information be translated into their native language. In order to provide a fair and equitable education experience to LEP students, education translation services are of the utmost importance. By providing these resources, schools allow families to be informed about and to be actively involved in their child’s education.

Which Documents are Commonly Translated?

According to the U.S Department of Education Office for Civil Rights, schools are required to communicate information to parents with limited English proficiency in a language they can understand regarding programs, services, or activities that are called to the attention of parents. This information may appear in a variety of formats such as:

  • Enrollment and registration paperwork
  • Language assistance programs
  • Special education discussions or meetings
  • Parent teacher conferences
  • Parent’s handbooks
  • Student’s performance reports
  • Acceptance letters 
  • General communications via letters or emails
  • Testing materials
  • Brochures
  • Legal documents
  • Report cards
  • Schedules regarding the school bus or after school activities
  • Course descriptions
  • Class schedules

If schools do not properly translate documents such as those listed above, they risk harming a student’s learning or advancement opportunities.

How Students and Families Benefit

Both students and their families benefit greatly from translated materials. In the US, there are almost 62 million LEP students. Having access to education translation services can help students progress academically. These services assist families in navigating their children’s education and can aid them in understanding the academic needs and opportunities relating to their child, as well as the progress their child is making. A few examples of the benefits of education translation services are:

  • Providing clarity regarding a student’s academic development
  • Enhancing educational experiences for students
  • Improving the student-teacher relationship
  • Making educational meetings more productive

Who Provides Translation Services for LEP Students and Families?

Legally, the school is the party responsible for honoring a parent’s request to receive language assistance. This can be in the form of having an interpreter present at a parent-teacher meeting or having access to the written translation of documents. It is the school’s job to ensure that these services are provided by appropriate individuals, such as a professional educational interpreter or translation agency. A professional translator who has experience translating educational materials, as well as being a native speaker of the parent’s language, is ideal.

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