Make "it" clear!!
As a transcriber, you need to get in the habit of stating (and restating) referents clearly, instead of using pronouns like "this" or "they" or "it." One reason for this is that a reader often looks away from the computer screen during class. Unlike students reading sign language or cued speech, students reading text from a computer screen for their real-time access often look away from the screen. They listen some, they take notes some, they look around to get the feel of the class, etc. When they return to read the screen, the previous lines of text may not be visible on the screen.
That means the reader does not have the same frame of reference for interpreting phrases or pronouns whose referent is understood by hearing student, who has just heard the whole message, in order.
By the way, those breaks in following the text on the screen are normal, and are actually very useful to a student using speech-to-text access. Staring at the computer screen the whole time would prevent access to the environment of the classroom, and all the learning that is provided in that real-time context.
A person who is getting their communication access from reading text in real-time also does not have access to the same intonational clues that a hearing person does. A speech-to-text service provider has stay attentive to the reader’s perspective, and restate details and referents that will make the written transcript more meaningful.
Develop the good habit of avoiding pronouns or phrases that are too vague, and make it your goal to provide the full meaning intended, not just the words spoken. That way, your sentences can stand on their own, without depending on context to be fully understood.
That clarifies "things" . . . er, that clarifies why you should AVOID words like "things"!!
