5. Materials & Media

Synopsis from Self-Review

Media do not need to be high production quality to be effective. There are multiple approaches that can work, including “selfie videos,” lecture capture, narrated PowerPoints, and more. How you choose among these depends on personal preferences, the technology available to you, and the kinds of visual support you have to accompany your video. Shorter videos (10 minutes or less) are more accessible and effective than longer ones, as are videos with captions. Some students require video captions and transcripts of audio content, and all students benefit from these elements of accessible design.

How to Put Into Practice

When possible, avoid presenting long videos to students. Instead, break these up into shorter chunks (e.g., 6-9 minutes). You can string together multiple shorter videos on your Canvas site. Also remember that video has the important role of establishing your presence as the human being who is teaching the course. Use it to provide both the informal and formal kind of talk that you would do naturally in a face-to-face setting. 

Be proactive about attending to accessibility considerations for video content. UW-Madison is committed to providing an accessible and inclusive learning environment in any circumstance so that students and instructors can fully participate. 

It is a significant benefit for all students to have captioned video content and transcribed audio content.  Fortunately, there are tools in Kaltura that make the captioning process simpler. Aim to prepare your lectures far enough in advance that you can caption them (see an overview of this process Adding a captions file to media in Kaltura). Start with machine captioning, and then use the caption editor in Kaltura MediaSpace to improve the quality before you switch on the captions (see Step #10 on this KB Doc). Other supports you can provide to all students include structured notes or a transcript. Avoid releasing a video with only machine captions, as the potentially numerous errors could be disruptive to a viewer.  

Accommodations

Accommodations are changes made for individual learners to address a specific need.  All approved accommodations that have been requested through McBurney Connect should be implemented by your instructor as long as they are timely and reasonable. If you have a student who uses media or real-time captioning, or who uses a sign language interpreter as an approved disability-related accommodation, captioning of video content and transcription of audio-only content is required, and you should have received communications from the UW-Madison McBurney Disability Resource Center. For a listing of student accommodations in each section, log into McBurney Connect

Useful Links for Creating and Sharing Videos

Creating Video Content

• Read a one-page synopsis of Video Best Practices.
• The Hybrid Instruction Toolkit provides extensive tips & guidance around creating content in audio & video formats. Delivering Video Content to Students.
• Review guidance on how to create different types of video content, with a focus on different formats and approaches: Developing Video Content for Students.
• These instructions explain how to record narrated PowerPoint for Mac and for PC.
• This guide provides detailed information about when and how to Create Accessible Video and Audio Content. 

Using Kaltura MediaSpace to Deliver Video Content

• These documents explain how to get started with Kaltura MediaSpace. Kaltura MediaSpace is often described as “YouTube for UW-Madison.” Instructors and students can upload media. Logging in to Kaltura | Uploading Files to Kaltura 
• This document explains how to embed Kaltura MediaSpace media into Canvas Pages so students view them easily without leaving Canvas. Uploading and embedding a video in Canvas (Links to Learn@UW KB Doc)
• This video from DoIT provides a deep dive into the process of creating videos in Kaltura (55m08s)

Captioning for Videos

These documents cover some of the essential steps and tools available to caption videos:  

• Adding a captions file to media in Kaltura 
• Ordering machine captions for media in Kaltura: Machine captioning is a free service which generates a captioning file (with ~75% accuracy) which you can edit 
• Editing captions in Kaltura: Machine captioning will often miss your keywords in your content , so make sure you review and edit captions before posting them; the integrated captioning editor makes this easier.
• Switching on captioning for Kaltura videos: Once you have edited your captions, you will need to show (i.e., enable) them on the player (see Step #10 on this KB Doc).

Additional Resources

• Use Universal Design for Learning (UDL) to identify ways to share materials and assignments via multiple means. 
• Accessibility @ UW provides resources and links for instructors and students related to all manner of digital content, including video (see Create accessible video and audio content).
• Learn more about UW-Madison’s policies regarding Digital Accessibility and requirements of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act.