Assuring Accessibility

Accessible course design supports all learners.

This presentation is designed to review our legal obligations to provide accessible learning activities at a distance. We will be reviewing Section 504, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

Accessibility Quick Start Guide

Format	How to Build it for Accessibility	How to Check if it is Accessible
Video	Closed captions are required. Use an accessible media player, (i.e. LearnScape, YouTube.) Request captions via ticket in Service Now. NOTE: some content presented in video may need to be repurposed in a textual format for people with visual impairments.	Press tab on the keyboard. You should be able to play, pause, rewind, fast forward, rewind, and toggle the captions for the video using only your keyboard.
Word	Use heading styles. Use built-in formats for bulleted lists, columns, and tables. Avoid floating text boxes. Include alternative text for images. Do Not save as a Web page.	Run the Microsoft Word Accessibility Checker. It will guide you through making your document accessible.
PowerPoint	Use built-in slide layouts. Compose in Outline view (or check Outline view to make sure all slide text is in Outline view.) Add alternative text for images. Do Not save as a Web page.	Run the Microsoft PowerPoint Accessibility Checker. It will guide you through making your document accessible.
Excel	Specify column headers. Do Not use blank cells for formatting.	Run the Microsoft Excel Accessibility Checker. It will guide you through making your document accessible.
PDF Documents	Use software that creates accessible PDFs, such as Microsoft Word (Windows only). Word for Mac cannot create an accessible PDF. You must either use LibreOffice or save to PDF on a Windows computer. Run OCR on scanned items.	Fully determining the accessibility of a PDF document is challenging. The following procedure will let you get an overview of a document’s accessibility. In Adobe Acrobat Pro choose Full check under View, then Tools, then Accessibility. Confirm the correct document reading order by selecting Read Out Loud in the View menu to have the document read to you.
Moodle	Design to the PCC Accessibility Standards. Use headings. Use HTML tags for bulleted lists, paragraphs, tables Include alt-text for images.. Use freely available tools to test for Web page accessibility.	WAVE Toolbar
Math	Use the MathType plugin for MS Word, LibreOffice (or any MathML, LaTeX, or TeX editors) to write your equations.	Always save your source files. The Office of Accessibility Resources and Services may need them to convert to a different format. Moodle’s equation editor will publish your math in an accessible format.
Skype for Business	Screen readers such as NVDA (free download), Narrator, and JAWS work with Skype for Business. High-contrast settings can be used by low vision users and users with little or no color perception. Magnifier enlarges the screen and makes text easier to read.	Skype accessibility
Zoom	Closed Captioning can be integrated. Automatic Transcripts can be generated during Zoom meetings. Keyboard Accessibility. Screen readers such as NVDA (free download), Narrator, and JAWS work with Zoom.	Zoom accessibliity
Blackboard Collaborate	Most of Collaborate’s functionality is web accessible. Application sharing will cause problems for screen reader users.	Check documents that you share with others. You may need to provide some content in an ALT format. Live captioning will be needed for users with hearing impairments.
Teams	Screen readers such as NVDA (free download), Narrator, and JAWS work with Skype for Business. Live closed captioning (US only) Customize user settings to improve user experience	Teams accessibliity

Download the table above as a printable PDF document.

CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Attribution: Portland Community College used and modified.

Accessible Videos and Multimedia

Videos and multimedia can really enhance a course for students. They can provide a welcome break from reading dense texts or articles and can facilitate learning of the topic. Accessibility of videos and multimedia means that all videos and multimedia in the course can be viewed or used by students with disabilities, but it goes beyond this. Many students who do not have disabilities benefit from accessible videos and multimedia. Consider the mom who does her studies after she puts the children to bed. She may want to watch the video without sound, to not wake them.

If you are working with an instructional designer, they can help you to determine if a resource is accessible. You can also request a consult with an educational technologist.

Videos

All videos MUST be captioned or provide a transcript. Captions can be ordered using our LEARNscape video hosting platform. If you do not know how to do this, work with your instructional designer to caption any videos that you make.

Sometimes, a video will be very visually complex or will show important interactions between actors in the video. In this case, a descriptive caption must be provided. This provides details of the interactions or images/animations on screen. Again, if you are working with an instructional designer, they can help to provide descriptive captioning or contact educational technology.

Multimedia

Multimedia can be very useful for conveying information. Students can interact with content and the content can sometimes adapt to the student’s responses. However, many multimedia resources are inaccessible. For example, any content that has been created in Adobe Flash is likely to be inaccessible because students may need to see the screen to interact with the content and a screen reader cannot be used. Flash technology has been discontinued by Adobe and is no longer updated – Flash content is gradually being phased out. Most multimedia producers are converting to HTML5, which is more accessible.

For multimedia content that is inherently inaccessible, it is best to find a different resource. While you can still use it in the course, you MUST provide transcript so that students can have an option to read the content presented in the interactive. (You may need to authenticate using your credentials to view video examples.)

Welcome: This video shows how a transcript can be used to distinguish between speakers.

Attributing the Author using APA: this video provides both captions and transcript.

Winter 2019 Commencement: this transcript and captions provide cues so that when there is no spoken language, the viewer can interpret what is happening.

WebAIM: Captions, Transcripts, and Audio Descriptions. (2020)

Considering Color

Color can been used as a way to improve the appearance of printed and electronic resources or to call attention to items of importance on a page, but for students with low vision or color blindness the use of color may be confusing or illegible.

Some colors are more problematic than others. Red color-blindness, for example, is the most common form of color blindness. Individuals with red color-blindness or color-weakness cannot perceive red. Information that uses colors that are created using red, such as orange or purple, will not be perceived correctly.

These are examples of the use of color in some activities and resources. Consider each of the following color combinations. Review the readability of each at 12-point font. Note that while we have used color to decorate the visuals — the green checkmark and the red x mark—but the color is not the only way to identify if a color combination is acceptable.

These are examples of the use of color in some activities and resources, indicating accessible and inaccessible contrast.

When using color in your documents and course pages, consider these best practices (OLC, 2020):

Text, graphics, and images are understandable when viewed without color. Color alone should not be used to convey critical information (you can add Bold or Italic formatting which can be used by screen readers).
There is enough contrast between text and background for the content to be easily viewed. When there is a lack of contrast, it is more difficult to process information—the learner needs to work harder to learn.
Use a color contrast checker, such as WebAIM Contrast Checker to check contrast. The minimum contrast ratio should be 4.5:1. Although this is the minimum, it may not offer enough contrast for many users.

Creating Accessible Tables

Data tables can be powerful tools when used to organize and present information in a course. As with all other course content, care should be taken in order to make sure that the information presented is completely accessible to all users. For tables, this means making sure that the organization is clear and accessibility guidelines are followed.

The most commonly seen issue for basic data tables is the absence of row and column headers. Including proper headers ensures that the relationships between data in the table are clear and that the information can be easily parsed by assistive technology.

Explore the WebAim entry on Creating Accessible Data Tables. It is a useful resource for more background on why to make tables accessible and how to handle a broader array of cases.

Tips

Do not use tables to adjust the layout, or arrangement, of content. Tables should only be used, when necessary, to organize data. WebAim again has a great resource to help succinctly explain the reasoning behind this: Creating Accessible Tables – Intro.
Avoid blank cells, extra spaces, and superfluous characters.

Images and the Use of Alternative Text

Images used in course materials and documents need to include alternative text, also known as alt-text. Alt-text is a text description of what is presented in the image. It is “read” by the screen reader. While images that are used for decorative purposes need very basic alt-text, such as “image is for decorative purposes,” those used to convey information require more complex alt-text. Alt-text can be presented in one of two ways, (1) by tagging the image with text for the screen reader or (2) by providing text outside of the image.

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (revised, 2017) states that, “guidelines are intended to ensure that information and communication technology covered by the respective statutes is accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities.” These guidelines lead WebAIM develop the de facto web accessibility standards used to ensure accessibility of web-based content and other online resources.

Consider this example of a bar chart. The chart depicts the employment of disabled and non-disabled Americans (Amornchat, n.d., p. 6). The alt-text for the chart below is, “A chart comparing the employment of disabled vs. non-disabled Americans.” The supplemental text below contains more detail. Alt-text presented below could be used either by tagging the image or by providing the text as a supplement to the image.

Employment of disabled vs. non-disabled Americans

In 1991

Non-disabled is 84.4%
Disabled is 50.2%

In 2010

Non-disabled is 79.1%
Disabled is 41.1%

Work with your Instructional Designer to determine the best approach for your graphic. Depending on the complexity of the image, the approach may be different.

Resources

WebAIM Color Contrast Checker

WebAIM Color Contrast

Online Learning Consortium. (2020). OSCQR Standard #18, OSCQR Standard #35, OSCQR Standard #36.

Americans with Dsisabilities Act (revised, 2017).

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (revised, 2018, 2020).

WebAIM Alternative Text

Amornchat, S. (n.d.). Complex Images for All Learners: A Guide to Make Visual Content Accessible. Retrieved from Portland Community College, Creating Accessible Content.