DCMP: Providing Accessible Videos and Enhancing Learning for All

Authors: Cindy Camp, Marketing and Communications Specialist at Described and Captioned Media Program

As an itinerant TSVI or COMS, have you ever walked into a classroom to observe a lesson or support a student, only to discover the teacher is using a YouTube video to present key content? It’s a common go-to for many educators—a quick, accessible resource to keep the class engaged. They’re great, right??? Well, not always. For a student who is blind, deafblind, or has low vision, those videos are often far from accessible.

The majority of videos on YouTube are not accessible to students with disabilities. YouTube does have automatic captions, but have you ever tried to watch with just the captions and no sound? The captions don’t really provide full access to the content. There are just too many errors. And almost none of the videos have audio descriptions for those who are blind or have low vision.

So teachers who have students with disabilities in their classrooms are stuck, right? They don’t have an easy way to pop up an educational video that is accessible. WRONG! The Described and Captioned Media Program (DCMP) is a teacher’s go-to for easy access to educational videos on demand which ARE accessible for all students. Best of all, the content is free.

DCMP is funded through the U.S. Department of Education. The mission of DCMP is to promote and provide equal access to communication and learning through described and captioned educational media. They provide services designed to support and improve the academic achievement of students who are blind, visually impaired, deaf, hard of hearing, or deaf-blind.

Membership in DCMP is free to professionals working with students with disabilities from birth through high school. If a teacher has just one student in their class with an IEP or 504 plan, they qualify for membership. Families can sign up and stream DCMP videos at home as well. The process is easy. Just fill out a short online form, validate your email, and in less than 2 business days, our staff will process your application. Teachers can expedite the process by using their school email. Once a teacher or parent has set up their account, they can then create account(s) for their student(s). This allows the adult to monitor the student’s access to videos.

DCMP maintains an online video library of thousands of educational videos that can be streamed on demand. There are videos for students from pre-K through high school. They cover all academic topics such as math, science, history, language arts, and more. There are also videos on social-emotional learning, mental health, sex education, self-advocacy, independent living skills, and the expanded core curriculum. If you want to teach a student about a topic, there is a video to support it. 

In addition, the videos are correlated with Common Core and state standards. If you live in a state that follows Common Core Standards, you can search our database for a video that teaches a specific standard. You can also search by your own state’s standards. If you live in a state that does not follow Common Core Standards, you can still search by your state’s standards. For example, if you live in Texas, you can search by the TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills). This makes it easy for teachers to find a video to teach a specific standard. If they find a video they like, they can document the standards it follows and also find additional videos that teach those standards.

The DCMP website is also fully accessible, allowing participants to turn on or off various accessibility features and customize them to meet individual needs. For example, if a student has both vision and hearing loss, they can turn on both the audio description and captions. The captions can be customized to meet the needs of that student by enlarging the font, changing the color and style of the font, and changing the background color. There is also a transcript feature that allows them to download the transcript of the captions and/or the audio description, which makes the videos accessible to students who are both deaf and blind. The transcripts can be read with refreshable or print braille. 

DCMP has videos for teachers and families as well as students. There are videos for families to learn more about raising a child with a disability and the special education process. There are videos for general education teachers to learn about working with students with various disabilities. There are videos on specialized topics such as orientation and mobility. Professionals will find many resources to expand their learning opportunities as well.

DCMP even offers free continuing education courses, which are approved for ACVREP (Academy for Certification of Vision Rehabilitation and Education Professionals) credits and RID (Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf) CEUs. There are scheduled, facilitated classes offered throughout the year for 15 to 20 hours of continuing education credit. There are also shorter, on-demand courses for one to three hours of credit. All of these can be found on the eLearning Resources page.

DCMP has a crash course for general education teachers who are new to working with students who are blind or have low vision, Access: Working with Students Who are Blind or Have Low Vision. It is a good overview of various types of vision loss, the types of accommodations different students may need, and so much more. It can also serve as a refresher for teachers who may have forgotten some of the details that their local TVI has shared with them. 

The Sight-Reading Braille modules offer a great way for everyone to learn to read braille. The modules are designed for students who are in 4th grade and up. This way, peers in the classroom can learn to sight-read braille along with students who are blind or have low vision. It is also a fun way for families to learn braille and support their child with vision loss. The modules are enjoyable and engaging. They begin by teaching uncontracted or Grade I braille. Currently, the first few contracted, or Grade II, braille modules are available, and the full Grade II modules will be online in 2025. Teachers can even earn CEUs by taking a comprehensive evaluation at the end of the Grade I and Grade II modules. Students can earn a certificate of completion.

For older students, DCMP has a transition module called: Getting a Job! for Students Who Are Blind and Visually Impaired. It is designed for students who are blind and visually impaired and the professionals who work with them. The module focuses on the transition from school to work. It offers activities, supporting documents, and topical videos designed to help the job seeker prepare for the world of work. It features several blind and low-vision role models to guide students along the path to work.

DCMP is passionate about providing accessible educational videos for all students. Each year, we collaborate to host the BADIE (Benefits of Audio Description in Education) Contest, an essay contest that invites young people ages 7–21 to compete for great prizes by watching a film with audio description and submitting a brief evaluation of the strengths (and/or weaknesses) of the audio description. Through this contest, we learned that many students who are blind or have low vision and their teachers lack information about audio description and how to evaluate its quality.

Access: Description Module (Student Edition) and Access: Description Module (Teacher/Parent Edition) were developed to educate students and adults about audio description. The modules review guidelines for description, discuss laws pertaining to description, and explain the unique requirements for educational description. Many examples of description are included as well as practice exercises. The student version is designed for those in 4th grade and up. It can be used to educate the entire class about the importance of audio description. This then allows the teacher to show described videos to the entire class without the need for a student who is blind or has low vision to watch a separate version of the video. An entire class can benefit from audio description as it has been shown to increase vocabulary for all students.

DCMP is always expanding their collection. Currently, there are over 18,000 videos in the online streaming library, and around 500 hours of new content are added each year. If you have a specific topic or title in mind that you’d like to see added, please reach out to us and complete our Recommend Media form.

DCMP also wants to be sure that schools and families are aware of our many services and resources. We can provide free in-service training for schools and organizations, as well as send brochures and flyers to your events. Please contact Cindy Camp at [email protected] to make these requests. We look forward to serving the needs of you and your students.