Video Captions

Video Captions1

captions visible at the bottom of a video
Captions are text versions of the spoken word presented within multimedia. Captions allow the content of web audio and video to be accessible to those who do not have access to audio.

Though captioning is primarily intended for those who cannot hear the audio, it has also been found to help those that can hear audio content, those who may not be fluent in the language in which the audio is presented, those for whom the language spoken is not their primary language, etc.

Common web accessibility guidelines indicate that captions should be:
  • Synchronized - the text content should appear at approximately the same time that audio would be available
  • Equivalent - content provided in captions should be equivalent to that of the spoken word
  • Accessible - caption content should be readily accessible and available to those who need it

Video Storage & Captioning

In order to use a video in your Blackboard course, it must be stored somewhere on the Internet.

Kaltura

Kaltura logo
TCC provides a video repository called Kaltura.  Kaltura stores videos and integrates with Blackboard so that stored videos can be linked in Bb course sites.  Videos created and/or stored on the Kaltura server can only be accessed from the Bb course site in which they are linked.

Where do Kaltura's videos come from?  They are created or uploaded by faculty.  Kaltura allows faculty to
  1. Upload videos saved on your computer
  2. Record a new video by capturing what is showing on your computer screen
  3. Record a new "talking head" video using a web cam attached to your computer

Currently, Kaltura does not provide an easy option for captioning.  If you use Kaltura for recording and/or storing videos, then you will also need to provide a transcript of the video.

TCC's Faculty Resources site has tutorials on how to use Kaltura.

YouTube

YouTube logo
Another option for video storage is YouTube.  Videos stored on YouTube are created elsewhere and uploaded to the YouTube service.  You need to create a YouTube account. 

Videos are typically public. To use the YouTube video in Blackboard, you would need to add the video link in your Bb course site.

The advantage of YouTube is that you can easily caption your videos. 

Captioning On YouTube

Creating Subtitles and Closed Captions on Your YouTube Videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJGiS83eQLk

1Summarized from: "Captions, Transcripts, and Audio Descriptions." WebAIM: web accessibility in mind. WebAIM. 29 Aug 2013. Web. 17 Nov 2014. <http://webaim.org/techniques/captions/>.
2 "General Standard 8: Accessibility and Usability." Quality Matters Higher Education Rubric Workbook, Fifth Edition, 2014.  Annapolis: Quality Matters.  2014. Print. p. 29.

Next: Transcripts