6 Unit: 6: Video and Audio
In this unit, we provide recommendations to guide your inclusion of accessible video and audio content. After working on this unit, you are expected to be able to:
- Understand why you might use different media types as teaching and learning tools
- List the requirements to make audio and video accessible
- Differentiate open and closed captions and subtitles
- List what kind of information to include in a transcript
Audio
Audio files are becoming more widely used in higher education, particularly for online courses. Audio content may include things link songs, podcasts, lectures or radio segments. Whether selecting or creating audio files, there are a number of things to take into consideration.
UDL connection
- Provide Multiple Means of Engagement: Audio-based materials, such as podcasts, music, speeches, etc., can capture students’ interests and spark rich discussions.
- Provide Multiple Means of Action and Expression: Offer options for students to express their knowledge, such as podcasts, to mitigate communication barriers.
- Provide Multiple Means of Representation: Audio-based materials can offer students an alternative way of receiving content. For example, a student may use an audiobook version of a text or listen to text-to-speech as they read a journal article. Audio-based materials can also be the primary medium for content. For example, a student may use bioacoustics to explore an ecosystem’s biodiversity.
Creating and Selecting Audio
Research suggests that students tend to value the opportunity to listen to the material they may have missed or may need to review multiple times (Hew, 2009). For this reason, instructors may choose to use audio for in a variety of ways:
- Record a lecture and pair it with slides
- Record an explanation of a complex diagram or relationship in your own words for students to review
- Create a series of short audio pieces to introduce or connect topics throughout the course
- Share hints, tips or step-by-step instructions
- Provide feedback on assignments
- Explain the relevance and application of learning objectives more deeply
- Curate existing podcasts that connect course material to current issues
- Select podcasts that examine a single topic in depth to use as a case example or prompt discussions
Student-created Audio
Offering audio production as a way for students to demonstrate knowledge can lead to creative and insightful outcomes. It’s possible that many students feel capable of producing audio. However, there might also be a variety of learners for whom this form of media would not be the best demonstration of their knowledge. As the UDL principles suggest, consider using multimedia as an option for students to demonstrate knowledge, but offer other means to avoid inadvertently privileging, excluding or disengaging learners. When possible, teach principles of good audio production, including how considerations of content and target audience shape the structure and delivery of the content.
As an assignment, instructions may ask students to:
- Conduct an interview with a classmate about a particular topic
- Explain the process and findings from a science experiment
- Make an argument for or against a particular stance
- Record journal entries about their personal reflections on particular topics
- React and respond to various forms of media using tools such as VoiceThread
- Record their personal goals for the class and verbalize a plan to obtain those goals
- Conduct an interview with someone in the field
Optimizing Audio for Learning
- Audio should be of high-quality and allow for volume adjustment with playback speed variation and pausing. When recording audio, ensure a moderate, consistent pace and include pauses that make the audio more understandable.
- Audio clips should be relatively short in duration or divided into short chapters or sections.
- Provide alternate ways to convey audio content, such as offering a transcript, image or graphic with description.
- If the goal of the instruction is music-related, provide alternatives through tactile and/or visual means if possible. You may also consider adding access to the musical notation or sheet music as an alternative.
- If providing a download link for the audio file, make sure it is in a format that is compatible across devices (e.g., MP3).
- When appropriate, provide background information for audio clips to help students understand their significance and situate audio clips in a meaningful context.
How to make audio accessible
To make audio content accessible, you need to provide a complete transcript of all speech content and relevant non-speech content.
Who are you doing this for?
This work supports students who:
- Are deaf or hard of hearing, like Steven
- Have a learning disability, like Natalie
- Are not native English speakers, like Yuki
- Are in a location where they cannot play or hear audio
- Prefer to read
Image description: A young, white non-binary person wearing a shoulder bag.
Image attribution: “Natalie” by the University of Prince Edward Island is under a CC BY 4.0 Licence.
Image description: A young East Asian woman with a shoulder bag and books under one arm.
Image attribution: Yuki by Andrew Fryer is under a CC BY 4.0 Licence.
Transcripts
Consider what your students would get out of your audio recording if they were not able to hear the audio portion, or if they had difficulty understanding the spoken word. A text transcript provides students with equivalent information to the audio content.
As you work on developing a text transcript, keep in mind the following recommendations about what to include:
- Speaker’s name
- All-speech content. If there is speech that is not relevant, it is usually best to indicate that it has been excluded from the transcript, e.g., “[A & B chatted while slides were loading].”
- Relevant descriptions about the speech. Descriptions that convey emotions and mood are usually provided in brackets, e.g., “Don’t touch that! [shouted]”
- Descriptions of relevant non-speech audio. These are usually provided in brackets, e.g., “[metal pipes crashing against concrete floor].” Background noise that isn’t relevant can be left out.
- Headings and sub-headings. Headings help when they make a transcript more usable or easy to navigate, especially when the transcript is long. When included, put headings in brackets to show they were not part of the original audio, e.g., [Introduction]; [Group Discussion]; [Case Study].
Transcripts and Third-party Resources
If you are not producing your own audio but are planning to share audio materials from a third-party source, be aware that not all content creators provide transcripts. If you select an audio resource that does not already have a transcript, you will need to produce one yourself.
Creating a transcript for a third-party resource might infringe on copyright, depending on the licence of the resources. Before producing a transcript for a media material you did not create, check with your copyright librarian.
Transcript Tools
Transcription is not a quick or easy process. There are a number of paid services that you can use to have transcripts created for you, or you can do it yourself. If doing it yourself, you make want to explore free speech-to-text tools. These tools will automatically translate speech into text. However, because they are automatic, they will require editing. Two tools to try are the “Dictate” tool in Microsoft Word or the “Voice Typing” tool in Google Docs.
Across all disciplines, many instructors have adopted the use of video in instructional settings including face-to-face classrooms, blended learning environments and online courses.
UDL Connection
- Provide Multiple Means of Engagement: Both instructor use of video and student-generated video can recruit and sustain interest for a particular topic and lead to more meaningful participation in the classroom.
- Provide Multiple Means of Action and Expression: Offer students the opportunity to create video as an active way to demonstrate understanding, particularly for those who experience challenges in the areas of writing or live presentation.
- Provide Multiple Means of Representation: Providing instructional materials in video formats allows students the choice in how they engage with the material. They can watch the video and listen to it, turn on the closed captions or just read the transcript.
Creating and Selecting Videos
Instructors may want to create videos for a variety of reasons, such as to:
- record a physics or chemistry demonstration with narration
- Walkthrough a problem set for students to watch at any time
- use screen capture to walk students through the materials on the course website
- record a lecture with slides to introduce or review a topic
- record a “think aloud” presentation where students can hear the instructor apply different processes or steps that they are teaching
- demonstrate certain tools or machines that students need to learn how to operate
- Walkthrough an important relationship between concepts or a complex diagram
Instructors may also want to select existing video for a certain purpose, such as to:
- elaborate on a subject to spark student discussion
- prompt students to draw connections or compare topics
- Teach complex relationships, systems or phenomena that are better demonstrated through animations or models
- Highlight cultural or historical artifacts, people or concepts
To optimize the video for learning, consider the following:
- Allow students to have direct access to the video so that they can control playback features, such as replay, fast-forward, playback speed, and pausing.
- Choose or create videos that are relatively short in duration or are divided into chapters or sections.
- Ensure the video is accessible verifying the video includes high- quality captions and a transcript or creating them.
Student-created Video
Evidence suggests that many students view video creation as a valuable and engaging activity1. However, like all instructional assignments, students will vary in their perception and response to an assignment that involves video creation. For instance, some may find this a great way to demonstrate their knowledge while thinking creatively, while others may feel so intimidated by the idea of creating a video that they will not be able to convey their understanding effectively.
As the UDL principles suggest, consider using multimedia as an option for students to demonstrate knowledge, but offer other means to avoid inadvertently privileging, excluding or disengaging learners. When possible, teach principles of good video production, including how considerations of content and target audience shape the structure and delivery of the content in the video.
As an assignment, instructors may ask students to:
- record a teach-back session where students are asked to explain concepts in their own words
- conduct a video interview with someone in the field
- record quick responses to open-ended questions
- create a video blog entry
- record an experiment and summarize findings
- create a mini documentary on a related subject
- create a multimedia presentation and share it with the class
How to Make Videos Accessible
To make video materials accessible, all videos that include audio content should have captions of all speech content and relevant non- speech content. In addition, all visual content that conveys information should be described in the spoken content. If not, audio descriptions of relevant visuals should be provided.
Who Are You Doing This For
This work supports students who:
- Are deaf or hard of hearing, like Stephen
- Are blind or have low vision, like Jacob
- Have a form of cognitive disability
- Are in a location where they cannot play or hear audio
- Are not native English speakers
Image description: A young white man sits at a table. He has a phone propped up in front of him while he communicates in sign language.
Image attribution:“WFE005: Steven” by Rosenfeld Media is under a CC BY 2.0 Licence.
Image description: A white man sits at a desk in front of a computer. He wears sunglass and headphones, and his fingers are on a refreshable Braille display.
Image attribution: Jacob: “WFE003: Jacob” by Rosenfeld Media is under a CC BY 2.0 Licence.
Captions
Captions are the texts that are synchronized with the audio in a video. Captions are important when people need to see what’s happening in the video and get the audio information in text at the same time.
Captions are necessary for deaf people and for those who are hard of hearing; but they also benefit someone who is listening in a loud environment, someone who forgot their headphones or someone who likes to be able to read and listen at the same time.
Watch Video: https://youtu.be/iWO5N3n1DXU
Video attribution: “Web Accessibility Perspectives: Video Captions” by W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) is under a CC BY 3.0 Licence.
The work you put into creating a text transcript for a video resource can be repurposed to provide captions. Keep in mind the following recommendations about what to include in your captions:
- All-speech content: If there is speech that is not relevant, it is usually best to indicate that it has been excluded from the captions, e.g., “[A & B chatted while slides were loading].”
- Descriptions of relevant non-speech audio: These are usually provided in brackets, e.g., “[metal pipes crashing against concrete floor]”; “[background music by XXX plays].” Background noise that isn’t relevant can be left out.
There are two types of captions: open captions and closed captions.
Open Captions
Open captions are part of the video. They can’t be turned off. You will see open captions in many videos on social media where people often watch videos with the sound off.
Open captions allow the video producer to style the captions as they want, and open captions ensure that the captions will display consistently across devices.
However, those who do not want to see the captions will not be able to get rid of them. It also means the quality of the captions will be tied to the quality of the video. So, if the video is blurry, the captions will be blurry too (Khalifa, 2018).
Closed Captions
Closed captions are captions that are uploaded to the video as a separate file. This allows the viewer to turn on/off the captions in the video player according to their preference. And because these captions are in a file separate from the video, they are easy to edit if there are any errors (Khalifa, 2018).
Closed captions are what you most often see on YouTube, streaming services like Netflix and Crave or cable TV.
If you would like to add closed captions to your videos, there are some free options:
- YouTube will automatically caption videos and the captions can be edited for accuracy.
- Amara is a free caption editor that allows you to write your own captions.
Note that while the quality of automatic captioning is improving rapidly, it is still not reliable enough to make videos completely accessible to people who are deaf or hard of hearing. Automatic captions always need to be edited to ensure accuracy.
Subtitles
The words “subtitles” and “captions” are often used interchangeably. However, subtitles are what you see when the text is a translation of the audio of a video into another language. In addition, subtitles generally don’t include non-speech audio.
Audio Descriptions
Consider what your students would get out of a video resource if they were not able to see visual information critical for comprehension.
Audio descriptions are helpful if visual content (e.g., a chart or map) in a video, provides important context that is not available through the audio alone (W3C, 2018b).
When describing visual elements in your multimedia resources, keep in mind the following recommendations and guidelines:
- When contextual visual content on the screen is not described in the audio itself, you will need to provide an objective audio description of the visual
- Whenever possible, avoid creating the need for audio descriptions in the first place by being proactive at the time of recording. If you pay attention to contextual visuals while recording, you may find opportunities to convey the visual content with the accompanying spoken material instead of inserting audio descriptions of the visual content after the fact.
The following video is the same video as the one shared when we were talking about captions. However, this version of the video includes audio description. Check it out:
Watch Video: https://youtu.be/4qIordU8vT8
Video attribution: Web Accessibility Perspectives: Video Captions – Audio Described Version by W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) is under a CC BY 3.0 Licence.
Transcripts
To be fully accessible to the greatest range of uses, transcripts should also be provided along with captions. Transcripts provide a text-based version of the content, including text descriptions of visual information and audio content (e.g., laughter, music). People who use screen readers may prefer transcripts over listening to the audio content as it is a much faster way to access all of the information presented in the video. In additions, some people prefer to read. Transcripts also provide a low-bandwidth alternative to video content.
In Unit 6, we explored what is required to make pre-recorded video and audio content accessible. Be providing captions, transcripts and audio descriptions, not only do you make the content accessible to blind and deaf students, but you also give all students more choice in how they engage with the content. Some students learn better when they can listen and read at the same time, some students may be in noisy environments or not have good headphones and other students may prefer to just to read or just listen.
- What should be included in a transcript?
a) All speech.
b) Descriptions of non-speech audio.
c) Speaker(s) names.
d) All the above.
2. True or false? Transcripts are only useful for students who cannot hear an audio recording.
a) True
b) False
3. What do you call text that conveys audio content that can be turned on and off by the viewer?
a) Open captions
b) Closed captions
c) Subtitles
d) Alt text
- True or false? Automatically generated captions must be edited to ensure they are accessible.
a) True
b) False
- When should audio description be created for a video?
a) When there is no transcript available for a video
b) When a video does not include visual content that conveys information
c) When a video’s audio track describes all important visual information
d) When a video’s audio track does not describe all important visual information
