Closed captions

Education Terms

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Choosing captioned options is an essential first step

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In many subjects, students (and teachers) have a choice about which texts or resources to study. For students who use captions, it makes sense to choose texts or resources that have captioned film versions available.

Finger pointing to the text "English Captions: Yes [Descriptive subtitles for the hearing impaired]" on the back of a DVD box

Taxonomy:

General

Learning support

Student

Disability

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Using captions to teach skills and concepts

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Access and opportunity combine with the use of captioned video in the classroom to provide necessary context, as well enduring information, after the initial learning experience passes.

Considering that captions are really just words used in a particular way to provide access and meaning, it challenges us as educators to ponder how we can use the opportunity these words provide. The written word has been used to teach concepts for thousands of years, so let’s look at words in the context of access. The use of captioned video ‘turns a light on’ to expose the hidden treasure – information – which lies within the video. Further learning for all students can be facilitated by releasing that knowledge in a variety of forms.

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Study will review disabled consumer experiences with video on demand

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Curtin University academic Katie Ellis will investigate disabled consumer experiences of subscription video-on-demand (VOD) services in Australia in her project ‘Accessing Video on Demand: A study of disability and streaming television’.

Left hand pointing a remote control at a Smart TV

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Captioned Discovery Kids helps primary children learn

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Discovery Kids is Australia’s only dedicated educational channel for primary-school aged children (5-12) and a sponsor of Media Access Australia's national CAP THAT! campaign. From its launch on Foxtel in 2014, 100% of the content on Discovery Kids has been captioned.

Robert Irwin speaking with the caption "No? Well, that's where closed captioning comes in"

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Captioning helps ASD students

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One of the identified audiences for Media Access Australia’s CAP THAT! campaign is students with diverse learning needs. This includes students who have an Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD), which represents about 0.5% of Australians according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics SDAC Survey¹.

Ai-Media live captioner

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Captions aid literacy in the classroom

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Worldwide studies have identified that captions can play a vital role in improving literacy levels of students. Improving reading skills is one of the main objectives for Media Access Australia’s CAP THAT! campaign, which targets all schools and all classrooms across Australia with the simple message: turn the captions on when playing television or video content in the classroom.

High school aged girl writing on paper in classroom with other students

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Media Access Australia launches report on the accessibility of video-on-demand services

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Media Access Australia's latest report on the state of play for accessibility on video-on-demand (VOD) services recommends that captioning be introduced on all catch-up TV services by the end of 2015, and all VOD services by the end of 2016.

Access on demand: captioning and audio description on video on demand services cover

Media Access Australia has today launched Access on Demand, a comprehensive report on the accessibility of VOD services in Australia and other countries.

Taxonomy:

TV & video

Review of access to electronic media

Blind or vision impaired

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Crowdfunding platform Kickstarter adds closed caption support for videos

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Kickstarter, one of the world’s most popular crowdfunding platforms, has announced a new accessibility feature enabling entrepreneurs to add closed captions and subtitles for videos uploaded to its website.

Woman speaking with the caption "Now, with the ability to add subtitles and captions". Image credit: Kickstarter blog

Taxonomy:

Web

Practical web accessibility

Disability

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines

Digital media and technology:

WCAG

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Buying DVDs overseas and how access features may be affected

Although it is possible to buy DVDs overseas and watch them on DVD players in Australia, you should be aware that the region coding system for DVDs may affect the playback of captions on DVD players locally. Audio description should not be affected.

Taxonomy:

TV & video

Video

DVD terms

Blind or vision impaired

Other