Accessible Is Possible: All about Captioning
Welcome to “Accessible Is Possible,” a series of tech tips to help you make learning more accessible for your students. Today will be a brief look at captioning.
What Is Captioning?
Captioning is the act of transcribing and timing audio so that it displays text onscreen as audio occurs. So, for example, if someone in a movie yells out a warning, the caption “Stop!” would appear onscreen. While captions primarily focus on spoken language, they can also indicate sounds or music, usually in brackets. There might be [ominous rumbling] before the warning.
Captions can be open or closed. Closed captions can be toggled off and on, and they are generally indicated with a “CC” icon. Open captions are a part of the video, appearing for everyone whether or not they opt in. On video-heavy social media platforms like TikTok, you’ll see both open and closed captions — or none at all.
Why Use Captioning?
Captioning helps everyone. While captions are often used by deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers, they aren’t the only group of people who find captioning helpful. Students who have auditory processing issues, for example, might use captions to help them parse the audio. Students who are responsible for childcare might use captions to keep audio levels low while their children sleep.
For closed captioning in particular, everyone benefits. The captions are an optional data stream, and viewers can simply turn them off if they’re unwanted. In this sense, students aren’t required to disclose information they are uncomfortable with sharing. Like curb cuts, the captions are there for those who can make use of them.
How to Create Captions
With so many speech-to-text options available, it’s not hard to provide some form of captioning for videos, regardless of platform. For example, Zoom has live transcription options, although they may have to be enabled by your school’s admin. The same can be said for Teams, if your school uses Microsoft products, or Google Meet. A student might also have a dedicated captioner assigned to them to provide Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) services.
If you need captioning for prerecorded videos, you can either transcribe the audio yourself or use a tool to provide transcripts. For example, if you upload a video onto YouTube, you can use auto-captions. The same can be said for many screencasting tools. It’s worth searching for the tool’s name + “captions” and seeing what guides pop up.
Note that automatic captioning has its drawbacks. If you don’t speak a certain way, you might be captioned poorly, or not at all. Some of the auto-caption algorithms don’t like accents, for example. In this way, you’ll likely need to fix errors in the captions. YouTube has a built-in editor, while for others you might need to go directly into the .srt file (which you can open with a text editor).
If you use a learning management system (LMS) to share your videos, you’ll likely need a transcript. If you’re linking to YouTube or Zoom directly, then the auto-captions or transcript should be shared with the video, but that’s not true for an LMS upload. Check to see if there’s a place to upload the .srt file as you upload your video.
Further Resources
Want to explore further?
- This guide from the University of Washington gives further suggestions on how to create captions using free tools and your own transcriptions
- The Described and Captioned Media Program, or DCMP, offers guides and resources on captioning best practices, including how to handle speaker IDs and sound effects
Jesika Brooks
Jesika Brooks is an editor and bookworm with a Master of Library and Information Science degree. She works in the field of higher education as an educational technology librarian, assisting with everything from setting up Learning Management Systems to teaching students how to use edtech tools. A lifelong learner herself, she has always been fascinated by the intersection of education and technology. She edits the Tech-Based Teaching blog (and always wants to hear from new voices!).
