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Providing lectures either recorded or live streaming are great for many students and program participants. They can also be great for people with disabilities so long as we provide elements which they need for access to the content.

For participants who require accommodations for in person courses and events (such as ASL interpreters, CART, or closed captioning), we need to make sure that that information is also available for them during the delivery of that content virtually as well. For live streamed formats like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Blackboard Collaborate, or teleconferencing we need to provide access to ASL interpreters or real-time captioning. If prerecorded content is made available on platforms like Panopto or YouTube, we need to provide closed captioning to make the content accessible.

For online videos used for classes please follow directions found on our Closed Captioning page.

General Tips for Live Streamed Courses, Webinars, or Meetings

• The service provider would need to have the link to be able to participate in the session.
• If the session opens to the presenters to prepare before it opens to participants, it is best if the service provider has access to enter the session at that time to prepare for delivery when the program starts.
• Often the ASL interpreter or CART transcriptionist needs Presenter Permissions to the session to be able to do their work.
• It is also often helpful to the service provider to have access in advance to PowerPoints, programs, or agendas for the session to prepare vocabulary for more effective service delivery.
• If you use Breakout sessions in your virtual meetings, remember to assign the interpreters and transcriptionist for the participants to the breakout rooms they are assigned to.

Auto Captioning in Meeting Platforms

Some meeting platforms offer auto captions. These can be made available to participants as well, but they should not be used instead of providing ASL or CART services to fill requests. Auto captioning is not accurate enough to replace CART or ASL services. They may be used if a request is not in with enough time to provide services. It can also be used as a service to offer if no specific request for ASL or CART services had been placed.

Zoom

Zoom has recently rolled out a feature for enabling separate video feeds for ASL interpreters. A participant can be assigned as an ASL Interpreter and then the participant needing the interpreter has more control over the availability and display of the view of the interpreter. This is a feature that all video meeting platforms should have but Zoom at this time is one of the few to implement it. The ASL Interpreter is not yet included in recordings of the Zoom sessions. Management of the interpreters in the session must also be done through the Zoom Desktop client, like if breakout sessions are used in a Zoom meeting.

When providing real-time captions, the transcriptionist used must be given access to the course and assigned to type captions before starting screen shares like showing PowerPoints. If not, the screen share would need to be disengaged to assign them.

• Adding ASL Interpreters
• Adding Closed Captions

Microsoft Teams

There is a Teams Sign Language View option that Microsoft is rolling out in recent Teams releases. That feature makes it easier for the participant needing an ASL interpreter to display the video feed and not have other visual aspects of teams meetings disrupt services. Without using that option, the participant will need to be able to pin the video to their display. This can be challenging in scenarios where people are doing screen share of content. During screen shares it may make the visible video feed very small and hard to see.

There is a link that needs to be given to CART providers so that they may submit the transcript to display in Teams. Directions can be found on the Using CART in a Teams Meeting. More helpful information can be found on using the auto live captions and otehr accessiblility options on the Teams Accessibility page.

BLACKBOARD COLLABORATE

For live presentations via Blackboard Collaborate, the transcriptionist or the ASL interpreter would need to be provided guest access. ASL interpreters would need to be granted appropriate privileges to share video. The CART Transcriptionists would need to be granted access to insert the caption into the live Collaborate session.

From prior experience using Collaborate for ASL, it is often more effective for the Interpreter to access the class to be able to translate the lecture through an external video connection with the student via Zoom. Students receiving ASL interpreting are unable to adequately control the video sources they are viewing in Collaborate and have difficulty keeping the interpreter visible in the Collaborate Classroom.

• Invite a Guest to a Collaborate Session
• Setup a Transcriptionist in Collaborate
• Setting Permissions in Collaborate (Would need to give an ASL Interpreter Guest Permission to share video)

TELECONFERENCING

If using a telephone-based system for conducting meetings, we will need to give the interpreters access to the teleconference. That way they can listen to the lecture and via an additional connection provide the transcript or interpreting. The participant may also be able to connect via text or video Relay operator service for this type of meeting. If you are conducting meetings in this manner and have students who need ASL, CART, or CC, please contact Jeff Dell at j.dell@csuohio.edu.

Please place requests for services related to events outside of classes through our online ASL & CART Request portal. Directions can be found on our Event Sponsor page.

If you have any questions about how to implement the above accommodations when a student uses ASL or CART please reach out to the Assistant Director, AT & Access, at 216-687-2015 or j.dell@csuohio.edu.