Learning Center

Description Key - Preparation

Description Key - What to Describe

Description Key - How to Describe

Description Key - Technical Issues

Description Key - Resources

Offers an overview of description, how description can be used in the classroom, the progress of the Video Description Research and Development Center in the design of new description technologies, and special webinar resources.

Focus on Learning

There are numerous ways that educational programs demonstrate their commitment to student success, including ensuring that educational media is accessible to all students. For many years, the Described and Captioned Media Program has provided thousands of hours annually of accessible educational media. Feedback we get from users has been overwhelmingly positive, and it’s powerful to see the impact accessible media has had on students as they progress through their educational programs.

DCMP Implements New Player-Based Captions and Description

To ensure that all media in DCMP's video library is always accessible, captions have been "burned in" or "open," meaning the captions are physically part of the video. Likewise, audio description has been added to each video's main soundtrack. Beginning in April, 2020, captions and description began transitioning to "player-based," meaning that these accessibility features are comprised of separate tracks that can be toggled on and off by the viewer. To continue DCMP's commitment to ensuring each viewing of every video is accessible, at least one accessibility feature will always remain on. All new content will have player-based accessibility upon release, and existing content will gradually switch to player-based as we quality check each one to ensure proper functionality.

New Tool Streamlines Creation of Multiple Student Accounts

DCMP has implemented a new tool for educators to expedite the creation of Student Accounts for multiple students. A new interface allows for several names to be added while usernames and passwords are auto-generated.

Getting a Job! for Students Who Are Blind and Visually Impaired - Module

The Getting a Job! for Students Who Are Blind and Visually Impaired online training was developed and designed for students who are blind and visually impaired and the professionals who work with them. Focusing on the transition from school to work, the training offers a series of activities, supporting documents and topical videos designed to help the job seeker prepare for the world of work. It features several blind and low vision role models to guide students along the path to work.

Remote Learning With DCMP Accessible Videos

Teachers and parents across the country are taking advantage of DCMP's Remote Learning resources. For educators who have at least one student who is deaf or blind and wish to implement tools for remote learning, DCMP can help ensure that educational videos are accessible for students learning at home.

Captioning Key - Tools for Creating Captions

Captioning Key - YouTube

Google offers an “auto caption” feature for YouTube uploads by which text-to-speech software attempts to automatically generate captions from a video’s soundtrack. If you’d like slightly more control over the content of your captions, Google has also implemented “automatic caption timing.” To use this feature, simply transcribe all of the words found in your video, and upload it as you would your SRT (timed) caption file (see below). The same text-to-speech algorithms used for “auto caption” will synchronize your transcribed text for you, eliminating the need to worry about timecodes. (Check YouTube help for more about these automatic features.)However, the safest (and most accurate) bet would be to upload an SRT file with your video; once completed, this will enable a “CC” button on the video player interface and captioning will be turned on by default. YouTube has provided instructions for users interested in adding captions to their YouTube videos.

Captioning Key - Numbers

Experts don't always agree on rules for writing numbers or numerals. Captionists should follow a standard style manual, remembering to be consistent, or use this relatively detailed overview.

Captioning Key - Captioning Presentation Rate Research

This appendix is a research document which contains a conglomerate of studies related to both children and adults and how they view, read, and prefer captions. Initially, it seems to be common sense that verbatim captioning is the ideal, the mark of true equal access. However, it may be possible for spoken audio to be delivered so quickly that most people cannot read its verbatim captioning, which seems counter-productive to the goal of equal access.

Captioning Key - Special Considerations