Audio by Fiona H. using WellSaid Labs
Ocean County College (OCC), a leading community college in New Jersey, has been using WellSaid Labs for 2-3 years to elevate its distance learning courses and engage students in new and innovative ways. One of the unique challenges OCC faced was that not all faculty members wanted to record their voices for course materials. This case study explores how OCC turned to WellSaid Labs and the impact it has had on their teaching methods, engagement, and overall course quality.
Ocean County College (OCC), a leading community college in New Jersey, had a vision to gamify its distance learning courses and enhance engagement. However, they faced a challenge in achieving this vision with limited resources and a small instructional design team. Not all faculty members were comfortable recording their voices, and this hindered the creative and engaging content they aimed to produce. To bridge the gap between what they aspired to create and what they could achieve with their existing resources, OCC turned to WellSaid Labs.
The journey began when OCC’s instructional designer stumbled upon WellSaid Labs in a Facebook group where educators discussed various ways to elevate distance learning courses and engage students in new and innovative ways. Curious and intrigued, she decided to explore its capabilities by creating demos to present to supervisors. With WellSaid Labs, they found a powerful solution that could generate high-quality voiceovers without the need for faculty to record their voices. This discovery opened up new possibilities for course content creation and engagement.
Ever since Ocean County College has leveraged WellSaid Labs in several ways to enhance its distance learning courses including:
Voiceovers for Course Material: OCC uses WellSaid Labs to create content for courses without the need for video. This allows students to consume course materials while on the go, providing flexibility in learning styles.
Course Trailers: With WellSaid, OCC produces voiceovers for course trailers located on the college’s home page. The ability to use various voices in these trailers makes them more collaborative and engaging, eliminating the need to involve multiple people or voice actors.
Accessibility: The AI-generated content ensures that everything is transcribed and accessible. This not only helps with compliance but also assists students who benefit from different learning modes.
Content Scalability: WellSaid Labs has enabled OCC to scale its content production efficiently. They can create professional-sounding videos, voiceovers, and conversations without the need for extensive human resources.
Variety of Voices: The variety of voices provided by WellSaid Labs adds authenticity to the content, making it more engaging for students.
The use of WellSaid Labs at Ocean County College has significantly benefited students:
- Students have access to course materials in multiple formats, allowing them to choose the most suitable learning mode.
- A variety of voices in the content makes it feel more like an expert talking, enhancing the learning experience.
- The AI-generated content has been so convincing that students couldn’t believe it wasn’t a human voice.
- Productivity and Cost Savings
WellSaid Labs has not only enhanced the quality of course materials but also improved productivity and cost-effectiveness. OCC has been able to create content more efficiently, with one example being the creation of videos in a fraction of the time it would take with traditional methods. This has resulted in substantial time and cost savings.
OCC’s experience with WellSaid Labs has been a resounding success. They have utilized WellSaid Labs in nearly all of their courses, with a team of 6-7 people producing over 700 videos on YouTube. Student engagement has increased, and OCC is recognized as a top online community college in New Jersey.
OCC’s future plans involve expanding its use of WellSaid Labs, particularly in creating movie course trailers to enhance its online marketing efforts. They are committed to continually improving their distance learning courses to remain at the forefront of community colleges in the Northeast.
Ocean County College’s partnership with WellSaid Labs has revolutionized its distance learning approach, enhancing student engagement and content accessibility. By overcoming the challenge of limited resources and the reluctance of faculty to record their voices, OCC has transformed its teaching methods and positioned itself as a leader in online education.
