Closed Captioning provides students with text versions of audio content that is synchronized with the video. Videos that are added to your course should include captioning, preferably with an interactive transcript in an accessible media player. By doing so, the videos are accessible to students who are deaf or hard of hearing, non-native English speakers, as well as any student who wants to search the content of the video or learn the spelling of technical terminology.
Student Request Process
The Student tab contains the procedure for students who wish to request captioning for a course/event.
Instructor Resources for Accessible Courses (In-Person and Online)
The Staff/Faculty tab contains the "how-to" process for not only closed captioning, but many other accessible documents and course content. Please ensure you are in ADA compliance with all of your instructional materials and meet the accessibility standards. Here is a checklist for captioning compliance: Captioning Checklist
Below are two quick guides for Closed captioning on campus.
Quick "How-to" (for more information click on "How-to and Accessibility Guidelines")
Here is an excellent link for all things captioned: https://www.3playmedia.com/resources/popular-topics/closed-captioning/
Good captions follow the standards laid out below, when possible:
Adding captions to videos in Canvas
Canvas is the primary LMS used by the Siena Heights University. It includes a new page design where you can create and upload captioned files when you add video content to the Rich Content Editor. Follow the step by step process provided by Canvas on how to caption videos.
Adding captions to YouTube videos
YouTube is one of the most commonly used video content systems. However, many videos do not have captions or transcripts. While YouTube offers the ability to caption videos as a part of their service, the captioning is often inaccurate and unreliable. Therefore, prior to uploading YouTube videos to your Canvas page, please ensure that they provide accurate captions in both the Desktop and mobile versions (this has proved problematic in past classes). See the "How-to" section for an instructional video on the YouTube captioning process, or the above link to 3playmedia.com (paid version), or Amara, a free online based captioning program that allows you to add captions to ANY YouTube video, and provides you with a link to that captioned version. Amara does require you to do the captioning.
Adding captions to other media
Rev is another fee-for-service captioning company, but they do walk you through captioning on your own, if that is your desire: https://www.rev.com/blog/resources/how-to-add-closed-captions-to-videos. See the "How-to" section for more information or go here.
Student Request Process
The Student tab contains the procedure for students who wish to request captioning for a course/event.
Instructor Resources for Accessible Courses (In-Person and Online)
The Staff/Faculty tab contains the "how-to" process for not only closed captioning, but many other accessible documents and course content. Please ensure you are in ADA compliance with all of your instructional materials and meet the accessibility standards. Here is a checklist for captioning compliance: Captioning Checklist
Below are two quick guides for Closed captioning on campus.
Quick "How-to" (for more information click on "How-to and Accessibility Guidelines")
Here is an excellent link for all things captioned: https://www.3playmedia.com/resources/popular-topics/closed-captioning/
Good captions follow the standards laid out below, when possible:
- Captions appear on-screen long enough to be read.
- It is preferable to limit on-screen captions to no more than two lines.
- Captions are synchronized with spoken words.
- Speakers should be identified when more than one person is on-screen or when the speaker is not visible.
- Punctuation is used to clarify meaning.
- Spelling is correct throughout the production.
- Sound effects are written when they add to understanding.
- All actual words are captioned, regardless of language or dialect.
- Use of slang and accent is preserved and identified.
- Nouns and verbs are not separated from their modifiers.
- Prepositional phrases remain on the same line.
- Italics is effective when a new word is being defined or a word is heavily emphasized in speech.
- Translating speech to text sometimes requires creative use of punctuation, but always remember the rules of good grammar.
Adding captions to videos in Canvas
Canvas is the primary LMS used by the Siena Heights University. It includes a new page design where you can create and upload captioned files when you add video content to the Rich Content Editor. Follow the step by step process provided by Canvas on how to caption videos.
Adding captions to YouTube videos
YouTube is one of the most commonly used video content systems. However, many videos do not have captions or transcripts. While YouTube offers the ability to caption videos as a part of their service, the captioning is often inaccurate and unreliable. Therefore, prior to uploading YouTube videos to your Canvas page, please ensure that they provide accurate captions in both the Desktop and mobile versions (this has proved problematic in past classes). See the "How-to" section for an instructional video on the YouTube captioning process, or the above link to 3playmedia.com (paid version), or Amara, a free online based captioning program that allows you to add captions to ANY YouTube video, and provides you with a link to that captioned version. Amara does require you to do the captioning.
Adding captions to other media
Rev is another fee-for-service captioning company, but they do walk you through captioning on your own, if that is your desire: https://www.rev.com/blog/resources/how-to-add-closed-captions-to-videos. See the "How-to" section for more information or go here.
