Video Accessibility Guidelines

Summary

All instructional videos should follow universal design for learning (UDL) principles. UDL has been applied to many educational products (computers, websites, software, textbooks and lab equipment) and environments (dormitories, classrooms, student union buildings, libraries, and distance learning courses). Unlike an accommodation for a specific person with a disability, UDL practices benefit all students, including those who are not receiving disability-related accommodations from the school.

Students requiring accommodation, or instructors needing consultation, should contact the Boise State Disability Resource Center at 208-426-1583 or eacinfo@boisestate.edu. Discover more about the accommodation process on the "students" page of the EAC website.

Guideline

Description and How-To Information

Instructional videos must be closed captioned.

Closed captions provide a text equivalent of your videos. Closed captions make your videos more accessible to non-native English speakers, deaf and hearing impaired students.

- Students should contact the Educational Access Center for accommodations.

- Example: Here's a video with closed captions hosted on the Boise State Video Service (works especially well at full screen).

- Tip: When reviewing instructional video for use in your classes, purchase videos that are already captioned.

If a video is already captioned, providing a transcript is highly recommended.

Providing a transcript of your video assists hearing impaired, blind/low-vision students, non-native English speaking students, and students who prefer to follow videos with text.

- For deaf/hearing impaired, provide a verbatim written transcript.

- For blind/low vision, provide a descriptive, written transcript where actions and all relevant visual and auditory clues and actions are described.

- Example: In a video for math, describe the action and location of X and Y, not simply say, "move the 'X' over here."

- How to: In Blackboard, simply upload your transcript and include the link to the transcript along with your video.

Presentation of instructional videos (in class) may need to be accompanied by real-time accommodations (sign language interpreters, real-time video description, note takers, real-time transcription, etc).

Students with disabilities should contact the Educational Access Center for accommodation. Instructors can contact EAC for consultation.