Videos uploaded to Kaltura in Moodle and Canvas now have auto-captions.
The new auto-captioning feature uses the Cielo24 Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) service. This means that now when a viewer clicks the "cc" icon in the Kaltura player window while in Moodle or Canvas, they will be able to see closed captioning on any video uploaded after February 1, 2018.
This feature is in place for any instructor, staff, or student that uploads to Kaltura, and there are no settings for them to change to enable the captioning process.
While ASR captions are a step forward, it is important to know that they only offer around 80% accuracy.
Accurate captioning (of at least a 99% accuracy rate) is the only way to ensure that people who are Deaf and hard of hearing can understand audio content. In fact, most accessibility advocates would argue that automatic generated captions are actually detrimental to accessibility.
However, auto-captions can be very useful as a starting point for providing captions. Learn how to Review and Edit Captions from Cielo24.
The Multimedia Hub is available to assist the UMD community in providing videos inclusive to all. The Hub is happy to work with you to make accessible videos.
As stated in UMD's Captioning of Video Policy, funding is available specifically for credit courses with an enrolled student who has a disability (documented with Disability Resources) which would be accommodated by captioning.