1. Innovative Approaches to Closed Captions and Transcripts
in Blackboard Videos
Doug Henry
Adjunct Instructor – CIS-101
Co-conspirators:
Jason Monroe - Videos and transcripts
Cheri Coder-Kembell - Videos and transcripts
Rebecca Waldo - Transcripts, YouTube, and BlackBoard
Summary:
We discuss approaches used in the preparation of the training videos for
the new CIS-101 shell. During the shell development, members of the
team considered various closed-captioning and transcript
techniques, finally settling on videos in YouTube, to take advantage of
the captioning and transcript capability. We mention alternatives to
accommodate students who cannot access YouTube.

2. Some Terminology
• Transcript - text of the audio in a video or audio presentation
• Captioning - synchronizing the transcript to the video - include
meaning and sound effects
• Closed Captions - Able to turn on or off (CC) - play in a separate
video track
• Open Captions - imbedded in the video - always on
• Subtitles - Brief, mainly for translation and for emphasis
• Post-production – Captions added after the video is created –
increasingly being automated
• Real time – Captions added during play – typed by someone more
focused than I, with really good hearing…

3. Regulatory Aspects
• Rehabilition Act – 1973
• Section 508 - All federal electronic and information
technology must be accessible to people with disabilities
• Section 504 - People with disabilities get equal access to
any program or activity that receives federal subsidy -
includes video and audio class content.
• 21st Century Video Communications & Accessibility Act -
expands closed caption requirements for all online video that
previously aired on television.
• OTC Disability Support Services (DSS) - speech-to-text, note
taking, visual describing, alternative formats, tape recording

4. Benefits of Captioning
• Comprehension - hearing impaired, ESL
• Subtitles and translations
• Search engines - indexing videos online - repurposing
video information
• Workplace viewing, noisy surroundings, mobile
• Interactive captioning - text search, seeking,
bookmarking

5. CIS-101 Videos
• Prepared by Jason Monroe and Cheri Coder-Kembell
• Video tutorials on first assignment for each weekly lesson - 1 to 3 per
unit – 12 units – 5 to 15 minutes each
• Screen capture using Camtasia - narration added - posted to YouTube in a
CIS-101 channel
• Screen capture tools: Commercial (Camtasia, Captivate, Snagit), free
(Camstudio), online (Screencast-o-matic, Jing)
• Features to look for:
• Various window, cursor, options
• File save options (quality, filesize)
• ‘Callouts’
• ‘Autopan’
• Audio, webcam recording

6. Transcripts
• Typed - while listening to narration
• Voice Recognition - Dragon, Windows 7
• Self: Train for best results
• Other narrator: Play at 1/2 speed, listen and narrate into Dragon or
Windows 7
Dragon Win 7

7. • Presenting transcripts in Blackboard
• Separate PDF (open in new window)
• Scrolling text box in Bb (edit HTML)
HTML:
<div style=“height:120px; width:100%;overflow:scroll;”>text</div>

8. Adding Closed Captions
• Submit file to YouTube
• Caption file formats
• Plain text with blank lines - example
• SRT - YouTube – example
• Others (Flash, iPod, DVD, Win Media, QT)
Plain Text SRT

9. Autocaption in YouTube (machine processing) – not quite there
yet…

10. More …
Translations
• Transcripts – Google
Translate can do PDF files,
and posting translations is
easy
• Captions – multiple captions
can be added to YouTube
videos
Interactive transcripts
• Becoming more popular
• Allow highlighting in
transcript to jump to a
point in the video
• YouTube example:

11. Interactive Transcripts – Cool Commercial Example
http://www.3playmedia.com/

12. Interactive Transcripts
Home grown (tinkering) - for students who cannot access YouTube –
uses <iframe> and Flash player ‘seek’ to start video at certain point

13. Some Lessons Learned
• Teamwork under pressure - learning from colleagues
• KISS - the technology will catch up fast
• Make it FUN!
References
• http://www.google.com/support/youtube/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=
100077 - Adding captions and subtitles
• http://www.google.com/support/youtube/bin/answer.py?answer=100076
– Options for generating captions
• http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2010/06/youtubes-interactive-
transcripts.html - Adding interactive transcripts
• http://www.3playmedia.com/company/webinars/ - several good webinars
on closed captioning - including Sec 508, interactive captioning, search and
accessibility, university examples