Captioning Decision Tree & Workflow

Live Captions

All public-facing, Penn State-sponsored events, either in-person and virtual, such as guest speakers/lectures, workshops, training, performances, and athletic events, should provide live captioning.

Live Captions required for

Any large scale or open University function or messaging that is available to the public and/or larger student body, faculty, or staff (messages/remarks from Old Main, Commencement, convocation, University training without registration).
Any student who is registered with Student Disability Resources and is receiving live captioning as an accommodation.
Any faculty/staff who have disclosed their disability to the University and requires live captioning for event access.

Live Captions not required for

Any small scale or closed event, either in-person or virtual, that has a finite audience (classes, private workshops and events, University training with registration) that is absent a request for ADA accommodation from student, faculty/staff, or participant.

Sponsoring programs/units/departments of small scale or closed events should issue an accessibility statement in advance of events on registration forms and/or promotional materials (see guidance on issuing accessibility statements below). As a general practice for virtual small scale or closed events and if no accommodation is needed, please enable auto captioning provided in the video conferencing tool of your choice. An example for Zoom settings is available at Zoom’s Closed caption and live transcription directions.

Events with Accessibility Statement

Live events, both in-person and virtual, that are of small scale or closed to a restricted or finite audience shall meet the following accessibility guidelines:

Sponsoring programs/units/departments of live events should issue an accessibility statement in advance of events on registration forms and/or promotional materials to the effect of:

Penn State encourages persons with disabilities to participate in its programs and activities. If you anticipate needing any type of accommodation or have questions about the physical access provided, please contact XXX at XXXemail@psu.edu or call 814-86X-XXX at least 2 weeks prior to the start of the program to allow sufficient time to effectively meet your access needs.

Live captions should be provided as an individualized accommodation if requested by a registrant, viewer, or participant.

Decision matrix for live captioning

Live Captioning Decision Matrix
Event Type	Large Events (anticipate 250+ in attendance including virtually)	Small Events (anticipate fewer than 250 in attendance including virtually)
Open Events (open to public and may or may not require registration)	Requires live caption (no exceptions) Sponsoring program/unit/department assumes financial responsibility for captioning	Requires live caption if you do not provide event registration with accessibility statement Sponsoring program/unit/department is strongly encouraged to budget for captioning to prepare for a possible request
Closed Events (not open to public but only a restricted or finite audience who have registered for the group or event)	Requires live caption if you do not provide event registration with accessibility statement Financial responsibility for captioning is dependent on event’s purpose, audience, and accommodation requestor	Requires accessibility statement in event registration (if applicable) or promotional materials Sponsoring program/unit/department is strongly encouraged to budget for captioning to prepare for a possible request

Postproduction Captions

Postproduction – Academic

Captions required:
1. All new course developments.
2. Subject matter expert (SME) self-generated content (such as Kaltura)
  1. Will be reused in future courses.
Captioning required due to a Student Disability Resources (SDR) request for a student in the course.
1. Requires “at the same time” captions as the item is made available to the entire class:
2. When there is a SDR request, instructors are not allowed to make audiovisual materials available to students without captioning. In other words, “publish first, captioning next” is not allowed.
3. In the event that the responsible party chooses not to follow this guideline, then
  *send an email to the appropriate SDR representative.
Captions not required:
1. SME self-generated content (such as Kaltura); AND
2. This content is for a current running course; AND
3. No SDR request; AND
4. Will not be reused in future courses.

Postproduction – Administrative

Captions required:
1. All new developments.
2. Access request for a currently inaccessible video by a person with a disability addressed to the unit responsible for the video and/or the PSU ADA Coordinator.
Captions not required:
1. SME self-generated content (such as Zoom); AND
2. No ADA request; AND
3. Will not be reused in the future.
In the event a responsible party chooses not to follow this vetted guideline, then
*send an email to the ADA Coordinator (adainfo@psu.edu).