The University of Georgia and the Board of Regents are committed to providing accessible technology. This includes ensuring that all video course material is captioned and a transcript is available for audio course material.
To that end it is the responsibility of each department to ensure that all video material selected or created by the instructor is captioned and all audio material selected or created is transcribed. The Center for Teaching and Learning can provide assistance on how to create and use accessible multimedia.
The Disability Resource Center’s role is to ensure that the media used in the classroom is accessible for students who are Deaf and hard of hearing. Faculty will be notified by the DRC when a Deaf or hard of hearing student is enrolled in a course.
The Disability Resource Center can also provide resources for finding captioned media and transcripts for audio material. The Disability Resource Center does not provide support for materials created by departments or faculty.
Additionally, if students are asked to create video projects, they will also need to be captioned.
Sign language interpreters or C-Print captionists are not suitable substitutes for captioned media. An individual cannot adequately attend to both the video and interpreter/captionist simultaneously.
Resources for Using Captioned Media in the Classroom
Captioning provides access to videos by displaying auditory information in printed form on the screen, which gives students who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing equal access to your class.
Sign language interpreters or C-Print captionists are not suitable substitutes for captioned media. An individual cannot adequately attend to both the video and interpreter/captionist simultaneously.
Obtaining Streaming Captioned Media
Video programming produced for broadcast must by law contain closed captions when reposted online whether full-length or clips. If using an online video that recently aired for broadcast, please check for availability of closed captions.
- Broadcast news sites are required by law to offer captioned videos clips taken from their broadcast feed. Here is a survey of news services indicating which consistently provide closed captions: Survey of News Sources for Captioning
- YouTube can be searched using “,cc” after the topic of interest.
- TED Talks offer a wide variety of subtitles tracks on their site. The YouTube link may not have captions so go to the TED site to find the captioned version.
- Films on Demand (found in UGA’s library website) offers streaming video for over 7,000 educational films broken into segments for easy viewing. All films are captioned.
- Kanopy (also through UGA’s library) is another site streaming full length educational and documentary programs that are captioned.
- If you pay for Hulu, Amazon Prime or Netflix, full-length television episodes and films are captioned.
- PBS offers full-length shows with captions if you are a member.
- Amara.org is a crowd source captioning site for online videos from YouTube and Vimeo. You can browse for already captioned videos.
YouTube’s “English (auto-generated)” Captions are not sufficient for providing equal access. Look instead for “English” in the top left corner. This would be captions uploaded by the user instead generated by voice recognition software.
You can also add captions on your own using Amara or Overstream. See DIY Resources.
Choosing or Ordering DVDs
Most video programming produced for broadcast must by law contain closed captions. If using a video, whether copied or online, that was originally produced for broadcast, please check for availability of the original video with closed captions. Often, the hardcopy of the video may be available for checkout at the UGA Library: http://gil.uga.edu/.
- The Center for Teaching and Learning has access to a media catalog that covers a multitude of subjects. You may be able to obtain a captioned DVD that presents the information you are targeting.
- When purchasing new media, check to see if a closed captioned version is available. Closed captioning is often indicated with a small “CC” symbol or if on Blu-ray as Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (SDH).
- Ask textbook publishers if closed captioned versions online videos are available.
Checking for Closed Captions
It is a good idea to check your media on the device that will be used for classroom playback.
Playing a DVD on Computer
Not all media players support closed captions. Windows Media Player and Quicktime will display captions but the settings will need to be changed to allow for caption playback. If captions do not appear even after the setting has been turned on, there is not a closed caption track available for the DVD.
Video Playback with Closed Captions in Class
Not all Blu-ray Players support closed captions. If the classroom you are using has a Blu-ray player, use the computer’s disc drive instead. To view closed captions on VHS, there must be a closed caption decoder installed in the projector. Contact CTL (542-1582) to acquire the VHS player and caption decoder.
DIY Resources for Captioning Online Media
Creating Closed Captions for YouTube
YouTube offers multiple methods for captioning user uploaded videos through the Video Manager.
• Google Support: Adding Captions to YouTube Videos
Creating Closed Captions with Amara and Overstream
Amara.org and Overstream.net are two websites that offer free applications through which users can subtitle or closed caption other users’ videos uploaded to YouTube and Vimeo.
Please contact the Disability Resource Center at (706)542-8719 if you have any questions or concerns about providing captioned programming.
Survey of News Sources for Captioned Media
Wall Street Journal/Barron’s Videos
Mozilla: Player does not have CC button.
Chrome: Player has CC button. Most videos captioned. Font resizes larger when opened in full screen.
Chrome and Mozilla: Most videos captioned. Captioned if CC button is present. Select English and move cursor out of player. Will need to select English with each video. Font resizes larger when opened in full screen.
Chrome and Mozilla: Most videos on front page have captions but player settings have to be changed. There is a timing delay that can’t be avoided.
The player defaults: To black text >> Change to White or Yellow
To padding at 100% >> Change to 0%
Once settings changed captions display and will for next video played.
Chrome and Mozilla: Videos have CC button but won’t know if there are captions until played. Select CC button, On, then X out. Font will resize to larger when opened full screen. Timing is in sync.
Captions are available for most videos through settings “gear” icon. Select Closed Captioning On and Apply. Font does not resize to larger when opened in full screen. There is a timing delay that can’t be avoided.
Chrome and Mozilla: Occasionally videos have captions when then do there is a CC button in the player. Otherwise there is no CC button. When there are captions the font does resize to larger when full screen. There is a time delay.
Occasionally videos have captions. If player doesn’t have CC button then no captions. If player has CC button can try but may not have captions. On the rare chance that there are captions they do resize to larger in full screen.
Chrome and Mozilla: Videos don’t have captions so can’t be used in classroom. But transcript of video is below so can be used at home as supplemental material.
Chrome and Mozilla: Most videos don’t have captions. No CC button in player.
Chrome and Mozilla: Videos don’t have CC button and don’t have captions.
Chrome and Mozilla: Videos don’t have CC button and don’t have captions.
Entertainment Shows with Political Commentary
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Chrome and Mozilla: Clips and Episodes are captioned. Toggle captions ON and X out. Timing is accurate.
Chrome and Mozilla: Clips and episodes are captioned. Click on CC button to turn on. Timing is accurate. Unfortunately the font doesn’t resize when full screen.
Full Frontal with Samantha Bee
Chrome and Mozilla: No captions and no CC button in player.