CAP THAT! was an initiative of Media Access Australia encouraging teachers to use captions in the classroom for learning and literacy for all students. It is still available as a legacy platform but does still offer relevant Information on how to find and use captions plus lesson plans and some short ‘how to’ videos are also still available to assist teachers.
Additional sources of captioned content appear in the list below.
Quick links
Websites with free captioned education videos
- National Library of Australia
- Amara
- ABC Splash
- Khan Academy
- The Periodic Table of Videos
- BBC Bitesize
- Intel Education
- Teachers' Domain
- PBS LearningMedia
- YouTube EDU
- Scootle
- TED-Ed
- ABC iView
Subscription-based education videos with captions
Websites with free captioned education videos
National Library of Australia
Description
The National Library of Australia (NLA), located in Canberra, is home to extensive collections across a range of disciplines including Australian cultural collections; and provides access to online journals, databases, newspapers and much more. Once a captioned title has been located, borrowers can organise an interlibrary loan between relevant libraries.
Caption levels
Over 64,700 captioned titles - the most substantial list of captioned videos nationally
Searching & turning on captions
How to search for captioned titles and where to borrow them
Once a captioned title has been located, borrowers can organise an interlibrary loan between relevant libraries.
Amara
Description
Website has been updated – Amara provides users with the opportunity to create & synchronise captions for online video and store them on the Amara website for viewing. Some video sources may have protection on their content which prevents uploading to Amara. Amara has communities, such as accessibility, arts and culture for users to join.
Caption levels
All videos will have closed captions / subtitles on the Amara site. However if you link out from Amara to YouTube then not all videos will be captioned. NB: videos can only be played with captions on default screen size, not on Full Screen. You can increase size of video with captions by using your computer's magnifier option.
Searching & turning on captions
To search go to the bottom right hand corner of homepage. It’s best not to choose the ‘search’ function, as then you will leave Amara and head off to YouTube, where some of the videos may not be captioned. Instead choose ‘browse’ or ‘featured’. This will lead you to a page called ‘Watch subtitled video’ which has its own search option towards the top right hand corner of page, where you nominate the language option, and then enter your search topic.
The video player offers accessible features, with the bottom left hand icon (a grey rectangle with black horizontal lines) – this is the transcript viewer and when activated by your cursor displays a transcript under the video, which is searchable. The second icon is the CC symbol – captions play automatically and you can select the language option next to the CC symbol.
ABC Splash
Description
Developed by the ABC and Education Services Australia, Splash provides videos, audio clips and games from ABC TV and Radio and around the world, that are linked to the Australian Curriculum. This is a very dynamic site with new content appearing regularly.
Caption levels
There are varying levels of captioned content depending on the source of the content; Most definitely worth a look – with large amounts of captioned content, and some with transcripts provided
By selecting the ‘Teacher’ tab, you’ll find a range and variety of content across subjects and topics.
Content with accessibility options (at time of viewing):
- Closed captions and transcripts
- Closed captions and transcripts
- Closed captions and transcripts
- Closed caption content, and transcripts
- Closed captions and transcripts
- Lot of content with closed captions and transcripts
- Sourced from The Navigators
- Lot of content with closed captions
- Transcripts provided
- Some closed caption content, some content with transcripts
ABC Splash Live: Making the News
- One video has closed captions, none with transcripts
- Some videos have closed captions, no transcripts provided
- No captions but transcripts supplied
ABC Splash and One Word One Day
- No captions, some videos include transcripts
- Audio files include a transcript
Mostly inaccessible content, (at time of viewing):
- No captions or transcripts on selection that was viewed
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
- No captions, no transcripts on selection that was viewed
- No captions or transcripts on selection that was viewed
- Videos on this service are not captioned and the media player doesn’t appear to support captions
- Transcripts not provided
Searching & turning on captions
Content is not searchable by ‘captions’. To turn on the captions, hover over the ‘CC’ button at the bottom right corner of a video and click on ‘English’ which should appear above.
Khan Academy
Description
Video tutorials across a range of subjects. Partnerships have been created with a number of specialist content suppliers.
Caption levels
Many videos provide closed captions – a very useful resource. Stamford Medicine videos are all captioned.
Searching & turning on captions
As the videos are embedded from YouTube, you simply follow the same process you would with a YouTube video.
The Periodic Table of Videos
Description
Senior science videos by the University of Nottingham.
Caption levels
Many videos provide closed captions. A list of quality captioned videos is provided. The quality and accuracy of captions for some other videos varies considerably i.e. those that have been automatically generated.
Searching & turning on captions
As the videos are embedded from YouTube, you simply follow the same process you would with a YouTube video.
BBC Bitesize
Note: We do not have permission to use the BBC Bitesize logo.
Description
Videos & interactive activities based on the English, Scottish & Welsh curricula for ages 5-16.
Caption levels
BBC has updated its website and acknowledges problems with URL redirects and searching for content, which will be fixed soon. It will also enhance the overall navigation of the site in the next few months.
Provided on all activities for KS2 (ages 7-12), Scottish 2nd level (ages 5-7), KS3 (ages 11-14) & GSCE (ages 14-16). KS1 & Scottish 1st level (ages 4-7) activities contain no captions, however text is most often used with dialogue. Activities have captions but videos generally do not.
Searching & turning on captions
Choose your school level. Captioned activities can be found by clicking 'find an activity here', e.g. KS2, or going into subject sections & clicking 'Activity' or 'Play' next to a topic, e.g. KS3 'Handling Data'. There will either be an 'S' at the bottom middle of the player or a 'Subtitles On' button at the top of the player or a 'Subtitles On' button at the top of the player.
Intel Education
Description
Animations for all stages of the UK curriculum, relating to Maths, Science, Biology, Chemistry & Physics.
Caption levels
All animations include written text to accompany the dialogue. British Council videos are not captioned. Britannica Online School Edition videos use automatically generated captions, that are inaccurate.
Searching & turning on captions
All animations have the transcription of the dialogue in-built into the video.
Teachers' Domain
Description
An online library of education videos from a range of US public broadcasters and content providers. Users must register for free.
Caption levels
Captioned videos available across a range of subject areas – a couple of hundred titles, searchable by subject.
Searching & turning on captions
Choose your subject, then category within the subject. In the Filter Results column, select Accessibility Features. The number of videos with captions and audio description is shown. Select this to filter results to captioned videos. When playing the video, toggle the CC option in the top, right-hand corner to On.
PBS LearningMedia
Description
Provides digital learning activities and videos across a wide range of subjects for pre-kindergarten through to high school.
Caption levels
Many videos provide closed captions. Search feature can show variable results, depending on subject or topic search.
Searching & turning on captions
Search by grade level and/or subject, then select ‘Accessibility Features’ and choose ‘Adaptation Types’ and then select ‘Caption'. You will need to register to use this site but registration is free.
YouTube EDU
Description
This YouTube channel is dedicated to education.
Caption levels
Dependent on the video owner, a number of videos will have captions. Some other YouTube channels with some captioned educational videos include:
Searching & turning on captions
How to find and turn on captions on YouTube videos. Captioning your own video: How to caption a YouTube video.
Scootle
Description
Education Services Australia has developed a purpose designed search tool which enables teachers to find digital resources aligned to the Australian Curriculum. Scootle is available to all teachers via jurisdiction login or by individual registration. Scootle Community is a national professional learning network for all Australian educators.
Caption levels
A few hundred short clips are captioned.
Searching & turning on captions
Scootle offers a search engine that has some function to search for captioned content.
TED-Ed
Description
Use videos to create customized lessons. You can adapt and edit any lesson featured on TED-Ed, or create lessons from scratch around any YouTube video.
Caption levels
Some captioned content available and its variable depending on subject or topic.
Searching & turning on captions
TED-Ed adds transcripts for all videos with closed captions. To view caption options, click the white button labeled "CC" that appears at the bottom of a video when you press play. This allows you to toggle between captions for any available languages. Captioned educational content can be found via TED-Ed's Amara videos.
The Open Translation Project is a global effort to caption TED Talks, with non-English translations completed by volunteers. If you would like to help with this effort by becoming a TED translator, visit the Open Translation Project website.
ABC iView
Description
Catch up TV from programs on ABC 1 and some ABC 2.
Caption levels
Closed captions are currently made available on ABC TV programs transmitted on ABC and ABC2 during primetime (6pm-12pm), on all News and News/Current Affairs programs, and selected children’s programs. Available on some programs, generally not children's programs. Behind the News (BTN) is captioned.
Searching & turning on captions
Closed captions are currently made available on ABC TV programs transmitted on ABC and ABC2 during primetime (6pm-12pm), on all News and News/Current Affairs programs, and selected children’s programs. Captioning for a program will appear up to two hours after the program is available via iView. Where captioning is available for a program it will state ‘Captions Available’ on the program preview screen. Begin the video and select 'CC' in the player's bottom right-hand corner.
Subscription-based education videos with captions
Discovery Kids on FOXTEL
Description
A TV channel screening on the FOXTEL platform. Key Learning Areas of the Primary School Curriculum catered for such as Science and Technology; Personal Development, Health and Physical Education; Creative Arts and Human Society and Its Environment. Topics and areas of focus include Australian flora and fauna, Lifecycles, Space and solar systems, Human body, Earth and its environment, Power and energy sources, Asian studies, Australian History and an Aboriginal perspective.
Caption levels
100% captioned content.
Searching & turning on captions
Turn on Closed Captions (MyStar remote). Press the yellow button to turn closed captions on or off. Closed Captions will appear on all programs with Closed Captions. When you change channel, the Closed Caption option will be reset to off.
NBC Learn
Description
Online selection of NBC news clips and stories covering historical events, science, English and current affairs.
Caption levels
Good range of free content, all of which are captioned. Some videos are not available to view in Australia.
Searching & turning on captions
Click on the 'CC' button on the bottom right of the player.
Zane Education
Description
Education resources including videos, quizzes and lesson plans covering 11 subject areas.
Caption levels
All resources are captioned.
Searching & turning on captions
Captions are in-built into all videos and do not require turning on.
ClickView
Description
Online library of education videos for schools. ClickView 24/7 allows schools to record TV programs.
Caption levels
Many videos are captioned. On ClickView 24/7, if a TV program is captioned, the captions will also be recorded.
Searching & turning on captions
To enable closed captions, hover over the video to show the video player controls and click on the ‘CC’ icon.
Skwirk
Description
Animated education activities for all years and subjects, catering to Australian syllabuses.
Caption levels
Available on some animations, not videos. Captions most commonly used for science and humanities across Stages 3-5.
Searching & turning on captions
Captions do not require turning on as they are part of the animations.
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