Creating Accessible Audio and Video Resources

Research has shown that using audio and video in online courses is an effective way to present content to learners (Hartsell & Yuen, 2006). Access to audio and video resources is essential for students with disabilities to have equitable access to the same information as other students in your courses. 

Depending on the type of audio or video resource, closed captions (a text version of the audio that is shown synchronized in the media player), transcripts (a separate text version of the audio), or audio descriptions of visual information (an additional audio stream that describes context essential for comprehension of the visual content) need to be available:

Access Requirements for Audio and Video Resources

*NOTE: Audio descriptions are only required if the key visual elements that you want students to comprehend from the narrative are not included in the video. Audio descriptions help any low vision students understand all the content included in the video. 

Best Practices for Closed Captioning

Instructors can select closed captioned videos from a (1) library database, (2) YouTube, or (3) create their own video with closed captions to use in courses. 

Steps for Selecting Captioned Videos

Steps to Add Your Own Closed Captions to Videos

NOTE: Panopto or YouTube record lectures enable your students to stream the content which helps with slow internet connections.

Best Practices for Transcripts

A transcript provides your learners with a text version of your audio or video content. Transcripts make the content presented easy for students to review, annotate, and search. You can also use a transcript to create captions for your videos. 

Create a transcript of your video's audio into text.

​Note: If you use any of the above software except YouTube to transcribe pre-recorded audio, directions are available on how to route your computer’s audio output back into the computer for better transcription quality for both Mac and Windows.

Audio Descriptions

Audio descriptions provide learners with additional information about what is visible in a video. For example, if an object is shown in a video that is not referred to verbally, an audio description would allow learners who cannot see the object to understand the importance of the information being conveyed. Audio descriptions can be expensive and time-consuming to produce. 

Best Practices for Audio Descriptions

References