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Accessible Video

Learn about video captioning resources at Mt. SAC

Accessible Video at Mt. SAC

By law, videos require accurate captions.  The Mt. SAC administrative procedure AP 5142: Students with Disabilities - Accessibility of Multimedia Instructional Material: Captioning translates the federal and state requirement for captions for all training and informational video and multimedia productions that contain speech or other audio information.


Captioning Services at Mt. SAC

Videos shared with students, employees, and the public must be captioned to meet accessibility regulations. Mt. SAC and 3C Media offer free captioning services s for all employees of the college, including professors, managers, and classified staff. Mt. SAC also offers video and captioning tools to aid you in creating accessible videos. Several instructional tools offer automated captioning features for employee videos and student-created videos. ACCESS also provides additional services for students. 

  • Mt. SAC Captioning for All Video Types

    Mt. SAC offers a free video captioning service to all employees. This service can be used for any videos used in instruction or for the purposes of the college, whether for internal use or for sharing with the public. Fill out the form below to request captioning. 

     Mt. SAC Closed Caption Request Form

    Mt. SAC captioning offers the following services:

    • captioning videos created by professors 
    • captioning videos created by someone other than professor for use in instruction
    • correcting badly captioned videos (e.g. for use in instruction
    • videos created by employees to share with the public
    • videos created by employees for work purposes

    Some projects are completed in-house, while most go to our vendor, 3Play Media. You can visit the 3Play Media to learn more about the services they offer, but know that our in-house team may expand upon these capabilities. You can always fill out the form to ask any questions about services that are offered.

    Turnaround times: Most requests can be completed within7-10 business days from the request.

    Please request captions leaving as much time as you can to ensure you have your video ready when you need it. Long or complex jobs may require additional time. 

    More About Mt. SAC Captioning

    Mt. SAC Captioning is managed by Broadcast Services Department in the Technical Services unit. You can use the Captioning form above to direct inquiries about captioning to this unit. 

    Learn more about 3 Play Media, our captioning vendor. 

  • Video Captioning for Original Instructor Videos with 3C Media!

    3C Media Solutions  is a free video storage service for all California Community College employees. This service also offers free video captioning, but only for videos created by instructors for use within a specific course. 

    3C Media Solutions

    3C Media offers the following services:

    • captioning for instructor-created videos uploaded directly into 3C Media
    • long-term storage of video libraries
    • streaming of embedded videos in Canvas where 3C Media is integrated
    • videos stored in 3C Media can be added directly into the instructional tool, PlayPosit to create interactive videos
    • streaming of embedded videos on web pages outside of Canvas
    • sharing URL links
    • saving youtube videos to make them easy to find and share from 3C Media (but no captioning for youtube videos even if you own them)

    3C Media is a versatile tool for video storage and sharing. However, it includes no video editing capabilities and captioning options are limited to those created by professors. 

    Turnaround times: for automated captions is 1 day. Captions edited by a human take approximately 5 business days from the request. 

    This service is paid by the Distance Education Captioning and Transcription (DECT) grant so long as funding remains. This is desirable for videos that meet the criteria to save Mt. SAC's funding for use in captioning all video types. 

    More About Using 3C Media 

Captioning FAQ

    • 1Which captioning option should I choose? 

      Which Captioning Service Option should I choose? 

      If you are a professor, you created the video yourself, and you can upload that video to 3C Media, then you can consider using 3C Media. The form will require you to provide information about the course in which it will be used. It is desirable to use 3C Media for videos that fit this scenario. This is because the money comes from a grant at the statewide level, maintaining our local money for videos that do not fit this scenario.

      For all other scenarios: videos by anyone other than a professor for any other purpose than instruction, there is only one option. 

    • 2What if my video is in a language other than English? 

      What if my video is in a language other than English?

      Our vendor, 3 Play Media, captions videos in many languages. According to 3 Play Media's FAQ page, they provide captioning and transcription in 25 source languages, including English, Spanish, French, German, Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Portuguese, Dutch, Italian, Russian, Turkish, Persian, Hindi, Hebrew, Thai, Indonesian, Czech, Bosnian, Croatian, Latvian, Polish, Romanian, Slovenian, and Swedish. Videos are captioned in the first language of the video. 

      Please inquire through the Mt. SAC Captioning form if a video includes multiple languages. 

    • 3How do I find a video that may already be captioned?

      How do I find a video that may already be captioned?

       If you are using a video or an excerpt from a feature movie, a popular documentary, or other content from television, film, a publisher, or from an education collection, this content is required to be captioned by law. It likely already exists in a captioned format.

      Please review our local library databases or ask for assistance to search already captioned content. If the copy is not in our library collection, submit an information request by filling out the Mt. SAC Captioning form. They may be able to help you identify an existing captioned copy of the video you wish to use. 

    • 4How do I start using 3C Media?

      How do I get started using 3C Media?

      Accounts are free, but professors must register for your 3C Media account using the same Mt. SAC email address that appears as the primary email address in your Canvas LMS account. You can also sign up for 3C Media by accessing it within Canvas. It can be found under the "plug" icon in the Rich Content Editor.

      3C Media will only sync with Canvas if you use the exact same email address to set up 3C Media as the one that is listed in your Canvas account. 

    • 5What information is required for 3C Media caption requests?

      What information is required for 3C Media caption requests

      When making your request, you need to provide:  

      • your name
      • the title of the video
      • the length of the video
      • the course where you will use it

      Here is a view of the caption request form in 3C Media. 

      The 3C Media captioning form asks for title, video lenght, author, CRN, term , notes and caption type
    • 6 Can I use 3C Media in Canvas?

      Using 3C Media in Canvas

      3C Media is directly integrated into Canvas. You can find it in any course by looking under Settings > Navigation in the hidden menu items. Drag to top or click enable to turn 3C Media on in your course(s). This allows you to access your library of videos stored in 3C Media from directly within your course!

      It is also visible under the "plug" icon in the Rich Content Editor.

      3C Media can also be accessed outside of Canvas from the 3C Media website. 

    • 7Why is 3C Media captioning limited? 

      Why is 3C Media captioning limited?

      Free captions with 3C Media are provided through a Distance Education (DECT) block grant provided by the Community College system. Even though the grant is for distance education, the account manager has clarified that they are for any digital video used in any class type, so you can request captions for any video you plan to share in a digital format for instructional purposes.  You will be provided with this information when you request captions within 3C Media. 

    • 8How do I use 3C Media with PlayPosit? 

      How do I use 3C Media with PlayPosit

      PlayPosit is an instructional tool in Canvas that allows videos to be converted into interactive activities for students. Questions, prompts, annotations, reflections and analytics on video viewing are all available, as well as a way for students to view interactive transcripts and take notes on video content. 


How to Caption your Own Videos

At Mt. SAC, all employees have access to use ScreenPal or Microsoft Stream to create video content. ScreenPal also offers video editing and automated captioning features. Employees can also use Zoom to record and auto-caption videos by recording a meeting with only themselves present sharing camera and screen during a recording. Professors also have access to Canvas Studio, which offers auto-captioning for videos that are recorded within the tool.

Canvas Studio, Flip, GoReact, and Pronto are all video tools that can be used for student assignments and that offer automated captioning on student videos. Find more information about these tools in the Canvas Faculty Center Tools & Apps page

More questions about DIY Captions?

Looking for fully-captioned videos at Mt. SAC?

The Mt. SAC Library feature several video databases that contain accessible, fully captioned videos. The two largest video databases in the Mt. SAC collection are Films on Demand and Kanopy.  Because the content is already licensed through our library, you can use it for employee-related training or in classes. You can embed video directly within Canvas. Students can also find it in our digital library collections.

  • Films on Demand is integrated into the Canvas LMS so you can easily add those videos to your courses without additional sign-in. You can find Films on Demand under the "plug" icon in the Rich Content Editor.
  • Kanopy and other videos can be embedded directly into courses. If you need assistance with finding videos, contact your Mt. SAC librarians. The Faculty Center for Learning Technology (FCLT) can also show you how to search and add videos into Canvas courses.   

Mt. SAC Libguides: Films and Streaming Videos