DESIGNING FOR ACCESSIBILITY

Making Your Pre-Recorded Videos Accessible with CUNY Dropbox

Have you ever scrolled through a video in a noisy environment, wishing it had closed captioning and/or a transcript? Imagine that feeling amplified for students who rely on closed captions for comprehension. Closed captions are more than just transcribed words; they are a bridge to understanding, ensuring that content is accessible to everyone, including those with hearing impairments.

CUNY-licensed Dropbox is a recommended tool for autogenerating closed captions. However, privacy becomes a paramount concern when videos include recorded student participation. Please follow the steps below to make your pre-recorded videos more accessible and protect student privacy.

Need help logging in? ↗️

  • Click on the button above to access the login URL for CUNY Dropbox
  • Log in with your CUNYfirst credentials (FirstName.LastName##@login.cuny.edu)

Once you are logged into CUNY Dropbox, you can upload an existing video.

  • Click on Upload at the top of the page.
  • Select Files and navigate to the video on your computer.
    Upload Files on Dropbox

Once your video is uploaded on CUNY Dropbox, you can initiate auto-generation of closed captions (CC) for enhanced accessibility.

  • Click on the uploaded video title.
  • Click the [CC] icon on the right-hand vertical menu.
    Dropbox CC icon
  • The transcript will be auto-generated. Note that this may take several minutes depending on your video file size. The closed captions editing feature is not active in CUNY Dropbox.

To view auto-generated closed captions (CC),

  • click on the Play button to play the video
    Dropbox video player icons - play and CC
  • click on the CC icon at the bottom right of the video. The closed captions will appear at the bottom of the screen as the video is playing.
CUNY Guidelines on Recording of Remote Classes

While recording classes serve the students’ interests, disseminating a class recording outside its participants without express written consent from all students is a violation of the Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).

You can share your accessible videos stored in CUNY Dropbox directly from Blackboard.

  • Once the closed captions are autogenerated in Dropbox, open a new tab and log into Blackboard.
  • In your Blackboard course, choose where you would like to add the video.
  • Select Build Content
  • Click on Item
  • Click on the Add Content icon on the toolbar and select Dropbox from the list. Note: you may be prompted to log into CUNY Dropbox; please use your CUNYfirst credentials (FirstName.LastName##@login.cuny.edu).
    Accessing CUNY Dropox from Blackboard
  • Navigate to the video and Submit.

An alternative way to share the link to the video on Blackboard is to generate the link on CUNY Dropbox by clicking on the share button, creating and copying the link, and pasting it into the Bb Item. Learn more >>

Learn More

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