How to Create Accessible Online Course Content

Shivan MahabirAthanasia (Tania) Kalaitzidis

Kevin KorberDanny Villaroel

What is Accessibility?

• Accessibility refers to digital content that can be accessed by those with various types of disabilities.

• By creating accessible content, you remove barriers often faced by students

• means that content and documents can be accessed by individuals with disabilities, whether they’re using assistive technology or not. (*may revise)

Importance of Accessibility

• Students with disabilities need to access information

• Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act• Section 504 of the Americans with Disabilities

Act• Universal Design

To Care and Comply: Disability Access at PCC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eks3r-nE9lU

Microsoft Word Accessibility

• Keep it simple• Little use of color (avoid using orange, red,

and green)• Use Sans Serif fonts, such as Arial or Tahoma• Avoid text boxes• Do not use acronyms• Use tab instead of space when indenting• Provide alternate text for all images

Microsoft Word Accessibility (continued)

• Use text to name websites or describe website links rather than just the URL or saying “click here”

• Use simple tables• List table data horizontally• Use styles for consistency• Accessibility Checker - Available for office 2010,

2013, and 365. Not available in Office 2011 for Mac

Microsoft PowerPoint Accessibility

• Use a simple, predefined slide layout• Little use of color (avoid using orange, red,

and green)• Use Sans Serif fonts, such as Arial or Tahoma• Use font size 32 slides main points• Use different titles for each slide• If there is too much info on slide, put info on

new slide so it won’t minimize font

Microsoft PowerPoint Accessibility (Part 2)

• Check reading order of text boxes in slides• Avoid transitions and animations unless they

are pedagogical • Provide closed captions or transcript if audio is

embedded into slides• Avoid using acronyms

Microsoft PowerPoint Accessibility (Part 3)

• Provide alternate text for all images• Use text to name the website or describe

website link rather than just the url or saying “click here”

• Accessibility checker- Available for Office 2010, 2013, and 365. Not available in Office 2011 for Mac.

PDF Accessibility

• Run OCR on the document• Provide alternate text for all images• Provide tags• Check if tags are in order• If PDF has form fields, make sure they are

accessible by Adobe Reader

OCR Software

• Ex. ABBYY FineReader• Programs can turn image files into readable

text• Ideal for converting photocopies or scans of

hard documents (books, worksheets, etc.)• Documents can be edited before being

converted into a different format

Web Accessibility

• Choose simple, accessible design• Use alternate text for your images• Use clear page headings to break up text• Use lists instead of tables whenever possible• Avoid abbreviations and acronyms• Describe links embedded in text

Web Accessibility (continued)

• Install a text enlarger• Allow for highlighting and color contrast• Include a “skip to content” link• Use accessibility checker tools• Enable keyboard navigation• Check posted media (videos) for accessibility

Video/Audio Accessibility

• One to three lines of text appear onscreen at a time

• Viewable for three to seven seconds• Timed to synchronize with audio• Do not cover up graphics and other essential

visual elements• Require the use of upper and lowercase letters

Video/Audio Accessibility (Part 2)

• Use a font similar to Helvetica medium• Have good resolution• Include no more than 32 characters per line• Non-verbal sounds (such as music, laughter, or

clapping) should be captioned in square brackets

• Spelling should be accurate

Video/Audio Accessibility (Part 3)

• When there is more than one speaker present, identify who is speaking

• Use italics when a new word is being defined or when a word is heavily emphasized in speech

• Spell out any number that begins a sentence as well as any related numbers

• Do not caption stuttering or hesitation

Source: http://www.captioningkey.org/quality_captioning.html#1