MULTIMEDIA CAPTIONING

If you use multimedia in your course, such as video or audio, you have likely wondered about captions and transcripts.

Instructors should use accurately captioned material when available. Media with video components, which are purchased or otherwise acquired, must be supported with the addition of captioning. Media with audio components, which are purchased or otherwise acquired, must be supported with verbatim transcripts. In these instances, it is the responsibility of third-party vendors to make sure their own materials are accessible. Instructors should check with any vendors they are using to make sure their materials are accessible.

Captioning requires training and experience to achieve the proficiency needed to create ADA-compliant accommodations. For this reason, please do not attempt to caption any of your own materials.

If you have students who need this accommodation in your courses, you will be informed by Disability Services at the beginning of the semester with further instructions. At that time you will be able to submit captioning requests for both your own course materials as well as for media you are using from freely and publicly available sources on the Internet, such as YouTube and Vimeo videos.

Quick Recap

Making your course accessible by reducing the barriers to accessing or participating in it helps benefit everyone, regardless of ability.