Media Captioning

If you use videos in your course or on the web, captioning can be useful not only for those with disabilities but also for 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@MiamiOH.edu.

Different Types of Captioning

Captions are the text of spoken words time-synchronized with video or a live speaker. They allow viewers to see the words and are used by people who are Deaf & Hard of Hearing. Many students also use captioning as a learning aid. Captions should include relevant sound effects, identify the speaker, and describe other non-speech elements (e.g. people dancing).

Auto Captioning

Auto captioning uses automatic speech recognition to display captions. This captioning type should only be used as a learning aid. It is not fully accessible for Deaf & Hard of Hearing people due to inaccuracies, poor punctuation, and not referencing non-speech elements.

Closed Captions

Closed captions (CC) are included in videos. They can be enabled or disabled. Enabling CC at all times is a universal design practice and makes the video fully accessible for Deaf & Hard of Hearing people.

Open Captions

Open captions serve the same function as CC but cannot be disabled. 

Real-Time Captioning

Communication Access Real-Time Translation (CART) provides captions live and in real time. It utilizes a professionally trained expert that transcribes audio content as it is being stated. The captions are transmitted to a Deaf or Hard of Hearing person.

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 fully accessible 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 only a starting point. Once YouTube has processed automatic captioning, the captions will need to be edited. See YouTube Videos below for more information.

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 video 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

  1. Go to your Video Manager.
  2. Next to the video you want to edit captions for, click Edit, then 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 and 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, then 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).

Kaltura Videos (MyMedia)

Captions provide a text representation of all essential audio in a video or sound recording, including non-speech sounds, music, and other information. Captions can be open captions (“stuck” on the video, so they are always visible) or closed captions (users can turn captions on or off). They incorporate time information so that they are presented in relative sync with the audio or video.

Machine Translation (MT) is automated translation. It is the process by which computer software is used to translate text from one natural language to another.

Kaltura uses Machine Translation and enables fast translation results with a Turn Around Time (TAT) which is less than the media length. The translation's file accuracy is around 85%. The captions' file should be edited after the translation is completed to increase accuracy. Visit the Kaltura Editing Captions page to learn more.

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, at 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.

Request Captioning Services

Captioned media requests for students with accommodations should be submitted via SAM. Instructors will receive an email titled "[SDS] Captioned Media Instructions" with a link to the SAM captioning request form. If you are an Instructor and you did not receive this email, please contact the Miller Center for Student Disability Services at 513-529-1541 or sds@miamioh.edu.

Miami University departments can also submit files for captioned media services on a proactive basis. Each department will be responsible for the cost of these services and be required to provide an index code at the time of the request. Captioned media requests start at $1.00/per minute. Please allow 7-10 business days for these services.

Contact the AccessMU Center at 513-529-0200 or accessmu@miamioh.edu for pricing if your captioned media is needed sooner than 7-10 business days.

Captioned Media Request Form

Podcasts and Other Audio Files

All audio files, including podcasts, should be accessible. The easiest way to make your content accessible is by providing a transcript. Providing a transcript for your audio files will benefit several individuals: people with disabilities, non-native speakers of English, people in noisy environments, people who are fast readers, and people with low connections or poor bandwidth. Additionally, you should also make sure your website and the media player are accessible.

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: