Best Practices for Closed Captioning in Online Learning Platforms (Full Transcript)

Speaker 1: Hello, in this video, I will be discussing closed captioning best practices. With the increase in online learning, professors are using Zoom, Panopto, VoiceThread, as well as YouTube videos at higher rates than ever before. This technology is used for synchronous as well as asynchronous lectures, and it is important to keep in mind accessibility as well as the diverse learning styles and preferences that all students bring to the classroom. Being cognizant of closed captions represents a strategy that professors can implement not only to abide by accessibility laws, but also to meet the needs of all students. Numerous studies have been conducted to determine why students use captions. It's important to remember that students use captions for a variety of reasons, as seen here on the screen, and closed captions are not just used by students who have disabilities. Closed captioning best practices are as follows. One to three lines of text appear on the screen all at once, stay there for three to seven and are then replaced by another caption. Timed to synchronize with the audio, captions should appear on the screen long enough to be read. They do not cover up graphics and other essential visual elements of the picture. They include not more than 32 characters per line. Spelling and grammar is correct throughout the production. These encompass the most important aspects of closed captioning best practices when it comes to the ADA and other legal requirements.

Speaker 2: Here are a couple more closed captioning tips.

Speaker 1: Add music or other descriptions inside square brackets, such as you see here on the screen when there is music or laughter in the video. Characters should be identified when more than one person is on the screen and when they are having a discussion. Write out sound effects when they add to understanding and use italics when a new word is being identified

Speaker 2: or a word is heavily emphasized in your speech.

Speaker 1: One of the best features of YouTube, VoiceThread, and Panopto include the automatic speech recognition features which produce automatic captions. As you can see here on the screen, these are not 100% accurate and do not align with captioning best practices. The picture at the top is from YouTube and the picture at the bottom shows several examples of captions gone wrong in VoiceThread. As you can see, it is important to go back and edit your captions after they have been

Speaker 2: automatically generated. Okay, so now you're probably thinking, it's great to know what the best practices are

Speaker 1: for closed captions, but what do I do when my automatically generated captions need to be edited? Here on this screen, you will see three websites that you can check out for more information on each of these video platforms which are commonly used by USI faculty. These websites show how to edit the automatically generated captions. You will find that this is a very quick and easy process and if you take the time to edit the captions, you will receive much positive feedback from your students.