Video Captioning: Lessons Learned while Implementing a Do-It-Yourself Approach Craig Spooner UDL/Professional Development Coordinator Instructional Designer Marla Roll Director, Assistive Technology Resource Center Assistant Professor, Occupational Therapy Department Colorado State University Accessing Higher Ground 2012

Two approaches: UDL vs. Legal Mandate Higher Ed Captioning models Occupational Therapy’s “DIY” approach Demo of DIY captioning process Lessons learned

Captions: Are a text representation of the audio in the video. Captions are synchronized to the video. Describe what is being said, background sounds, emotions, and other contextual information. Can also used for indexing and retrieval. Provide equivalent access for viewers who are hearing impaired... and anyone who needs to watch video with audio turned off or who learns best by reading and listening simultaneously.

Americans with Disabilities Act Section 504 & 508 of the Rehabilitation Act 21 st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act Higher Education Opportunity Act – AIM Commission recommendations Chafee Amendment (related to US Copyright Law)

Anticipating student diversity and diverse learning needs: – Disabilities (hard of hearing, deaf, deaf with visual impairment, learning disabilities) – Students watching video in noisy environments – English as a second language – Diverse learning styles Supplying information in multiple ways, providing options Removing barriers from the learning environment

Legal Mandates – Speak to hearing impairments UDL approach – Speaks to diverse types of learners – Benefits many students beyond those with hearing impairments – Proactive vs. Reactive – More timely access, equivalence – We see it as part of our land-grant mission

Disability Services Office Centralized service, fee-based Complete outsourcing Mixed model (some of the work outsourced) DIY (the “yourself” may be individual faculty or their departments) Other?

History of OT depart having two students with hearing impairments in our program. This was an opportunity to walk our talk about UDL. Our DS office felt that they could not provide enough assistance in this area. OT could serve as a pilot for larger campus.

Lots of existing uncaptioned videos, made in- house, mostly in DVD format Use readily-available, easy-to-use, campus standard captioning tool, (Camtasia Studio) Convert all videos to MP4 Use guidelines developed by Captioning KeyCaptioning Key Save captioned video in MP4 format

DVD, digital video file 1.Identify the source of the video – Copyright ownership – Format: DVD, digital file 2.Convert the video to common format – Software tool: Handbrake – Output format: MP4 3.Transcribe the video – Using Microsoft Word or Camtasia Studio 4.Create captions in Camtasia Studio – Synchronize transcript with video 5.Save the captioned video YouTube 1.Seek permission 2.Supply transcript (optional)

Lecture capture system – Echo 360, MediaSite, Panopto, others Post URLs in RamCT, not large media files YouTube Local file storage (flash drive, hard drives) Network drives Media archive

DIY has become more feasible in recent years – Captioning tools built into common software like Camtasia Studio and Adobe Captivate Moral obligation to walk our talk: – Anticipating diverse learning needs, benefits to broad range of learners OT department gave higher priority to this initiative because of needs of incoming students Test the feasibility of this approach

12 full time faculty 90 graduate students Curriculum relies on lots of video for instruction UDL (including captioning) fits with OT’s philosophy of equal access and participation; inclusive environments *The OT Department: Ranked by U.S. News & World Report among the Top 10 occupational therapy programs in the nation Program of Research and Scholarly Excellence for 12 consecutive years The Colorado Commission of Higher Education has designated us a Program of Excellence

Hired dedicated TA (10 hrs/week) Set up dedicated workstation w/ relevant tools Staff person – point person responsible for receiving content from faculty and tracking completion Tech support go-to for TA 2-week turnaround, 1 week for urgent requests

Use of TA deemed essential Amount of old, analog video (VHS tapes) that need to be digitized was surprising! Variety of video sources (commercially produced DVD, home-made DVD, VHS tapes) Issue with YouTube: delay in obtaining copyright permission. Process may stifle spontaneous use of media. Requires planning ahead - hard with new courses.

Faculty perspectives (Survey Monkey) – How satisfied are you with the turnaround time? 66% Neutral 33% Somewhat displeased – How satisfied are you with the quality? 100% Pleased – Rate the hassle factor of getting content captioned 33% Neutral 66% Somewhat of a hassle Department Head perspective Not financially sustainable 

Camtasia Studio for Mac was less capable than PC version. Favored creating transcript in Camtasia vs. Word Handbrake was unable to read chapters on department-made DVDs. Favorite part of process: creating captions in Camtasia Biggest frustration: unfamiliar terminology and poor audio quality Process can become monotonous, tedious Steep learning curve, BUT getting more efficient and enjoyable Caption Key is limited – guidelines do not address all scenarios One TA could train another Would have liked more formal training in the beginning Felt the work was important

Captioning process is going much quicker There have been fewer captioning requests overall Some instructors are opting to show video without the sound Video clips have been shorter Poor audio quality is the biggest frustration Use of Creative Commons in YouTube has not really worked – owners of video do not respond

Captioning requirement may be dampening spontaneous use of video (e.g., YouTube) DIY does not solve issue of student presentations DIY does not solve issue of electives outside of the department Videos with poor audio quality cannot be captioned – speaks to the need for a “filtering” process Does make faculty examine whether video is necessary or adds value.

Will faculty/departments like and accept a DIY model? If not DIY model, then what? Other campus solutions?

Our captioning process was made possible under this DOE grant – final year of a 4 year project. Tutorials covering captioning, universally- designed Word, PowerPoint, PDF, HTML and E-Text: –

Craig Spooner Marla Roll