Make Your Course Media Accessible: Video Captions and Audio Descriptions Support Every Learner

Video can be one of the most effective teaching tools you use, especially when every student can access the content. Captions and audio descriptions boost clarity, reinforce key ideas, and creative flexible learning pathways that benefit all learners. Compliance with the revised technical standards for the Americans with Disabilities Act is an added advantage, but the primary payoff is student success. And because these practices can fit naturally into your existing video recording workflows, even small improvements can make a meaningful difference in how students engage with your course.

Here are three practical ways you can make your videos more accessible using tools and workflows you already have.

1. Start with captions because everyone benefits!

Captions help students who are deaf or hard of hearing -- and they also help the students riding the bus, in the library, at work, or while a toddler naps across the room. Research shows:

• 80% of adults are more likely to finish a video with captions (Publicis Media, 2019)
• Most Gen Z students watch video in public -- 70% use captions when they are available (Mykhalevych, 2024)
• 75% of students use captioned videos as study aids (Linder, 2016)

Captions are universal design in action. Therefore, always make sure your videos minimally have captions available in the language that is spoken.

2. Always review and edit auto-captions

Sometimes accessibility is the difference between dinner and disaster. Here's an example from the Web Accessibility Initiative that shows how auto-captions can fail students. In one clip, the presenter said, "Broil on high for four to five minutes." But the auto-caption read, "Broil on high for 45 minutes."

One quick edit can completely change meaning. Auto-captions will eventually improve and advancements in AI and audio technology will help strengthen the quality and reliability. For now, it's important to review those auto-captions!

3. Add audio descriptions when visuals carry meaning

Captions make sound visible. Audio descriptions make visuals audible. If students need to see something to understand your content, such as a graph, a diagram, or a demonstration, that information must be spoken aloud with a description. Without audio description, when you say "As you can see here…" it does not provide clear enough information for someone who cannot see the graph. With audio description, one could say, "The line graph shows three trends over 20 years. The blue line increases from 10 to 45." 

In other words: if you closed your eyes and listened to your video, would you still learn something without seeing the content? If not, add the audio description. Accessible teaching is explicit teaching.

Accessible video matters. It takes about 15 minutes to fix captions for a 10-minute video and 30-45 minutes to add audio descriptions. Our new video platform, YuJa, allows you to generate auto-captions and edit them, and you can upload an audio description to publish a fully accessible video for your students. However, if you feel overwhelmed, start small. One video. One hour. That's it. The impact it has will not only meet legal requirements, but will also benefit 100 percent of all learners. 

Ready to take the first step? Visit UMBC's Digital Accessibility site or run an Ally course report today. Support is also available from Student Disability Services and Instructional Technology.

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