Introduction

Captions and transcripts are a text alternative to audio providing viewers with an additional way to access content. Captions improve comprehension by removing common miscommunications stemming from variations in:

• Hearing ability
• Speaker accent
• Audio quality
• Listener’s primary language
• Complexity of the subject matter
• Missed audio content

Captioning video content is an essential part of creating high quality educational resources that improve engagement, comprehension, and student learning outcomes. 

Contents

• Captioning Terminology
• Legal Requirements and University Policy
• When Is Captioning Required?
  
  • Supporting Live Events
• Ordering Captions
• Captioning Costs
  
  • Free Self-Service
  • Centrally-Funded
• Getting Help

Instructions

Captioning Terminology

Captioning terminology can be confusing. The terms we use casually aren’t necessarily correct! For example: 

• Captions are synchronized text of spoken dialogue, sound effects, or other audio cues that appear within a video. Closed captions can be turned on and off, open captions are locked on.
• Transcripts document the content from an audio recording (e.g., spoken dialogue, sound effects, or other audio cues) within a separate text file not time-synchronized to the video..
• Interactive transcripts are time-synchronized text versions of audio, and user selection of the text will jump the video to that specific location.
• Captions and transcripts can be machine-generated (automatic-speech recognition, ASR), generated by a human captionist, or both.
• Professional captions use human captionists and typically maintain a minimum accuracy rate of 99%.
• Live captions are provided in real-time as audio recording occurs, during an event, while post-production captions are provided for previously recorded content.

Below is a complete list of captioning terms and definitions: 

Legal Requirements and University Policy

Virginia Tech is proud to commit to inclusive media for faculty, staff, students, and all audiences who consume video/audio content across our digital platforms. By proactively considering the need for captions, the university aligns efforts with legal requirements. These include the Americans with Disabilities Act (as amended) including Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (as amended), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as required by Virginia State Law. Additionally, captions support Virginia Tech’s Keep C.A.L.M and Caption-On campaign. By making closed captioning a priority, we successfully meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG) criterion 1.2.2. and further demonstrate commitment to IT Accessibility Policy 7215.

For all of these reasons, Virginia Tech requires that all public-facing videos and live events produced by the university include captioning. Captioning provides universal benefit to increase engagement and message clarity and aligns with Virginia Tech’s commitment to inclusion and access as outlined in the Virginia Tech Difference - Advancing Beyond Boundaries. This commitment has been endorsed by senior leaders across the university, resulting in the allocation of centralized funds to provide both live and post-production closed-captions to advance the university mission.

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When Is Captioning Required?

Captions must be available for:

• Video and audio, live or recorded, in support of a person with a disability (live or post-production captions).
• Video and audio that is required for a course (post-production captions).
• Public-facing, university-sponsored live, digital/online events (live captions).
• Public-facing, university-sponsored videos, like marketing videos (post-production captions).

Transcripts must be available for: 

• Audio recordings required for a course. 
• Audio-only, public-facing content like podcasts.  

Captions and transcripts should be available for:

• Video recordings required for a course. 
• Live-event recordings publicly available on the internet.

Captions and transcripts can be available for:

• Virtual and hybrid lab meetings, class meetings, and office hours.
• Virtual and hybrid employee training and team meetings. 

Transcripts can be available for:

• Recordings related to research.
• Class sessions to augment student notes. 

Supporting live events

To ensure that other accessibility needs are not overlooked during university-sponsored live events, we recommend organizers include an event accessibility statement to allow registrants to state their accommodation needs. See the Office for Equity and Accessibility's Practices and Policies for more information. 

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Ordering Captions

To learn how to order live captions, see Captioning Services - Ordering Live Captions.

To learn how to order post-production captions, see Captioning Services - Ordering Post-Production Captions.

To learn how to order transcripts, see Captioning Services - Ordering Transcripts.

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Captioning Costs

Free self-service

All available free captioning tools create machine-generated captions. Accuracy is variable, but is up to 90% accurate. Machine-generated captions for publicly-shared recordings or recordings for coursework should be edited for accuracy using the Captioning Key Guidelines.

Below is a table of approved, free captioning tools: 

*All Zoom Cloud recordings are automatically captioned when they are moved to the meeting host’s My Media. The host can hide the captions while they are being edited. 

Centrally-funded

Captions and transcripts made by a human captionist typically maintain a minimum accuracy rate of 99%. They are ordered through a third-party vendor. The following event and recording types qualify for central funding: 

• Accommodations for students with disabilities. Request through Services for Students with Disabilities. 
• Recorded teaching materials (not recordings of live lectures) that will be used for multiple semesters. Order using the Captioning Services request form. 
• Live, digital, public-facing events across the university (e.g., webinars, seminars, and town halls). Order using the Captioning Services request form.

Getting Help

• For help with accommodations for students with disabilities, contact Services for Students with Disabilities. 
• For help determining whether your event or recording requires captioning, email assist@vt.edu. 
• For help ordering and editing machine-generated captions, see Editing Captions.
• For any other question about captioning, go to the 4Help Portal and click Get Help.

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