Introduction #
Audio and visual files can add interest to a course, and can meet the learning needs of a diversity of students. However, they can also present a barrier to learning for people with hearing or vision impairment if they are not fully accessible.
Ensuring that multimedia resources are uploaded to the Kaltura platform, which provides tools for captioning and transcripts, and allows seamless embedding into your Canvas course, will enable you to more easily prepare captions
UDoIT Issues #
The UDoIT Advantage accessibility checker in Canvas will detect issues associated with links that you provide to multimedia content that is external to the Canvas ecosystem. Two of the common issues noted are:
- Links to Multimedia Require Transcripts
- Links To Sound Files Need Transcripts
It also detects problems with files embedded into Canvas pages, discussions, which display directly in the Learning Management System. These include:
- Embedded Videos Must Have Captions
- Multimedia Objects Should Have Text Equivalents
- Embedded Content May Be Inaccessible on Mobile Devices
- Multimedia Object Detected
The Solution: #
Fixing these errors requires the creation of closed captions (textual representation of the audio in a multimedia file which is overlaid on the video as it plays) and a transcript (text file of the audio in multimedia files which can be accessed independently of the multimedia file). Although the multimedia features in Canvas cannot generate captions or transcript files, the features available in Kaltura make captions and transcript production easy, and allows seamless embedding into your Canvas Course. That is why our first goal is to relocate audio and video files to Kaltura.
Finding Media #
Locate media files. The easiest way to find your media files is through the “Files” menu in the Canvas Course Navigation. Accessing “Files” will present you with a view of all of the files and folders in Canvas. Files will likely have one of these file extensions, though you may have some others.
| Video | Audio |
|---|---|
| .mov | .mp3 |
| .mp4 | .ogg |
| .avi | .wav |
| .m4v | .aiff |
| .wmv | .acc |
Download Media from Canvas #
- Open the sandbox course you created for accessibility remediation last week.
- Go to Files in the course menu.
- Use the search box or sort by Type to find media (e.g., .mp4, .mov, .mp3, .wav).
- For each item, click the ⋮ (or right-click) → Download.
Note: If a video is actually embedded from Kaltura already (you’ll see the Kaltura player controls/logo), you don’t need to download/re-upload. The file already lives in Kaltura.
More complete instructions for downloading Canvas files can be found in the Canvas Guides.
Upload to Kaltura using My Media #
- In Canvas, click Account from the top of the global menu (the colored strip).
- Click My Media.
- Click + Add New → Media Upload.
- Drag and drop your media files, or Choose a file to upload.
- While each item uploads, add:
- Name/Title
- Description (optional but helpful)
- Tags (if desired. We recommend at the very least tagging your media with course info).
- Set Publish status to “Private.” This setting means that only you can see the item in My Media until you’ve embedded it in a course page.
- Click Save (or Save and Return to Media). Kaltura will process the media; the status will change to “Ready” when it’s done.
More detailed instructions for uploading to Kaltura from within Canvas can be found in the Kaltura Knowledge Center.
Add Kaltura Versions back into your course #
Embed in Canvas content (Pages, Modules, Assignments, quiz questions or Discussions)
- Edit the Canvas item where the media file is currently embedded.
- In the Rich Content Editor, click on the “Embed Kaltura Media” icon (It looks like a multicolored starburst)
- Find the video, click Embed (choose size/options if prompted).
- Save the Canvas item.
More detailed instructions for embedding Kaltura Media in Canvas content can be found in the Kaltura Knowledge Center
Delete Old Versions #
Return to the file area of the course and delete the video from the course files. since you’ve already removed these from the course content, you likely can use TidyUP to quickly locate and remove the mulimedia files from your course.
More complete instructions for deleting Canvas files can be found in the Canvas Guides.
