Captions & Transcripts

Why do we need to provide Captioned Media?

Captions are text displayed on the screen to represent what is being said as well as important sound cues. Captioned videos and audio transcripts allow equal access to the content for students who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHOH).

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act requires all media used or purchased by public agencies receiving federal/state funds to be accessible. This also applies to online videos. Not only does captioning videos ensure South Texas College is in compliance with federal legislation and Texas state agencies or institutions of higher education, it also ensures that everyone has access to the content.

Guidelines for Implementing Accommodations

Captioning is critical for students who are deaf or hard-of-hearing, or those who may have a disability that requires audio description. Regardless of whether the class is online or in a classroom, a student who receives this accommodation needs closed captioning of all films, DVDs, or video clips (online or offline), including audio files.

Please check to see if closed captioning or English subtitles is an option on the media you will be showing. If it is not, please contact Student Disability Services at 956-872-3404 or email athelp@southtexascollege.edu for assistance making your video or audio accessible.

Priorities for captioning instructional material and media:

1. Material for use by students, faculty or staff with disabilities
2. Material which is in public-facing courses and/or webpages
3. Material that will be used multiple times or over an extended period of time (will be used for more than one class or semester)
4. Material that will be re-used in new courses

Captioning of captured classrooms may be considered a lower priority if it is a review of a face-to-face class, is to be used only one semester, or is not needed by a student with a disability. For more information, contact Accessibility Help, athelp@southtexascollege.edu.

In addition, South Texas College cannot caption content that they do not own the rights to, such as YouTube or textbook-affiliated videos that are not owned by you or the college.

Adding Captions to YouTube Videos

YouTube is one of the most commonly used video content systems. However, many videos do not have captions or transcripts. While YouTube offers the ability to automatically caption videos as a part of their service, the quality is often inaccurate and unreliable. Therefore, prior to adding YouTube videos to your Blackboard course, please review and edit the generated captions as needed.

YouTube offers multiple methods for captioning user-uploaded videos through the Video Manager: Google Support: Adding Captions to YouTube Videos.

Adding Captions to VidGrid

VidGrid is a video platform for South Texas College that allows you to easily record, share, edit and manage videos in the cloud. VidGrid is also integrated into Blackboard, which makes it simple to add your videos to your courses.

VidGrid provides unlimited machine-generated closed captions to all videos recorded or uploaded automatically. The machine-generated closed captions are generally 80% to 90% accurate, which will require you to review and edit captions to provide a higher accuracy rate.

VidGrid provides a caption editor that will allow you to make corrections as your video plays.

Video: How to Edit Captions on VidGrid.