A Speech to Text Reporter produces a live, near-verbatim text stream of everything being said, so you can read the lecture as it happens and keep a full transcript afterwards.
STTR is real-time access. The reporter listens to the lecturer and to contributions from the room and types what is said onto a screen you can read as it appears, with a delay measured in seconds. Nothing is condensed and nothing is paraphrased away.
Because the output is a transcript, you also leave the session with a complete written record — useful for revision, for checking terminology, and for evidencing what was actually taught when assessment briefs are ambiguous.
Automatic captioning is improving but still struggles with subject terminology, accents, crosstalk and poor room audio — exactly the conditions of a real seminar. A human reporter handles those conditions and can flag when audio is unclear rather than silently inventing a word.
Notetaking gives you a structured summary; STTR gives you everything. Many students are recommended both: STTR for live access to fast-moving discussion, notetaking for a usable revision record.
In person, you read the text on a laptop or tablet next to you. Remotely, the text stream is delivered alongside your video call so you can watch the speaker and read at the same time.
Before the module starts we ask for reading lists, module handbooks and any glossary of technical terms, so the reporter can prepare the vocabulary in advance. Accuracy in a specialist subject depends on that preparation.
All Pathways STTR practitioners hold the qualifications required by the Department for Education for Band 3 delivery and are experienced in higher education settings.
We deliver in person across Greater London, the North West, North East, South East, South West, West Midlands and Yorkshire & Humberside, and remotely anywhere in the UK.
Palantypy is one method of delivering speech to text. What matters for your DSA is the outcome — accurate live text — and our reporters are qualified to deliver that in higher education settings.
Yes. The transcript is tidied after the session and made available to you in your student area.
Often yes, subject to the setting. Talk to us early so we can plan access with your university and placement provider.