This service was expanded to six courses for three students in the Spring 1997 semester. Currently, The University is accepting bids to establish a three-year c ontract, with the option to renew every year. The University pays a refundable deposit for the modems which allow remote realtime captioning using only a single phone line. The service uses a single phone line for simultaneous transmission of voice and data. This is an important feature, since many classrooms and ot her facilities have only a single line available.
Some services use one line for voice to the service and another line for data from the service.
A wireless microphone system, currently provided by the University, is used to transmit audio from the classroom. The instructor wea rs a lapel microphone with a small transmitter, and the student plugs the receiver into the modem for transmission to the captioning service. At the beginni ng of each semester, a glossary of terms from the textbook for each course is sent to the service so the stenotype systems can be pr ogrammed to use macros and abbreviations. Also, a copy of the class syllabus allows the service to plan for days that classes do no t meet and for exam sessions where captioning is not required. The service schedules captioners and stenotype stations for each cla ss.