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Matt’s Monday Media Tips 10/3 Opening Up Closed Captioning There are many great reasons to used closed-captioning in your classroom. They include: 1. Assisting those students who are hearing impaired 2. Addressing your students who are read/write learners 3. Helping your students who are struggling readers 4. Reaching your English Language Learners 5. Emphasizing a grammar or vocabulary lesson And the list goes on and on! This week I wanted to bring your attention to the 24,000+ Closed-Captioned videos that you and your students can access. In addition, I am going to share with you a few tips and tricks that will show you how to: 1. Find and download Closed-Captioned videos both on a PC and Mac 2. Edit the captions to: 1. Make them larger or different colors 2. Change the text so that the words meet the reading level for your students 3. Change the language of the text (default is English) Sound cool? Awesome! Let’s get to work. Oh and by the way - remember that you can always click on the word Help up there in the upper right-hand corner of your screen. Go ahead and take a gander - it’s to the right of the blue Search box. Once you click on the word Help type in “Closed-Captioning” in the Search Help bar and you will and you will find this information as well. (see image on right)
Step 1. Finding Closed Captioned Videos
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Finding them is pretty easy and there are many different ways that you can sort Discovery Education’s vast resources to find a Closed-Captioned video. One way is to simply type in a keyword and, then on the left-hand side, in the Narrow My Search box, scroll down and see if Closed Captioning is listed under the words “By Video Detail.” Another way to find the CC videos is by clicking on the Advanced Search link. Then type in a keyword, check the Closed Captioning box, and click on the blue Search button at the bottom of your screen.
Discovery Education Webinar Schedule Dates
Time (EST)
Link
10/3
7pm - 8pm
Discovery Education STREAMING 101
10/4
4:30-5:30 PM
How to upload students in Bulk
10/5
7pm - 8pm
To download the video right-click on the little icon that looks like a filmstrip with a down arrow on it (it should be on the right-hand part of your screen).
Engaging Students through the Discovery Education Science TECHBOOK (Great for Discovery Education Science Users too)
10/6
4:30-5:30 PM
To download the CC file right-click on the the CC icon and save it somewhere on your computer.
How to upload students in Bulk
10/6
7pm - 8pm
Blogging Basics: Getting the most out of your Discovery Education Blog
Step 2. Downloading Closed Captioned Videos Once you’ve found your video you’ll need to download both your video and the CC file. You’ll need to have both files saved on your computer in order to edit and play the CC file. Remember that once you download a video you don’t have to worry about buffering either! Before you download make sure that your download type is set to QT for a Mac or Windows Media Player for a PC. You can check by clicking on the words “Download Type” located underneath the big box that says “Play.”
Create a folder and save both files in that folder on your computer
Step 3. Telling Your Media Player to Play the Captions (PC Instructions) Still with me? Good! Now we need to tell your computer to play them. Here’s how. Open up your Windows Media Player (WMP). If you don’t see your WMP tool bar hold down your ALT key and press the letter “T” and click on the the word “Play.” Then scroll down and select “On if Available”
Got it? Good. One more step. Pull up your tool bar again and click on the word “Tools.” Select “Options” and then click on the “Security” tab. Then place check marks inside the first box, “Run script commands...” and the last box “Show local captions when present.” Click on Apply and/or Ok and you’re set. You don’t have to do these steps again for this machine.
Step 3. Telling Your Media Player to Play the Captions (Mac Instructions) For Mac users there are a few more steps (I know! This is the one thing that is actually more complicated on a Mac!). But no worries here is a link to a .pdf that includes great screenshots and instructions - CC on a Mac
Step 4. Changing the Captions (PC) Open up the folder that you created that now contains both the video and .smi file. Rightclick on the file that ends in .smi and choose to “Open With” Notepad. The code will appear and look a little like the Matrix. Don’t worry - it’s really not that scary. To change the size simply find “font size” at the top of the code and change “10” to “20”. To change the color simply go down to where it says “color: white” and erase the word “white” and type in “Yellow.” Note: yellow on a black screen is statistically proven to be easier to read. To change the text scroll down and look for a spoken line of dialogue and change it. Save your Notepad (do not choose Save As) and congrats you are now a Coder!
Step 4. Changing the Captions (Mac) Open up the folder that you created that now contains both the video and .smi file. Rightclick on the file that ends in .smi and choose to “Open With” TextEdit.app. The code will appear and look a little like the Matrix. Don’t worry - it’s really not that scary. To change the size simply find “font size” at the top of the code and change “10” to “20”. To change the color simply go down to where it says “color: white” and erase white and type in Yellow. To change the text scroll down and look for a spoken line of dialogue and change it. Save your TexEdit.app (do not choose Save As) and congrats you are now a Coder!
Closed Captioning Stories from the Classroom Janet Hallstrom, a Tech Coordinator in Clay County Florida, teaches this trick to students that are in the upper level French classes. These students, in turn, translate the CC files into French and provide their authentic work to the elementary kids. The reason? Clay County has a large Haitian population and they use this technique to help teach the primary kids English.
More Things I Thought You’d Like To Know From the Customer Support Team The 10 most frequently asked questions and the answers to them! 1.
How do I Create Students using Bulk Imports? How-to Screen Shots and How To Video
2.
I forgot my username and password/Send username and password? - How-to Instructions and Screen Shots
3.
User Transfer: Move a user - How-to Instructions and Screen Shots
4.
Discovery Education Assessment: Bulk Import Tool How-to Instructions, Videos and ScreenShots
5.
School Passcode – Who has it and how to find it? How-to Instructions and Screen Shots
6.
Cookies and Cache – Caching on User’s computer /Site sends me back to the login screen/ Cannot log into the site but do not receive an error message/ How-to Instructions and Screen Shots
7.
Firewall & Filter Exclusions - Caching at Network level - How-to Instructions and Screen Shots
8.
I receive error messages when trying to play videos – Customer has Local Host or Network Manager How-to Instructions and Screen Shots
9.
Play & download videos and video segments How-to Instructions, Videos and Screen Shots
10. Video is not playing in a particular format or any format and there is no Local Host or Network Manager – Please email Education_Support@discovery.com and we can escalate the issue to our Content Team. Our customer support team is available to answer any questions at 1 -800-323-9084 #1 (Mon-Thu from 8am-7pm and Fri 8am – 6:30pm, EST), if you have any questions. They are always happy to help!