Published on: 12/02/2025 · Last updated on: 12/02/2025
Introduction
Video and audio can complement your text and enhance your course. However, not everyone is able to access the visual and audio elements so you need to make sure all users have alternative ways to engage with the video content
Students Explain Digital Accessibility: Captions and Transcripts, created by LX. lab
What must I do?
- Enable automatic captioning and review captions for accuracy.
- Create digitally accessible slides and visual content.
- Make any supporting slides available for download on Moodle.
Other useful accessible video practices are:
- Break longer videos up into smaller ‘chunks’ of around 5-15 minutes each. Research shows shorter videos high engagement with learners and this can reduce cognitive load, fatigue and help navigation.
- A written transcript offers a flexible alternative, allowing people to choose the most convenient way to engage with the content. With AI tools, it’s possible to take a caption file and ask it to generate a transcript.
Why do it?
- For users who are deaf or hard of hearing, accurate captions are essential so they can access the video.
- Many users (including those who speak English as a second language) find captions useful to help process the video.
- For blind or users with a visual impairment, it is essential to provide an accompanying accessible set of slides so they can access the visual component of the video.
How do I add/edit captions in Panopto?
Videos uploaded to the University’s video platform Panopto, will have a captions automatically generated. These automatic captions are a useful starting point, they must be manually edited as there will be inaccuracies in the captioning and missed parts (e.g. missed audience questions). Watch the video or follow the instructions on how to edit automatic captions in Panopto (2 minutes 38).
Additional support
- Improve the quality of captions in Re:View (Panopto) and Zoom – University of Bath blog
- Foreign Language Captioning in Video Recordings – TEL Service Blog
- Designing Accessible PowerPoint slide decks – Learning and Teaching Hub