quick transcript review – step 2 (continued): identifying fact errors

Beware of fact errors!

In Step 2 of the Quick Transcript Review, you will read the transcript deeply to identify problem areas.  One type of problem is a fact error (problem C).  This is where the transcript says something that's different, or even opposite, in meaning to what the speaker said during the lecture. 

Sometimes you can spot a fact error by reading the transcript carefully.  For instance, in this transcript excerpt:

Evaporation is the conversion from a gas to a liquid state 

There's a fact error because "gas" and "liquid" have been swapped.  This particular fact error is obvious, but despite being obvious, it still introduces confusion for the reader. 

Much worse are fact errors that sound plausible but get the facts wrong.  Here's an example of such a non-obvious fact error from a math class transcript:

It's well known that the numerator is always below the denominator. 

A reader who is just learning a new subject cannot detect such a "backwards" error, and as a result will learn the material incorrectly and get a poorer grade on tests.  Fact errors are an instance where "something" in a transcript (wrong information) is worse than "nothing" (missing information).  Because of this it's particularly important to identify any tendency of a transcriber to make factual errors, and help overcome that processing problem.

Next time we'll talk about step 3 of the Quick Transcript Review: getting help from content experts when needed. 

   -- Judy