The “Why”
- Deaf and Hard of Hearing Access: Captions are a technical requirement for anyone who cannot hear the audio. Without them, the visual content loses its context and instructional value.
- Support for Diverse Environments: Captions help students who are studying in noisy environments (like a coffee shop) or quiet ones (like a library) without headphones.
- Cognitive and Language Support: Captions improve comprehension for non-native English speakers and help students with learning disabilities connect spoken words to their written form.
- Audio Descriptions: These provide a narrated description of important visual information (like text on a slide or a chemical reaction) for students who are blind or have low vision.
Examples: Before vs. After
The “Auto-Caption” Problem
- Bad: Relying solely on “YouTube Auto-Captions” without reviewing them.
- The Result: Technical terms (like “Transubstantiation” or “WCAG”) are often hilariously鈥攁nd confusingly鈥攎isidentified by AI, leading to incorrect notes for the student.
- Good: Using the auto-captions as a starting point, then manually editing them for accuracy and punctuation.
- The Difference: The student receives professional, accurate information that matches the spoken lecture.
The “Visual-Only” Information Problem
- Bad (Video): A professor shows a complex diagram on screen and says, “As you can see here, the results are significant,” but never says what the results are.
- Good (Audio Description/Narration): The professor says, “As you can see on this bar chart, the enrollment doubled from 500 to 1,000 students, which is a significant result.”
- The Difference: By narrating the visual information, the professor has built “Audio Description” directly into the lecture, making it accessible to everyone without extra work.
How-To: Strategies for Success
- Check for Accuracy: If you use a tool like Canvas Studio or Zoom to record lectures, always go into the “Caption” menu to fix typos and add proper punctuation.
- Identify Speakers: If a video has multiple people talking, use captions to identify who is speaking (e.g., “[Dr. Smith]: Let’s begin.”).
- Describe Meaningful Sounds: Include descriptions for non-speech sounds that are important to the context (e.g., “[Heavy door slams]” or “[Classical music plays]”).
- Avoid “Burned-In” Captions: Whenever possible, use “Closed Captions” (which can be turned on/off) rather than “Open Captions” (which are permanently part of the video). Closed captions are more accessible because they can be resized by the user.
- Provide a Transcript: For longer videos, provide a text-based transcript. This allows students to search for keywords or print the lecture notes for offline study.
- Narrate Your Actions: When recording a screen-share, describe what you are clicking. Instead of “Click here,” say “Click the ‘Submit’ button in the bottom right corner.”
Apply This to Your Work
Ready to make your media accessible? See the specific technical steps for the tools we use at HCU: