How do I use UDOIT to identify issues with video and audio captions?
UDOIT can be used to scan for video and audio files in My Media (Kaltura) or YouTube that have been embedded in Canvas courses and:
- Do not have captions/transcripts.
- May need captions to be reviewed for accuracy and potentially edited.
- Have a captions file in a language that is different from the course default language.
UDOIT may also indicate that you will need to verify the quality of captions in other media tools, such as Panopto Video and Canvas Studio.
Note: UDOIT scans do not include files published in Media Gallery that have not been embedded elsewhere in a course.
Note: When a course is scanned by UDOIT, a file named udoit.json is added automatically to the course's Files tool. UDOIT uses this file to track when accessibility fixes have been applied to content copied across course sites, and it is unpublished by default so it will not display to students. For additional information, see the Cidi Labs help article about the udoit.json file (opens new window).
Go to UDOIT Accessibility Report.
Select UDOIT Accessibility Report from the Course Navigation Menu.
Select the UFIXIT tab.
Select the UFIXIT tab near the top of the page.
Scan your content. (Optional)
The first time UDOIT is selected from the Course Navigation Menu, it will automatically scan course content. After 24 hours, UDOIT will scan new (previously unscanned) content when accessed again from within the course. You can view when the course content was last scanned and manually start a scan for added or edited content if desired by:
- Reviewing the last scanned date.
- Selecting Scan Now.
Filter issues.
Select the Filter button to open the collapsible Filters menu.
Filter by Video Connection and Captions.
- Scroll down on the Filters menu.
- From the Issue Types drop-down menu, select Video Connection.
- Select the Issue Types drop-down menu again, then Video Captions.
Review the filtered issues.
A table will display with the following columns:
- Status: Icons indicating suggestions or errors as follows:
- A red exclamation point in a circle - An error that needs to be resolved.
- A blue italicized "i" - A suggestion that needs review.
- Type: The content type where the issue was found, for example, a Page or Module.
- Issue: A brief summary of the potential accessibility issue.
- Review: Button to open the UFIXIT interface for the corresponding issue.
- Select Review for the desired issue.
Remediate issues.
The UFIXIT window may display the following errors:
- Video captions appear to be automatically generated and may contain errors
- Video captions are missing
- Captions are in a language different from the course default
- Caption status could not be verified for this video
- Linked or embedded external content may not meet accessibility standards
Caption errors cannot be fixed directly within UDOIT and will need to be edited in the media tool used to embed the file.
Note: UDOIT scans Kaltura content embedded via the Rich Content Editor or as an External URL in Modules. This does not include content published in Media Gallery that has not been embedded elsewhere in the course.
Video captions appear to be automatically generated and may contain errors.
- Captions can be reviewed and edited for accuracy in Kaltura by following the steps in How do I edit captions in My Media? (opens new window).
- If you are using a YouTube video that has inaccurate captions and you cannot edit it, you can add the YouTube video to Kaltura as described in How do I add a YouTube video to My Media or Media Gallery? (opens new window) and following the steps to edit the captions once they have been created (opens new window).
Note: If a media file uploaded or recorded in Kaltura only includes audio that cannot be automatically captioned, for example, music, sound effects, or speech in a language that is not listed on the Kaltura ASR captioning services overview page (opens new window), an empty English auto-captions file will be generated. You will need to edit this file to create the captions and add timestamps. If the file only includes instrumental music or sound effects, include a description of the audio, for example, "[Smooth jazz music]." For steps to edit an empty captions file, see How do I add captions to an empty captions file in My Media? (opens new window).
Video captions are missing.
- Captions for a video or audio file embedded in a course can be requested through Kaltura by following the steps in How do I request to add captions to a file in My Media? (opens new window).
- If you are using a YouTube video that does not have captions and you cannot edit it, you can add the YouTube video to Kaltura as described in How do I add a YouTube video to My Media or Media Gallery? (opens new window).
- Once the captions have been added, follow the steps to edit the captions (opens new window).
Note: If a YouTube file only includes audio that cannot be automatically captioned in English, for example, music, sound effects, or speech in a language other than English, no auto-captions file can be generated for it.
Captions are in a language different from the course default.
If your video has multiple captions files in different languages, you can hide an incorrect captions file or change which captions file displays by default by following the steps in How do I edit captions in My Media? (opens new window).
Important: If your media file has speech in a language supported by Kaltura ASR (opens new window) and the captions file was generated in the incorrect language, please contact the Learning Technology Services (LTS) team at [email protected] to report the issue. Please include the name of the affected media file in your email.
Note: If you are teaching a foreign language course that has media captions in a different language than the course default, you can manually mark the issue as resolved in UDOIT.
Errors for unsupported media tools
UDOIT cannot scan for captions in media files that have been added to Panopto Video or Canvas Studio. One or both of the following error messages may display for media included in these tools:
- Caption status could not be verified for this video
- Linked or embedded external content may not meet accessibility standards.
To address these issues, review the articles below for steps to request and/or edit captions in the appropriate tool.
- Panopto:
- Request and/or edit automatic captions: All videos recorded or uploaded in Panopto have automatic captions added in English. You may reprocess automatic Panopto captions in a different language (opens new window) or edit or delete captions in Panopto (opens new window).
- Request professional captions: Instructors may email the Captioning Team ([email protected]) to ask for permission to submit professional captioning requests for videos used in courses.
- Studio:
- Edit automatic captions: All videos recorded or uploaded in Studio have automatic captions added. Studio should automatically detect which language to use for captions based on the first words spoken in each video. You can find additional details about editing automatic captions in How do I use the Caption Editor to edit a caption file? (opens new window).
- Request captions in a different language or professional captions: You may request automatic captions in a language other than the automatically detected language and instructors may request professional captions for videos used in courses by following the steps in How do I add auto-generated captions to my media file in Canvas Studio? (opens new window).
Scan Video for Caption Updates.
After editing the captions on a Kaltura video for accuracy, select the Scan Video For Caption Updates button in the UFIXIT window to rescan the video. Depending on whether captions have been updated, you will receive one of the following messages:
- Rescan complete. The issue no longer exists. Marking as fixed. - No captions errors were detected.
- Rescan complete. The issue still exists. - The captions might not be accurate enough.
Tip: If you have updated multiple videos in a course, you can rescan them in bulk with the Full Rescan option.
Resolve issues in UDOIT.
If you have verified that a captions file is 100% accurate, but UDOIT is still showing an error for the file, you can manually resolve the issue so the file will not appear in future UDOIT scans.
Note: Media embedded as an External Tool in Modules cannot be manually marked as resolved within UDOIT.
To manually resolve a captions error in the UFIXIT window:
- Select Manual Resolution.
- Select the confirmation checkbox to indicate you fixed the issue.