Video Captioning

When using videos in your course or on the web, captioning can be useful for not only those with disabilities but also those who speak English as a second language, non-traditional students taking courses, etc. Please note, if captions are not needed for accommodation, your department will be responsible for the cost to caption your videos. For more information please contact AccessMU@maimioh.edu.

What is captioning?

Captions are text of spoken words time-synchronized with video. Captions allow viewers who cannot hear to see the words. Some students use captions to learn by reading the text while listening to the audio. Captions should include relevant sound effects, identify the speaker, and describe other non-speech elements/activities (i.e. people dancing).

Closed vs. Open Captions

Closed captions can be turned on and off. Open captions are part of the video and cannot be turned off.

What are Transcripts?

Transcription is the process in which speech or audio is converted into a written, plain text document. 

What are Subtitles?

Subtitles translate spoken audio into the viewer’s language. In most cases, subtitles are not an appropriate accommodation for deaf and hard of hearing viewers because they do not include non-speech sounds that provide an equivalent viewing experience for people who cannot hear.

Videos on Miami University Webpages

Cascade users must ensure that any posted video is captioned. Videos can be captioned using a number of tools, including Amara and YouTube. However, keep in mind that YouTube's automatic closed-captioning tool is not reliably accurate and therefore, not acceptable.

If you have further questions about website accessibility within the Cascade CMS, please contact any member of the UCM web team at webmaster@miamioh.edu. The AccessMU Center can provide consultation and training to make your materials accessible.

YouTube Videos

How to Check YouTube Videos for Auto-Generated or Human-Generated Captions

  • Turn captions off/on and look to see what is designated in the upper left corner.

Alternatively, open the setting and see which caption track is selected. Auto-generated tracks will say "English (auto-generated)" and will typically lack punctuation and capitalization.

Adding/Editing Captions on YouTube

Use the YouTube Captions Editor

  1. Go to your Video Manager
  2. Next to the video you want to edit captions for, click Edit > Subtitles and CC
  3. Click on the caption track you want to edit
  4. Select a specific line in the caption track panel
  5. On your keyboard, press the up or down arrow to adjust the timing
  6. On your keyboard, press the left or right arrow to change the duration
  7. Click Save changes

Download & Edit Caption Files

You can edit time codes by downloading the caption file and using a plain text (.txt) editing program like TextEdit or Notepad to edit the captions.
  1. Go to your Video Manager
  2. Next to the video you want to edit captions for, click Edit > Subtitles and CC
  3. Select the caption track you want to download
  4. Click the Actions drop-down menu
  5. Click the captions file format you need. Learn more about caption file formats
  6. Your browser will download a file containing the captions track. Edit the file and save it
  7. Follow the instructions to upload the captions to your video again

How to Search for YouTube Videos with Captions

Videos with captions available will have a “CC” icon underneath the video summary in search results. If you’d like search results to only show videos with captions available, enable this search filter:

  1. Enter your keywords in the YouTube search bar
  2. Click the Filters button
  3. Click CC (closed caption)

Copyright

Material Submission

Copyrighted materials that are submitted for remediation should be lawfully made and obtained under US copyright law. If you have questions about identifying and obtaining lawful copies of works, please reach out to MU's copyright librarian, Carla Myers, myersc2@miamioh.edu or 513-529-3935.

Providing Students With Access to Remediated Copies

In those situations where vendors do not provide accessible copies of works, the AccessMU Center may be able to create a remediated version of the work for the student to use. In order to promote compliance with US copyright law these accessible copies should only be made available to the student who required the accommodation. Students with Captioned Media accommodations will be granted access to these resources through Kaltura.

Instructors will need to enable "My Media" in their Canvas course navigation.  This will allow the eligible student(s) to view these captioned resources. Please visit Canvas Guides for assistance in managing Canvas Course navigation.

Locating Captioned Media for Your Course

Search the University Library Databases

Alexander St. Press Video Online collection
American History in Video, Counseling & Therapy in Video, Education in Video, March of Time, New World Cinema, Theatre in Video, and World History in Video. It also includes the streaming audio databases American Music, Jazz Music Library, and Smithsonian Global Sound.

Border and Migration Studies
Featuring 100,000 pages of text, 175 hours of video, and 1,000 images, the collection is organized around fundamental themes associated with border and migration issues.

Disability in the Modern World
150,000 pages of primary sources, supporting materials, and archives, along with 125 hours of video.

Kanopy
Kanopy is an on-demand streaming video platform for public libraries and educational institutions that offer viewers a large collection of award-winning films and documentaries.

OhioLINK Educational & Instructional Videos
Ohio campuses are treasure troves of knowledge, but valuable resources are often hidden. The award-winning Ohio Digital Resource Commons (DRC) provides a robust, statewide platform for saving, discovering and sharing—free of charge—the instructional, research, historic and creative materials produced by the University System of Ohio and Ohio's private colleges.

Shakespeare Plays (BBC)
BBC television adaptations of Shakespeare.

Amara provides users with the opportunity to create & synchronize captions for online video and store them on the Amara website for viewing. All videos on Amara will have closed captions. Search for captioned titles on Amara.
Hoonuit is an online technology training and professional development tool for educators. Miami's license allows all faculty, staff, and students to access nearly 50,000 step-by-step captioned tutorials on common software such as Microsoft Office, Adobe CS6, and workshops and technology integration projects on emerging topics such as plagiarism and online courses.
Intel Education features animations for all stages of the curriculum, relating to Maths, Science, Biology, Chemistry, and Physics. All animations include a transcript of the dialogue in-built into the video. There are some exceptions to caption availability.
The Khan Academy features video tutorials across a range of subjects. Many videos provide closed captions. As the videos are embedded from YouTube, you need to turn the captions on via the YouTube toolbar.
NBC Learn features a selection of NBC news clips and stories covering historical events, science, English and current affairs. It has a good range of free content, all of which is captioned.
PBS LearningMedia features digital learning activities and videos across a range of subjects. Many videos provide closed captions.
The University of Nottingham’s Periodic Videos has a library of senior science videos. Many videos have quality closed captions available.  As the videos are hosted on YouTube, you need to turn the captions on via the YouTube toolbar.
You can use videos on TED-Ed to create customized lessons. Some captioned content is available and varies depending on the subject or topic. TED-Ed videos are hosted on YouTube so you need to turn the captions on via the YouTube toolbar.

YouTube EDU is YouTube’s dedicated education channel. Dependent on the video owner, several videos will have captions.

Some other YouTube channels with some captioned educational videos include:

Library

Search the University Library Databases

Alexander St. Press Video Online collection
American History in Video, Counseling & Therapy in Video, Education in Video, March of Time, New World Cinema, Theatre in Video, and World History in Video. It also includes the streaming audio databases American Music, Jazz Music Library, and Smithsonian Global Sound.

Border and Migration Studies
Featuring 100,000 pages of text, 175 hours of video, and 1,000 images, the collection is organized around fundamental themes associated with border and migration issues.

Disability in the Modern World
150,000 pages of primary sources, supporting materials, and archives, along with 125 hours of video.

Kanopy
Kanopy is an on-demand streaming video platform for public libraries and educational institutions that offer viewers a large collection of award-winning films and documentaries.

OhioLINK Educational & Instructional Videos
Ohio campuses are treasure troves of knowledge, but valuable resources are often hidden. The award-winning Ohio Digital Resource Commons (DRC) provides a robust, statewide platform for saving, discovering and sharing—free of charge—the instructional, research, historic and creative materials produced by the University System of Ohio and Ohio's private colleges.

Shakespeare Plays (BBC)
BBC television adaptations of Shakespeare.

Amara

Amara provides users with the opportunity to create & synchronize captions for online video and store them on the Amara website for viewing. All videos on Amara will have closed captions. Search for captioned titles on Amara.

Hoonuit

Hoonuit is an online technology training and professional development tool for educators. Miami's license allows all faculty, staff, and students to access nearly 50,000 step-by-step captioned tutorials on common software such as Microsoft Office, Adobe CS6, and workshops and technology integration projects on emerging topics such as plagiarism and online courses.

Intel Edu.

Intel Education features animations for all stages of the curriculum, relating to Maths, Science, Biology, Chemistry, and Physics. All animations include a transcript of the dialogue in-built into the video. There are some exceptions to caption availability.

Khan

The Khan Academy features video tutorials across a range of subjects. Many videos provide closed captions. As the videos are embedded from YouTube, you need to turn the captions on via the YouTube toolbar.

NBC

NBC Learn features a selection of NBC news clips and stories covering historical events, science, English and current affairs. It has a good range of free content, all of which is captioned.

PBS

PBS LearningMedia features digital learning activities and videos across a range of subjects. Many videos provide closed captions.

Periodic

The University of Nottingham’s Periodic Videos has a library of senior science videos. Many videos have quality closed captions available.  As the videos are hosted on YouTube, you need to turn the captions on via the YouTube toolbar.

TED-Ed

You can use videos on TED-Ed to create customized lessons. Some captioned content is available and varies depending on the subject or topic. TED-Ed videos are hosted on YouTube so you need to turn the captions on via the YouTube toolbar.

YouTube

YouTube EDU is YouTube’s dedicated education channel. Dependent on the video owner, several videos will have captions.

Some other YouTube channels with some captioned educational videos include: