Ensure Media Content is Accessible
Standard 8 of the Quality Matters rubric focuses on accessibility and usability, and the essential standard 8.5 describes the importance of accessible video and audio content in a course. By meeting this essential (3-point) standard, instructors are on their way to developing a robust learning experience for their students.
Essential Standard 8.5 – Video and audio content in the course is accessible. Multimedia content, such as video and audio, must be accessible to all learners regardless of ability. The standard is met if you provide equivalent textual representations of multimedia content in the course. For example, videos in your course must have accurate captions that match what is said in the videos, as well as provide notations of atmospherics and music that contribute to the understanding of the video. For assistance with video captioning, FSU provides faculty access to the Kaltura streaming media platform. When videos are uploaded to Kaltura, the video will be processed and captions will be created using speech-to-text technologies. Even with automatic captioning, some manual edits may be necessary (eg, corrections to capitalization or punctuation).
Tips to help you meet the standard:
- Caption video and animations, or ensure text transcripts are available.
- Include correct captioning in your course introduction video.
- Import YouTube videos lacking accurate captions into Kaltura for automatic captioning.
- Inspect and correct the reading order of objects within presentation files such as PowerPoint.
General Standard 8.0 – Accessibility and Usability
The course design reflects a commitment to accessibility and usability for all learners. FSU is committed to creating an environment where all students can learn. To ensure learning is accessible for all students, course materials are offered using the principles of accessibility and universal design. Students can vary in their learning preferences, physical abilities, communication skills, socioeconomic status, or access to technology. A commitment to accessible design benefits a broader student population. In making their courses accessible, instructors are not only complying with federal requirements, but they are also meeting the educational needs of all learners.
Essential Standards
8.1: Course navigation facilitates ease of use.
8.2: The course design facilitates readability.
8.3: Text in the course is accessible.
8.4: Images in the course are accessible.*
8.5: Video and audio content in the course is accessible.*
General and essential standards are taken from the Quality Matters Higher Education Rubric, Seventh Edition.
*In the QM rubric, Standards 8.4 and 8.5 are considered very important (2-point) standards. FSU recognizes the importance of ensuring multimedia content is accessible to all learners, so Standards 8.4 and 8.5 are required elements for the FSU Online Quality Initiative.
If you’re interested in learning more about online course quality, visit the FSU Online Quality Initiative page.
