Making sure videos have captions can be confusing and time consuming for those not familiar with available options. Disability Services (DS) can assist you. If you receive notice that a student in your course needs accommodations that include captions, contact us.
How does providing captions allow access to course materials?
- The benefit of captions to students who are D/deaf may be obvious, but if you still have questions, feel free to watch this video on the A.I. blog.
- Video captions actually benefit everyone. Click to read the research on how they benefit D/deaf and hard of hearing, hearing adults and persons learning a second language.
- Silence is golden. Captions are not only useful in noisy environments to increase comprehension. Forget to bring your earbuds and shouldn’t turn up the volume? No problem–turn on the captions.
What if videos in class only augment information from the readings or lecture rather than provide additional information for which students will be responsible? The Office of Civil Rights has defined accessible in multiple resolutions with institutions of higher education, as meaning that in any classroom or learning situation or activity:
“Accessible” means a person with a disability is afforded the opportunity to acquire the same information, engage in the same interactions, and enjoy the same services as a person without a disability in an equally effective and equally integrated manner, with substantially equivalent ease of use. A person with a disability must be able to obtain the information as fully, equally, and independently as a person without a disability. Although this might not result in identical ease of use compared to that of persons without disabilities, it still must ensure equal opportunity to the educational benefits and opportunities afforded by the technology and equal treatment in the use of such technology.” (Source: Resolution Agreement: Youngstown State University, OCR Docket No. 15-13-6002).
So now that I know I need to caption videos, what should I do?
There are ways to manage captions regardless of the video host that is used, even if it is saved in your Google Drive.
https://support.google.com/drive/answer/1372218
Information about other platforms:
I still show VHS tapes in class. Can I caption videos on VHS?
We may not have an immediate answer for this situation, but we are available to discuss how students might receive access to the information that is being shared. When updated digital technology is not available, there are still ways to provide access. Contact us.