YouTube Videos

YouTube is an excellent source for course videos. TED Talks, Khan Academy, and World Campus all have channels on YouTube. If possible, choose videos that have good captions already because then no additional work will be needed if we get an accommodation request.

To determine the caption quality, select the CC button on the chosen video.

screen shot of YouTube's closed captions button — Figure 1. Closed Caption Button

When you do that, text appears over the video that says either "English captions" or "English (auto-generated)." English captions are accurate, whereas English (auto-generated) are machine-generated captions and are not accurate enough to meet ADA requirements.

Videos with auto-generated English captions will need to be captioned when there is an accommodation request.

two screen shots of YouTube videos, one with text indicating automatic captions and one with text indicating captions in English — Figure 2. (Left) Text Indicating Captions Are Machine Generated Only,
and (Right) Text Indicating Captions Have Been Edited for Accuracy

Visit WCLD 101 for instructions on how to embed YouTube videos in Evolution and Canvas Links to an external site..

YouTube's Automatic Captions Are Not Accurate

YouTube's machine-generated automatic captions vary in accuracy from 60% to 85%. Studies show that captions become unintelligible below 97% accuracy; therefore, if there is an accommodation request, YouTube videos that have only the automatic captioning need to be captioned.

The Rhett and Link (2011) YouTube video CAPTION FAIL: Lady Gaga Putt-Putt Rally (Video 1) demonstrates the problems that occur when automatic captioning is used.

Video 1. Length: 00:03:56, CAPTION FAIL: Lady Gaga Putt-Putt Rally

References

McLaughlin, R., & Neal, L. (2011, January 31). CAPTION FAIL: Lady Gaga putt-putt rally [Video]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVNrkXM3TTI

Updated February, 2020