Today’s e-learning spaces are dominated by video, reflective of the global trend towards video-based content across the internet. A study by Cisco predicts that by 2022, global IP video traffic will be 82 percent of all IP traffic, up from 75 percent in 2017. With more and more of us consuming video online, it’s important that content creators keep their videos as accessible as possible, especially in education, where we should strive to open up opportunities to all.
Thankfully, there are simple steps you can take to increase the accessibility of your educational videos. Doing so not only makes good business sense, but ensures that as many people as possible have the chance to access your learning material in the way that suits them best.
1. Include Captions
According to the World Health Organization, over 5% of the world’s population – or 466 million people – has disabling hearing loss (432 million adults and 34 million children). It is estimated that by 2050 over 900 million people – or one in every ten people – will have disabling hearing loss. Captions, the textual version of the audio content which is synchronized to the video, are essential for those who are deaf or hearing impaired, and also serve to help non-native English speakers understand. In addition, captions allow students to see the spelling of technical terms or new words within the video which can help them to learn. Strong captions will also include sound effects, music cues or other sounds to help the viewer to further understand the video.
2. Provide a Transcript
In addition to providing captions, including a transcript of your video will help to capture all the spoken audio, on-screen text and descriptions of key visual information, without the need of the video to accompany it. A transcript is the text version of your media content and helps make your video content accessible to everyone, including those who cannot view the video due to technical limitations or accessibility problems such as a poor internet speed. Transcripts are also powerful for SEO purposes, as they make the content of your video easily readable by search engine bots, and allow those who don’t have time to watch the entire video to quickly scan or search the video’s contents.
Want to go a step further? Consider adding translations of your transcript and captions in order to increase the accessibility of your educational videos even further. This will make your video searchable by speakers of other languages and increase your content’s reach.
3. Provide Audio Description
Audio description is a separate narrative audio track that describes the key visual elements within your content. This on-going narration is crucial for those who are unable to see the video, allowing them to understand its contents. Yet audio description is not only useful for the visually-impaired, individuals on the autistic spectrum find that audio description helps them to understand actions or facial expressions which could be an important part of your educational video. Including a narration will help viewers to understand all of the action that’s happening in the video and offers an additional, auditory way of understanding the content.
In addition to this, audio description allows those consuming your educational videos to enjoy the content without needing to watch the visual content. This can help auditory learners, and make your video more available to those who look to consume content on the go, in the style of a podcast.
4. Use an Accessible Media Player
Last but not least, choosing an accessible media player is important when publishing your educational video. There is little point in investing in quality closed captions or audio descriptions if these are not supported by the video player you finally use to put your video live. You should consider the following questions:
- Are closed captions supported by this media player?
- Does this media player work across different platforms and browsers?
- Can the media player be operated without a mouse, such as with keyboard controls for students with disabilities?
- Are the media player’s buttons clear and well-sized for the visually impaired? Are they clearly labeled so that they can be understood by a screen reader?
Organizations that make their educational videos accessible can enjoy a wide range of benefits such as increased traffic (as the videos are appropriate for a wider audience), better indexing by search engines, and an overall better experience for those learning from the content.
VocalScript is the perfect choice for making high-quality subtitles and closed captioning that will help make your educational videos more accessible to all. Our SRT format closed captions are produced by a specialist, highly-skilled segment of our transcriber community that are experienced with transcribing even the most subject-specific and challenging visual content. For services that will improve search rankings, index video content, reach wider audiences and boost visibility online for content producers, corporations and other organizations, look no further. We use the most advanced technology in the industry to provide expert transcribers with best-in-class tools to provide exceptional results at the lowest prices. Our proven track record of customer satisfaction is combined with our tireless passion to provide the highest quality of transcription services.
Contact our sales team today to request a demo and see exactly what our unparalleled transcription services can do for you, or upload your video directly to the VocalScript portal today to receive your fast and accurate transcript.
Remember...if you can speak it, we can script it!