YouTube and Studio

[MPalazzo]

I have been experimenting with Studio for a bit and found it useful for my own recorded videos, but frustrated with the loss of captions when using YouTube videos through it.  This seems like a huge missed opportunity as I would love to add annotations and quizzes to these videos.

I wanted to check on some better options than uploading a file since I cannot create a VTT or SRT file at all.

What would the legal policy be on using Studio screen capture to record a playing YouTube video?  I experimented with one and played around 25 seconds, filming it.  It uploaded and then it did let me do the automatic captions which I could edit.

I suppose this likely breaks some copyright law, but I would want to see more support for this from Canvas.  Captions are needed for accessibility and the quizzing feature would be great to have in YouTube videos.

What exactly can be done about this?

[Chris_Hofer · Accepted solution]

Hello @MPalazzo ...

I am by no means an expert on copyright.  I have heard from our assigned Customer Success Team, however, that there are some legal issues that prevent any YouTube captions from being carried over to Studio videos.  I would also assume that what you tried (using the screen recorder to record a playing YouTube video) would be breaking the Terms of Service of YouTube in some way (maybe because you would be reproducing it) ... so I would personally stay away from that.  You could certainly try contacting the owner of the video on YouTube to see if they would provide you with the captioning file.  Just a thought...

[Chris_Hofer · Accepted solution]

Hello @MPalazzo ...

I am by no means an expert on copyright.  I have heard from our assigned Customer Success Team, however, that there are some legal issues that prevent any YouTube captions from being carried over to Studio videos.  I would also assume that what you tried (using the screen recorder to record a playing YouTube video) would be breaking the Terms of Service of YouTube in some way (maybe because you would be reproducing it) ... so I would personally stay away from that.  You could certainly try contacting the owner of the video on YouTube to see if they would provide you with the captioning file.  Just a thought...

[MPalazzo]

I could, but 90% of my emails when contacting video creators go unanswered.  This would be much easier if Canvas allowed the captions to made be made.  I'd even type them all by hand if it needed to be done.

This definitely needs to be updated as the accessibility of an item needs to be brought into the creation process.  A new tool means nothing to an online course if it can't be made accessible.

[dj_hawkins]

Chris--

Would you please expand on what you mean when you say "there are some legal issues that prevent any YouTube captions from being carried over to Studio videos"? Other media tools, such as PlayPosit, can bring in captions when the video is pulled in. What "legal" issues are preventing Canvas (and not these other services/tools) from doing the same thing?

Offering the ability to pull in YouTube videos but not pulling in the captions makes it seem like Canvas isn't really supporting instructors in following federal (and, in most places, state) laws around accessibility. Canvas must know that instructors are required to provide 504/508 compliant content. Why not support their efforts in doing this? 

--DJ

Instructional Designer

[Chris_Hofer]

Hi @dj_hawkins ...

Oh man, do I wish I could give you more details on this.  In my former position as a Canvas administrator, I recall that I contacted our Customer Success Team at Instructure to ask about why YouTube/Vimeo videos cannot be captioned in Studio.  I recall getting about 2-3 sentences explanation...but unfortunately, I cannot remember what that information was exactly.  So, I wouldn't want to provide any additional information to you that was inaccurate.  I'm so sorry about this.  (I even tried looking for other postings I had responded to that had better responses...but no real luck.)

You might want to try to connect with your school's Canvas administrator and ask that person to get in touch with their Customer Success Team at Instructure.  They should be able to give you further clarification on this.

Again...my apologies for not having better information for you at this time.

[Chris_Hofer]

@dj_hawkins ...

Please see this response from @AkosFarago at Instructure...as his response should help to better answer your question.  I'm sure he would answer any additional questions you have for him in that thread.

Solved: Re: Canvas Studio not showing auto caption request... - Instructure Community (canvaslms.com...

[SusanNiemeyer · Accepted solution]

For my own videos, I have been able to edit and correct the captions in YouTube. Then I upload my video from Youtube into Canvas Studio with the added SRT file.

However, I have also been flummoxed by finding YouTube videos with terrific content, but subpar captions. I also experimented with the idea of uploading those videos into Canvas Studio and fixing the captions myself. However, I don't believe that it possible.

Now, when I search for YouTube videos, I use the filter to screen for videos with correct captioning. My school library also provides Films on Demand, which has been a terrific resource. Since these videos are not my own, I use the embed codes.

The only videos I have in my Canvas Studio Library are the ones I've created myself. I also incidentally store those videos on my YouTube channel in case my district drops its subscription to Canvas Studio.

[MPalazzo]

Thank you for the comment.  The issue isn't when using videos I've created as I have caption file ready, but for videos created by others.

Even if the YouTube video has captions, it cannot be used in Studio to create quizzes or annotations which would be helpful.  Videos can still be used outside of Studio, but the loss of the interactive elements in Studio is annoying.

Since all videos need captions, this is a huge oversight in Canvas and needs to be addressed in some way.

[ProfessorBeyrer]

Hi @MPalazzo. A few years ago when it was still Arc I submitted a help request on this issue. Here's what I heard back from Instructure:

This is a limitation of Youtube captions which, in general, cannot be extracted from a video without unsupported third party software. The video is not being re-uploaded from YouTube onto Arc, it is merely being embedded from YouTube which is why the captions stay with the video on YouTube. This also means if the original uploader were to remove the video, it would no longer be viewable in Arc. Because of usage rights, YouTube does not allow for any native downloading of user content, from anyone besides the original uploader.

You're right about the oversight. Even though it's not that hard to bring captions over (I made a video on how to move captions from YouTue to Studio), there is a rights issue that prevents it from being done by Instructure. 

[dbrace]

This is not legal advice.  You are responsible for consulting with legal counsel.

Something from the National Deaf Center to consider related to this discussion.

https://nationaldeafcenter.org/resource-items/copyright-compliance/

What if a video is copyrighted, can I caption it for educational use?

“Fair use” is a legal stipulation that allows copyrighted materials to be captioned without direct permission from the owner. When a video is not captioned but needs to be for educational purposes, captioning the video is generally considered fair use.

The U.S. Copyright Office’s final ruling (83 FR 54010) outlines the ability for educational institutions to caption a video that may be copyrighted under the following conditions:

• The organization must be a K-12 or postsecondary institution and is responsible for providing access to students with disabilities under applicable accessibility laws (i.e., ADA, Section 504, or IDEA).
• The school must make a reasonable effort to determine whether an existing accessible version can be obtained for a fair price or in a timely manner.
• The media captioned by or for the school must be privately stored and only shared with necessary parties such as students and educators. Uploading captioned versions to a private YouTube channel or embed in the Learning Management System (LMS) are examples of ways to secure a video.

From my understanding this means that:

1. you are allowed to download a YouTube video that does not have captions
2. you are allowed to upload the downloaded YouTube video to Canvas Studio
3. you are allowed to use Canvas Studio's caption request tool (or someone or something else) to generate and publish captions