What’s AI Got to Do with Otters?? | The Teaching & Learning Centre

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by Sherri Parkins, Learning Strategist in Accessibility Services and Faculty Development Advisor in the Teaching & Learning Centre

You might have noticed on students' Accommodation Letters an item "lecture recording device. Students may reference 'Otter.ai'.” There is a myriad of reasons why a student may need note-taking supports including:

• medical conditions making concentration difficult,
• sensory disabilities such as low vision or hearing loss,
• ADHD,
• Dysgraphia or other Learning Disabilities,
• Motoric disability that makes notetaking extremely difficult.

Although there is always room for conversation around a more Universal Design for Learning approach to recording lectures, the purpose of this Spark Plug is to understand better the features of Otter.ai and how it can support students with Accommodations.

What exactly is Otter.ai? Otter.ai is a tool powered by artificial intelligence that both records and generates real time transcriptions. Students can add comments, highlight certain points, and insert images. In addition, accessing only the content in the recorded lecture, Otter.ai can summarize. Exact moments in the recorded lecture and transcript where specific topics are discussed can be easily searched and located. Otter Chat can support self-formative assessment by posing various types of questions based on the recorded and transcribed content. Watch this video, which captures these main features.

You may be concerned about privacy issues since Otter.ai is a Generative AI tool. Rest assured that Seneca’s Privacy Office has worked with Otter.ai to ensure compliance with Seneca‘s Privacy policies.

If you are still reading this and are wondering about why it’s called Otter.ai, the developers explain that otters have quite high IQ and phenomenal memories! They also mention the fact that otters can often be found holding hands and that made the developers think of collaboration between them and their end users! The use of Otter.ai is also a great example of collaboration and the evolution of new supports made with Accessible Learning Services, Students, and Faculty!

If you have further questions reach out to the Teaching & Learning Centre (teaching@senecapolytechnic.ca) or the Accessibility Counsellor noted on the student's accommodation letter.

_{Otter.ai logo used with permission}

_{Photo of two sea otters in the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary is in the Public Domain}

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