Videos are a great way for learners to interact with instructional content. However, to meet QM Standard 8, you’ll need to ensure they are accessible and easily operated by all learners.

First when selecting a video from an outside source, be sure that it has the option for Closed Captioning. Many outside sources, such as YouTube, Vimeo and others have closed captioning included. Videos obtained from the Gelman Library resources are all captioned as well. 

When Choosing a video, make sure that the controls of the video are easily used and can be seen. This will aid all users in starting and stopping the video.

If you select a downloadable video or create your own, you’ll need to add captioning to it. One way to accomplish this is to write a script and/or create a transcript of the video. Include the transcript as a link or document with the video.

Another easy way to do this is to use YouTube. YouTube will automatically caption any videos you upload. Most times this produces accurate captioning, however you should always check to ensure that the captioning is accurate.

To use the YouTube option, you need to follow the following steps:

1. Create a YouTube account. You will need to use a non GW email address for this, as GW does not support YouTube.
2. Make sure your video file type is supported. YouTube supports most video file formats with mp4 being the most popular.
3. The process of uploading is a few clicks. After logging into your account, click on the video icon at the top right hand side of the window, which can be found next to your user icon, messages, apps, and notifications.
4. Click ‘Upload Video.’
5. Then, press ‘select files to upload’ to find the video file saved on your computer. Or, you can drag and drop it into the window.
6. An optional step is to choose the privacy settings on your video.
7. Add your own subtitles & closed captions. Go to your Video Manager by clicking your account in the top right > Creator Studio > Video Manager > Videos.
8. Next to the video you want to add captions or subtitles to, click the drop-down menu next to the Edit button. Select Subtitles/CC. Click the Add new subtitles or CC button.  Choose how you want to add or edit subtitles or closed captions to your video.
9. Now you can share the accessible Video in a link in Blackboard.

Alternatively, if you are uncomfortable creating a YouTube Account, you can contact Lisa for assistance in uploading videos and getting them captioned via a general account.

There are paid services that can caption videos for you as well. Most of those services cost approximately $1.00 per minute of video.

Adding captions to a Google Slides presentation is easy. When in Presenter mode, simply look to the controls at bottom, select “Caption” and choose the position and size of the captions. If using other applications that and you need to add captions, or if you need assistance with video selection or captioning, contact Lisa for help.