3a: Videos include synchronized captions.

Image source: Adobe Stock

Captions

Videos and animations with audio components should include synchronized captions. Synchronized refers to captions that provide text for spoken words and important sounds that accompany visual media. Captions not only benefit the hearing impaired. They are useful for international students or students who need to work in noisy or public spaces. When preparing captions, any important auditory elements along with dialogue or narration should be included. If a video is illustrating a process or phenomenon with no audio, descriptions should be included.

Audio Description

When considering the visually impaired, audio description may be necessary to fully convey the meaning of visual media. Audio description narrates important information such as setting and actions.

How to Check 3a:

Most videos will need to be manually verified for presence and accuracy of captions.
- Panopto videos automatically provide captions but they should be edited for accuracy.

Ally will identify if a YouTube video embedded into Canvas does not feature captions or captions are not valid. However, there is no way to include captions aside from creating a transcript if they are not already built into the video by the owner.
- - Issues to look for:
    - Embedded YouTube video audio elements must have a track for captions.
    - Auto-generated YouTube captions are not considered to be valid captions.

How to Address 3a:

Review the captions in your Panopto videos and edit if necessary.
- How to Edit Panopto Video Captions (Panopto)
Ensure that any available captions are enabled for YouTube videos.
- How to Turn on Subtitles in YouTube (Business Insider)
Try to avoid using videos without captions or upload a transcript of the audio. When uploading a transcript, include the timestamp in the text.
If you have a short video clip with no audio, provide a long description describing the contents for the visually impaired.

Reinert Center Resource Guides:

Designing Visually Accessible Slides

Creating Accessible Online Learning Environments

Auditory Accessibility when Presenting or Recording a Slide Deck

More Resources:

Captions, Transcripts, and Audio Description (WebAIM)

Make Multimedia Accessible (MSU Denver)

Video and Audio (UCF)