Why it Matters
While captions and transcripts are often associated with supporting students with hearing impairments, their benefits extend to a wider audience. A nationwide study by Oregon State University found that 98.6% of students reported captions as helpful, with 75% using them as a learning aid primarily to improve focus. In fact, up to 80% of caption users are not deaf or hard of hearing.
Providing captions and transcripts can:
- Support different learning styles and preferences
- Enable content access in extremely loud or quiet environments
- Help non-native speakers understand video information
- Improve comprehension of specialized vocabulary and different dialects
- Enhance focus and information retention for all students
Quickly Generate Captions and Transcripts for Videos
*For instructors who do not have Descript account, contact us at SPH-AT@tamu.edu, send us your videos to generate captions.
Descript is a powerful tool that automatically transcribes your video’s audio and allows you to add captions effortlessly. With its AI-powered features, you can edit text like a document to refine transcripts.
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Install Descript: Download and install Descript for Mac or Windows from Descript.com. Sign in or create an account.
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Create a New Project: Open Descript and click + New → Video Project.
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Transcribe the Audio: Drag and drop your video file into the project. Descript will automatically transcribe the audio.
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Edit the Transcript: Review the transcript, highlight text and click Correct to correct any errors in the auto-generated transcript.
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Export Captions/Transcript: Click Export (top right), select Subtitles → Choose SRT format, or select Transcript to download a transcript.
For detailed steps and advanced settings, check out the Get Started tutorial from Descript.
For step by step tutorial and screenshots, check out this full tutorial curated by SPH Academic Technology team.
Follow these steps to create captions and transcripts for your video in Adobe Premiere Pro:
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Install Adobe Premiere Pro: Visit Adobe's website, access the Apps section, and install Premiere Pro.
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Create a New Project & Add Your Video: Open Premiere Pro, start a new project, and import your video file.
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Transcribe Video Audio: Go to Window (top nav bar) to open Text panel, click "Transcribe," and let Premiere analyze the audio to generate a transcript.
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Create Captions from Transcript: Go to Window (top nav bar) > Workspace> Captions and Graphics, select "Create Captions from Transcript (CEA-708 Default)," adjust the style and ensure accuracy of captions as needed.
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Export SRT File: Once you're satisfied with your captions, export them as an SRT file for us in your video or as a standalone subtitle file.
If you are already using FeedbackFruits, it allows you to add captions to interactive videos with just one click :
Auto-Generating Subtitles (BETA):
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After uploading your video, navigate to the “Subtitles” section at the bottom of the activity and click Configure.
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In “Auto-Generate Subtitles” and select the spoken language.
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Once generated, review the subtitles and edit any inaccuracies before saving.
If you have videos or uploading videos into Mediasite, there is a built-in captioning service that you could use. It is machine-generated and it requires the attention from a human to review the accuracy and hallucitations. Overall, it is straight forward process. Consult the tutorials from CTE.
There is also a way to autocaption in Zoom for cloud recordings. This does not work for videos already recorded in Zoom. This option also requires a human to review the accuracy of closed captions.
Consult the tutorials from the Zoom website: Zoom audio transcription for cloud recordings.
Upload & Embed Closed Captions (CC) for Existing Video
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Navigate to Your Video: In your Canvas course, locate the video you wish to caption.
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Access the Video Settings:
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Click on the video to open it.
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Hover over the video player controls and click on the [CC] (Closed Captions) icon.
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In the menu that appears, select Upload subtitles or Add CC/Subtitles.
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Select the language of your captions.
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Click "Choose Caption File" and select your subtitle file from your computer.
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Click "Upload" to add the captions to your video.
Adding captions can be done from either My Mediasite or the management portal will follow the same process regardless of the system.
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Select the video you would like to add captions to.
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Click Edit.
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Navigate to the Delivery Tab.
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Enable Audio Transcriptions.
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Upload your subtitle file from your computer.
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Click Save to submit the audio track for captioning.
For detailed steps, check out the full tutorial from Mediasite.
FeedbackFruits allows you to add captions to interactive videos in two ways:
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Uploading Captions Manually:
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After uploading your video, navigate to the “Subtitles” section at the bottom of the activity and click Configure to upload the file (.srt or .vtt format).
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Set the language to English
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Auto-Generating Subtitles (BETA):
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After uploading your video, navigate to the “Subtitles” section at the bottom of the activity and click Configure.
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In “Auto-Generate Subtitles” and select the spoken language.
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Once generated, review the subtitles and edit any inaccuracies before saving.
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