Why This Matters

You may be wondering why video accessibility matters. The Universal Design for Learning framework can improve the learning experience for all students. For example, while captions are essential for those who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing, they can also benefit people who are not native speakers of the language used in the video, as well as students who may be unfamiliar with the vocabulary used in a discipline. Captions can also make it possible for students to conduct interactive searches within the video if they wish to revisit a particular moment or specific topic for comprehension, mastery, or when studying for an exam.

Note that you, as the instructor, are responsible for ensuring the accessibility of any content used in a course, even if you did not create it. This includes providing captions for videos. 

This page is intended to help you get started, but if you have further questions about this topic in general, or how to caption a video in particular, check out CTI’s Accessibility Guide, which includes a section on captioning video content with strategies and tips. It also includes links to instructions for specific Canvas tools like Kaltura, and more. 

If you have further questions, please contact CTI, and we can connect you with an instructional designer or accessibility specialist who can help. 

How to Caption a Video

As you may know, captions are text that appear in sync with the video, conveying any speech, music, or sound effects. For most videos, captions can be turned on/off via the CC button in the video player.

Auto-generated Captions 

If using Zoom, Kaltura, or Panopto in Canvas for your videos, note that these services do provide auto-generated captions. However, these captions may be inaccurate to varying degrees and should be reviewed, and any errors fixed, in order to be fully accessible. How to do this differs with each of these tools. 

We offer guidance, including strategies and captioning tips, for each of these tools in the “Recorded Video” section of our Accessibility Guide. We also recommend reviewing the support guides on the specific vendor’s website for more information. 

Generating Captions From Scratch 

Generating captions from scratch no longer means you must manually transcribe the audio content of each video. There are now many tools available with AI features that can create a caption file for a video from scratch quickly. For example, Otter.ai has this functionality with its AI chatbot. This can also be done to some degree with Cornell tools like Microsoft CoPilot. 

However, note that if using an AI chatbot, it’s crucial to always review AI-generated captions for accuracy. 

Some additional tips for using this method are:

• The prompt you use matters! Request that the chatbot “create a video caption file” for the video. If you ask it to just “transcribe” the video, it may not include the timestamps for synchronizing the text to the audio. Without timestamps, some tools will not let you upload the file.
• Be sure to ask the chatbot to output the captions in the correct file format for the video tool you will be using (e.g., Kaltura, Panopto, or external platforms like YouTube). If unsure which file format that is, we recommend you request the output as an .srt file, as that is accepted by many platforms.
• Pay attention to audio details and the introduction of new speakers. When needed to understand the video (e.g., for narrative content), you may need to ask the chatbot to note in the captions any important sound effects, or to identify each new speaker.

Once the caption file is complete, you can then upload that file directly to the video in the tool you are using. Those watching the video can then turn the captions on/off, as needed, via the CC button in the video player.