Similar to audio, incorporating video-based learning materials is an excellent way to cater to diverse learning preferences and boost engagement in a convenient format. By making videos accessible with captions and transcripts, we can ensure that learners with hearing or visual impairments are able to fully engage with the content. Offering multiple modalities gives students various ways to grasp information and creates a more accessible, engaging learning environment.
We’ve included some tips adapted from the Web Accessibility Initiatives’ Making Audio and Video Media Accessible guide. This resource explains how to create accessible video experiences whether you’re creating the video content yourself or providing access to third-party content.
Tips for creating accessible video
- Use high-quality video with clear audio.
- Consider speaker visibility, especially for lecture-based content.
- Provide captions that are accurate, synchronized, and include essential non-verbal audio information.
- Make on-screen text readable and avoid overloading students with too much on-screen content.
- Integrate description of visual information in the dialogue.
What is integrated description?
- Integrated Description: including the description of key visual elements within the voiceover. This is a proactive approach that plans for accessibility from the beginning.
- Descriptive Transcript: this is a retroactive approach where we add all descriptions of key visual elements not included in the voiceover to a transcript.
Planning to integrate description from the beginning has a few key benefits, but the main one is that it allows all users to receive the same information in real time regardless of how they are perceiving the information (e.g., watching and listening, listening only, watching only while reading the captions, or getting the information from the transcript).
Manual accessibility checks for video
The following checks are helpful whether you’re providing access to your own video content or selecting third-party content.
- Ensure captions are included.
- Captions should be accurate and synchronized with all important non-verbal content included.
- Is there a transcript available?
- Providing access to a transcript provides users with a text-based document that can be easily accessed by assistive technology.
- Are important visual elements described?
- If a video relies on visual elements, they should be described in the voice over, included in a descriptive transcript, or provided through audio description.
- If not, are there ways we can ensure all students have access to this information such as a descriptive transcript, alternate format or other source of information that portrays visual information?
Resources for creating and assessing accessible video
