Kaltura Media Space

Kaltura is UC’s enterprise media platform for creating, hosting, and sharing video and audio—especially in courses and academic contexts. It is integrated into Canvas, available through Kaltura MediaSpace sites, and works with tools like Kaltura Capture and Kaltura Express.

Most step‑by‑step instructions live in the IT@UC Knowledge Base. This page gives you a basic understanding of what Kaltura does, how it fits into UC’s accessibility approach, and where to find more detailed help.

If you are new to Kaltura or unsure which Knowledge Base article you need, the IT@UC “Getting Started with Kaltura” article explains what Kaltura is, how to access My Media, and where to find instructions for installing Kaltura Capture, uploading media, and recording your screen or webcam.

At a basic level, Kaltura is a media platform:

• It stores video and audio files in a central repository.
• It provides a web-based player that can show captions, transcripts, and playback controls.
• It lets you record new media (screen, webcam, audio) or upload existing files.
• It can attach captions and transcripts to your media and manage different versions or formats.
• It integrates with other tools, such as learning management systems, so people can watch media within the systems they already use.

You can think of Kaltura as the “home base” for your instructional video and audio content: a place where you put media, manage it, and make it available to students and colleagues in a consistent way.

At UC, Kaltura is our primary platform for academic and internal media, especially in courses:

• It stores videos and audio used in Canvas courses and Kaltura MediaSpace sites.
• It provides a consistent player with caption, transcript, and playback controls that work across devices.
• It integrates with Canvas so instructors and students can record, upload, and submit media directly from within courses.
• It connects to UC’s captioning workflows, including auto‑generated (ASR) captions and professional captioning options.

Because Kaltura is UC’s supported platform for instructional media, using it—rather than one‑off hosting—makes it easier to provide captions, manage permissions, and keep course media accessible over time. If you expect a video to live on a public‑facing UC website, it is recommended that you use YouTube as the final hosting location and, if helpful, use Kaltura first to support captioning and review. For more on that workflow, see the Knowledge Base articles on adding YouTube videos to Kaltura and captioning YouTube videos in Kaltura.

Kaltura is central to UC’s captioning workflow.

• New Kaltura videos automatically receive English ASR captions.
• ASR captions can be requested for older videos and in additional languages where available.
• ASR captions are free to order but must be reviewed and edited if you need higher accuracy.

Relevant KB topics include requesting ASR captions in Kaltura and removing or replacing ASR captions when you need a different language or improved version.

If machine captions are not accurate enough, you can:

• Edit captions using Kaltura’s caption editor to correct wording, punctuation, and names.
• Upload a transcript and use the alignment tool to sync it with the video.

To support accessible academic content beyond ASR, UC uses a Centralized Captioning Credit model:

• Each college has a captioning representative who helps determine whether content qualifies for centralized captioning credits.
• Professional captions are ordered through Kaltura and produced by human transcriptionists, resulting in higher‑accuracy captions.
• There are KB articles on buying professional captioning credits, using centralized captioning credits, and understanding captioning representatives’ roles.

Accessibility Resources manages captioning for students with approved captioning accommodations:

• Requests are submitted through the Accessibility Resources Kaltura MediaSpace site or related processes.
• Requests are moderated and must be tied to an active accommodation.
• For questions about captioning for accommodations, contact DigitalAccess@uc.edu or see the KB article on ordering professional captions for student accommodations and related forms.

The IT@UC Knowledge Base is your primary “how‑to” resource for Kaltura. A few high‑value articles to know:

• Getting Started with Kaltura – overview of what Kaltura is and how to access My Media and Kaltura MediaSpace.
• Kaltura MediaSpace Sites List – links to UC’s Kaltura MediaSpace sites (central and college‑specific).
• Getting Started with Kaltura Capture / Installing Kaltura Capture – how to install and launch Kaltura Capture for recording.
• Recording Your Screen with Kaltura Capture / Record Your Screen and Webcam – step‑by‑step recording instructions.
• Access Kaltura My Media – how to find and manage your media.
• Upload Media to Kaltura / Upload Media to Kaltura MediaSpace – how to upload existing files.
• Share Kaltura Media and Submit Kaltura Media in Canvas Assignments and Discussions – how to share or submit media in Canvas.

For accessibility and captioning specifically:

• Request ASR (Machine) Captions in Kaltura
• Using the Editing Captions Tool in Kaltura
• Use the Alignment Tool in Kaltura for Video Script Captioning
• Captioning YouTube Videos in Kaltura
• Ordering Professional Captioning Using Centralized Captioning Credits
• Ordering Kaltura Video Captioning – Accessibility Resources (accommodations)

You do not need to memorize all of these. The goal of this page is to help you know that the KB exists, what Kaltura is good at, and when to look up a specific article.