May 4, 2017

Hi,

As you know by now, the OSLIS committee added video tutorials to OSLIS over the last year. For the elementary and secondary versions of OSLIS, there is a brief overview video that explains how to use the site plus videos that serve as introductions to each step of the research process. For secondary, there are also 10 instructional videos on various research topics; some of the elementary equivalents should be ready by the start of the new school year.

Each video on OSLIS now includes closed captioning and transcripts in English and Spanish, whether you access it from the Vimeo or YouTube link. We worked with a service and then checked for accuracy.

If students find it difficult to follow along with the Spanish closed captioning, they may want to turn off the sound (English narration) or read the Spanish transcript.

Those who have access to YouTube can also use the auto-generated closed captioning in additional languages – including Russian, Vietnamese, Hebrew and more. The accuracy is not perfect, but the option should prove useful to students who do not yet speak or read English or Spanish.  

Information above each OSLIS video highlights the transcripts, lists the closed captioning options, and links to a help page (elementary, secondary).    

We included a SafeShare link – made from the Vimeo and YouTube links – because some districts block certain video hosting platforms. Unfortunately, SafeShare is not currently able to utilize closed captioning. A developer at SafeShare says they are working to correct the recent issue. If they don’t get it fixed within a month or so, we may move the SafeShare link out of the closed captioning section to avoid confusion.

Posts from September and November 2016 provide more information about the Learn to Research video tutorials.

Questions? Please ask.

Thanks,
Jen

Jennifer Maurer
School Library Consultant
State Library of Oregon