Learning Center

Summertime Cool Lessons

This activity list supports DCMP's Summertime Cool Lesson Calendar in the Summertime Cool: Ideas to Enrich and Teach Learning Center resource for educators of students who are blind and visually impaired.

Summertime Cool: Ideas to Enrich and Teach

"What did you do on your summer vacation?" This was a familiar writing assignment for many peole when they were growing up. I remember, don't you? The end of school is around the corner, and summertime fun will be here before we know it. Let's support students and their families in their building of great summer vacation memories with new ideas that inspire, as well as teach.

DCMP on AC&E Education Talk Radio Podcast

DCMP's Cindy Camp visits the Education Talk Radio Podcast to discuss why the Described and Captioned Media Program exists, how it works, and why it is such a valuable resource to educators. Posted with permission from the American Consortium for Equity in Education (AC&E).

Hundreds of New Accessible Educational Videos You May Have Missed at DCMP in 2020

DCMP has added hundreds of new accessible videos and series in 2020, and you may have missed some. These lists can point you toward finding these new educational videos from many of the top content producers, including PBS Digital Studios, Teen Kids News, Litton Entertainment, the Field Museum, Bullfrog Films, PBS Learning Media, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Cinefete, and Films Media Group. Check the "New Releases" feed on your Account Dashboard to keep up with all new arrivals!

Description Key - Accessibility Vendors

The Described and Captioned Media Program maintains an online listing of description service vendors. Please complete the form below to add your company to the listing.

Captioning Key - Accessibility Vendors

The Described and Captioned Media Program maintains an online listing of captioning service vendors. Please complete the form below to add your company to the listing.

Accessible Videos Related to COVID-19

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the 2019–20 coronavirus outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) on January 30, 2020 and a pandemic on March 11, 2020. Detailed information can be found on the WHO and Centers for Disease Control (CDC) websites.

Description Key - Code of Conduct

Note: The following is an excerpt from the Standards for Audio Description and Code of Professional Conduct for Describers by the Audio Description Coalition (ADC).

Welcome to the Description Key

Description is the key to opening a world of information for persons with a vision loss, literacy needs, or loss of cognitive abilities. The American Foundation for the Blind reports that 21.5 million adults have vision loss and 94,000 children with a vision loss are being helped by some kind of special education. While description was developed for people who are blind or visually impaired, sighted children may also benefit from description’s concise, objective translation of media’s key visual components. Specialized learners, such as students with learning differences, English language learners, and children on the autism spectrum, benefit from its value in literacy development (e.g., vocabulary and reading) and content learning. DCMP’s Listening Is Learning campaign focuses on these benefits.

Description Key - About the Key

Description Key - Background

Adapted from the original "Background of The Description Key," written in 2008 by Kay Alicyn Ferrell and Mary Ann Siller, American Foundation for the Blind.

Description Key - Quality Description

Today's students are expected to learn from increasingly visual curricula. Using narration to describe visual information enhances comprehension and retention. Description not only benefits students who are blind or visually impaired, it benefits children on the autism spectrum, English language learners, and children with learning differences.

Description Key - Job Descriptions

The person responsible for authoring and editing the description script to be recorded by a voicer (or voice talent).

Description Key - Preparation

Description Key - What to Describe