Accessibility Solutions Captioning Grant
Overview
Providing captions for video content is an essential part of accessibility. The university is legally required to provide captions for all videos posted on public-facing websites and social media and in courses* where there is an accommodation for a student with a disability. However, it has been proven that providing captions is beneficial and useful for a high percentage of students. We acknowledge that in instances where captioning is not required and funded through the accessibility account, the investment of time and financial resources can create a barrier for instructors and deter them from making their courses more accessible. This grant fund will allow faculty and staff to apply for assistance with captioning videos that do not qualify for required captioning* and fall into the following categories:
- Videos that are available to the public on a UM-affiliated webpage/website
- Videos that will be used over multiple semesters in a course
- Videos developed by several faculty members to be used in multiple classes
*Per UM policy, captioning is required in courses where there is a student registered with UM Students with Disabilities Services who has a captioning accommodation, and in courses that are taught fully online through UM Online. Captioning costs in these instances are paid through an accessibility/accommodations fund. Please contact accessibility@olemiss.edu if you believe that your course qualifies for captioning under these parameters.
Grant Criteria
In your grant application, please make sure that you address the following criteria:
- Are the videos on a UM public-facing website, social media account, or used in a face-to-face course?
- What is the purpose of the videos?
- When were the videos created?
- How often are the videos used or accessed?
- Have you received requests for captioning?
- Avenues of funding that you have already pursued for captioning.
Note: If your school or department has funding available to caption the videos, please contact us for information about discounted captioning services.
Frequently Asked Questions
What types of content does this grant cover?
The grant provides funds to caption videos used as part of face-to-face, hybrid, or remote (courses that were moved online due to COVID-19) UM courses, whether the videos are shown in class or posted on Blackboard or other learning management systems, and videos that are posted on UM-affiliated websites (olemiss.edu affiliated websites and pages) or UM social media accounts. You may apply for funding to caption as many videos as you wish, however not all videos submitted will be captioned.
What accessibility features does this fund cover?
The purpose of this grant is to caption pre-recorded videos used on UM websites and webpages (olemiss.edu-affilated websites) or as part of face-to-face, hybrid, or remote classes, whether shown in class or posted on Blackboard. If you would like to caption a live video or add audio descriptions to a video, please reach out to accessibility@olemiss.edu for details and pricing.
Does this mean that the University will fund all of my captioning needs?
No. Regrettably, this fund is not sufficient to caption all videos on campus. This grant will prioritize highly-visible and highly-impactful videos that do not have another source of funding for captioning.
Creating accessible course content is still the responsibility of the faculty member and their department. Faculty are encouraged to find or create videos that are captioned, and we provide instructions for doing so with one of our UM Accessibility Course modules. However, this grant acknowledges that finding accessible video content may be difficult for some subjects, and that faculty may not have the resources to create an accessible video about a particular subject.
What criteria are used to determine who will receive funds for captioning?
- How many people/students will have access to the content?
- Is the video on a high-traffic website?
- How integral is the video to completing a particular course of study?
- For how many semesters will this content be used?
- What volume of captioning is being requested?
How long will captioning of my videos take? When can I expect to have captioned versions available?
Delivery time for captioned videos will be dependent on the length of video(s) and amount of videos accepted for captioning. Accessibility Solutions will be in contact with everyone whose videos are accepted for captioning with an estimated turnaround timeline. It is advised that you do not plan to submit any videos for the captioning grant that have a firm deadline for return.