When creating video content for your course, accessibility should remain a central consideration. Accurate captioning and appropriate audio description not only promote equitable access to course materials, but will also be required for compliance with the University’s updated digital accessibility policy beginning in April 2026. Proactively addressing caption quality now will help guarantee that your content remains accessible and meets policy guidelines.
It is essential to order or edit captions for any video you require students to watch in your course. If you are linking to videos you do not own, take the time to carefully review the existing captions for accuracy, completeness, and timing. Auto-generated captions are often a starting point, not a finished product. If the captions are inaccurate and you are unable to contact the owner to correct them, the video should not be used in your course. Providing content that is inaccessible to some students creates unnecessary barriers to learning and may place the institution out of compliance with accessibility standards.
Bringing your course into compliance does not necessarily mean creating entirely new video content. In many cases, it simply requires reviewing and improving what already exists. That said, this process can be a valuable opportunity to take a closer look at your instructional materials. You may discover outdated examples, unclear explanations, or content that no longer aligns with your course objectives. Caption review often doubles as content review, helping you refine your messaging and improve overall quality.
It can also prompt thoughtful decisions about which materials truly support student learning. If a video is difficult to caption, impossible to edit, or marginally relevant, it may be worth replacing it with a clearer, more current, and more accessible alternative.
Ultimately, accurate captioning is not just about meeting legal or institutional requirements—it is about equity. When captions are complete, accurate, and well-timed, all students have equal access to the same information at the same time. Investing effort into accessible video content strengthens your course design and demonstrates a commitment to inclusive teaching practices that benefit every learner.
Editing Auto-Generated Captions in Kaltura
While professional paid-for captioning services are available, outsourcing captions for every video in every course can become cost-prohibitive. Fortunately, Kaltura provides automatically generated captions for uploaded videos. These AI-generated captions serve as a useful starting point; however, in their unedited form, they are not sufficiently accurate for students to rely on. This guide outlines how to edit auto-generated captions in Kaltura, best practices to follow when captioning your videos and how to order professional captions when needed.
Watch the video embedded below for a step by step guide on how to manually edit your captions in Kaltura, or use the written instruction for editing captions in Kaltura.
Best Practices for Editing
Editing captions yourself can take some getting used to. The process may be slow at first as you learn the ins and outs of the caption editor and what the AI generated captions often get wrong. Below are some best practices that will help guarantee your captions are accurate and useful for your students.
- Start with good audio. The better quality the audio and more clear the speaker’s voice, the better that AI-generated captions will be.
- Play the video and edit captions in real time. It’s easy to read captions and gloss over mistakes. Hearing what is being said while following along with the generated captions can help reinforce what the AI-generated captions got wrong.
- Double-check spelling and capitalization of names, technical vocabulary, formulas, and acronyms closely, this is often what AI gets wrong.
- Make sure your captions are well-timed and on screen long enough for your students to read. Starting with the timing of the AI-generated captions is a big time-saver, but you may need to adjust timing and placement of captions from there.
- Use the search button on the top left to search and manually correct commonly misidentified words or use the Find and Replace function to correct recurring errors efficiently by clicking Replace next to the search field.
- Save your progress frequently to prevent data loss.
- Chunking your content into shorter videos will save you captioning time in the long run and makes it less likely you’ll lose progress like you could when editing a longer video.
- If you have multiple speakers, identify in the captions who is talking and when. If you do not know the speakers names, choose an identifier for them and stick with it the entire video.
- Be sure to identify meaningful sounds or music in the video. If the source of the sound is not visible on screen, make that clear in the caption.
Without this cue, viewers may not understand why an interview subject suddenly looks up or loses their train of thought. Although the plane is not visible, those who can hear the audio would recognize the interruption. Viewers who rely solely on captions, however, would have no way of knowing that an off-screen sound affected the moment unless it is clearly indicated.
- Once done, save and review your video with the captions on and audio off. Can you rely on just the captions to convey everything the audio is saying? Now listen again with captions and audio on, is anything missing or poorly timed?
Finalizing Edited Captions
Once you’ve completed editing your captions in Kaltura, it’s important to save your changes and indicate that the caption file has been edited. This reflects to you and those interacting with your video that the captions have been edited for accuracy.- Click Save to finalize your changes.
- Click Edit Details in the top-right corner.
- Update the caption accuracy indicator to reflect 100% accuracy.
- Remove the “auto-generated” label.
Ordering Professional (Human-Edited) Captions
If time constraints prevent you from editing captions yourself, you are still responsible for ensuring caption accuracy. Kaltura integrates with 3Play Media, allowing you to order professional, human-edited captions for a fee. Pricing and turnaround time vary depending on video length and caption language.
Initial Setup
Before placing your first order, complete the Kaltura Professional Captioning Billing Information Form to establish billing authorization. You will need to know your EFS EFS Chartfield String.
Requesting Professional Captions
To learn how to order professional captions for Kaltura videos you own, watch the video below or read the guide on how to request additional captioning services.
You will receive an email notification when the captions are complete and published to your video. That email means your captions are turned on in your video automatically and no further action is needed.
For further guidance on accessible media practices, consider reviewing the Media Accessibility session from the 2025 ODA Summit.
Planning Ahead for the April 2026 Deadline
If you have a significant number of videos requiring captioning before the April 2026 compliance deadline, contact your college as soon as possible to inquire about available funding or additional support.
Additional Considerations
Although this guide focuses on Kaltura, caption accuracy is equally important for videos hosted on any platform, such as Youtube. While YouTube’s interface changes periodically, updated tutorials are readily available online to guide you through editing captions on that platform.
By prioritizing caption accuracy—whether through careful editing or the use of professional services—you help ensure that your course content remains accessible, inclusive, and aligned with institutional policy.
All videos produced through ATSS’s Academic Video Services are professionally captioned at no cost to the instructor. If you are planning to create new video content or update existing materials, this is an efficient option that can save both time and money while ensuring high-quality, compliant captions from the start.
Authors/Contributors
- Melissa Olson, Media Producer, Academic Technology Support Services
We want to hear from you! To share your successes and challenges towards making your course site digitally accessible, please email atss@umn.edu.
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