1. Easy Tips to Help You Build Accessible Course Materials for Diverse Learners
CSU TILT Spring Workshop
February 23, 2017
Allison Kidd and Anna Walker
Assistive Technology Resource Center

2. Assistive Technology Resource Center (ATRC)
Shannon
Ensuring equal access:
1. Direct Services: AT assessment, accommodation, training, equipment loans, and resources
Consultation and Education on campus regarding electronic accessibility, universal design, and ergonomics
Our Mission: Ensuring equal access to technology and electronic information for CSU students and employees with disabilities as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act and Sections 504 and 508 of the Rehabilitation Act

3. Students & Employees Are Diverse
Nontraditional
Learning / Cognitive Styles
English Language Learners
Ethnicity, Culture, Gender
Disabilities

4. Apparent vs non-apparent disabilities
When we look at students with disabilities we see about 1/3 have apparent disabilities: things like mobility, visual and hearing impairments. The other 2/3 have a non-apparent disability: So this includes things like ADHD, Learning disabilities, Autism, TBI, PTSD.
People often equate electronic accessibility with readability by screen readers (used by people with visual impairments) but most of the students seeking accommodations follow under non-apparent disabilities.

5. Scenario Discussion
You’re preparing supplemental materials for a course, including various types that you intend to share in Canvas.
What kind of course materials do you anticipate having? What file types?
How many ways might a student access those? Think about devices or technologies they might use.
What problems could they encounter?

6. Flexible Documents - Electronic Accessibility
Electronic content (e.g. Word, PPT, PDF, and Web) is accessed using a wide variety of devices and software
Content must be designed to interact well with these technologies.
Documents that work are Accessible
Universal Design – Create with accessibility up front instead of fixing it later
Shannon

7. Universal Design – Physical and Digital Worlds
Include accessibility as part of your work flow instead of retrofitting
UDL is the same concept for electronic accessibility
Designing digital content to work for students with disabilities benefits all students

8. CSU Policy: Accessibility of Electronic Information & Technologies
Campus-Wide Priorities
Public-Facing Content (e.g. Websites)
Student Need – Accommodation Requests
Other Considerations
Timeliness is key
Benefits to all students
CSU Accessibility Policy:

9. Easy Tips for Accessible Materials
Make Scanned PDFs Searchable
Use Headings in Word & Unique Titles in PPT
Use Slide Layouts in PPT
Add Descriptive Text to Links
Add Alternative Text to Images
Use Accessibility Checkers
Add Captions to Videos
Allison

10. Chris – Non-Apparent Disability
A Piece of the Picture
Sophomore with a diagnosis of Dyslexia and ADD
Some challenges he experiences in accessing reading materials
Unable to read efficiently
Poor quality PDF – small, faint and crowded font is hard to read
AT Chris used to access coursework for reading
Read and Write Gold
See and hear content simultaneously
text to speech
Change screen and highlighting color
Electronic highlighting
OCR and read PDF
“manipulate display” for change screen and highlighting color

11. Course Solutions for Chris
Handouts in digital formats – lets him use text to speech software
Universally designed PDF – lets him read and create annotations with Read and Write Gold or other text to speech software
Marla - Demo of accessible PDF

12. Make PDFs Searchable Scanned PDFs are images, not text
Use OCR (Optical Character Recognition) Software
Software that converts the image to text
Creates a PDF with text that is:
Selectable – Copy and Paste
Searchable
Text-to-Speech Capable
More Readable for Everyone
Shannon

13. Demo: Image-Only vs. Searchable PDF
Using Read & Write Gold – Popular Literacy Support Software
Search
Highlight, Copy, Paste
Text-to-Speech
Optical Character Recognition (OCR)
Benefits for all students?

14. Hands-On: Searchable PDF
Use the Text Recognition Tool to make the PDF Searchable

15. Ways to Make a Searchable PDF
OCR with Adobe Acrobat Professional
Very simple and easy process.
Can be automated to run on batches of PDFs
After the PDF has been created
Check with College I.T. for installation – site licenses are available.
OCR at the Scanner or Copier
Look for “Searchable PDF” or “OCR” options before scanning.
Morgan Library Course Reserves
Library staff can locate articles or chapters for your course
They scan, OCR, and post the PDF online for your class to access
Morgan Library Course Reserves (

16. Nate - Apparent Disability
A Piece of the Picture
Computer Science student who is legally blind
Considered a power user of assistive technologies
Barriers he experiences in accessing coursework
Print textbooks
Print handouts and study guides
PDF’s that are image only
Visual graphics and formulas
Marla – case studies illustrate what is required today and what accessibility can mean and do for a student

17. AT Nate Used to Access Coursework
*Screen reading software
For most documents and web
Braille translation software for embossing
Refreshable Braille
Tactile graphics
Tiger pro graphics with Braille
Daisy book player - Stream

18. Course Solutions for Nate
Course content in digital formats
Use of Braille or screen reading software
Needs lecture content in digital format
ideally ahead of time
Universally designed course materials
Example:
Word documents : create with Styles and Headings
PowerPoints: Use Slide Layouts
Needs content uploaded into Canvas to be accessible
Word docs, PowerPoint, PDFs
Putting course content in digital format allows Nate to access the materials with Braille or screen reading software. Giving him the content ahead of time allows him to use technology such as refreshable Braille to emboss content.
When creating materials think about creating universally designed course materials
For example. If a Word document is being created, use styles and headings

19. Use Headings in Word Generates a Table of Contents / Outline
Provides Structure
Indicates Level of Importance
Benefits Visual and Non-Visual Learners

20. Demo: Accessible vs. Inaccessible Word Doc
Using JAWS, a popular screen reader
Navigate using headings
Table of Contents
Benefits for all students?

21. Hands-On: Headings Click on “View”
Check the box labeled “Navigation Pane”
The Table of Contents window appears on the left

22. Headings in Canvas / Web
Format text using the provided styles for headings, lists, and paragraph text
These choices are common in many html editors, including WordPress
Start with the biggest (lowest #) heading available, and don’t skip levels

23. Hands-On: PPT Slide Titles
Give Every Slide a Unique Title
Check Your Outline View

24. Slide Layouts in PowerPoint
Use Slide Layouts instead of drawing text boxes
This helps with reading order

25. Hands-On: PPT Reading Order
To check the reading order of a slide:
Home > Arrange > Selection Pane
Content will read from the bottom to top in the selection pane

26. Descriptive Links Do you see a problem with this link?
Link addresses:
Can be long and full of random characters
Clutter up the page
Are difficult to read

27. Links Examples Bad Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyA5mkhCzRA
Good Link – Change the display text to be descriptive:
Good, Bad, and Ugly: Closed Captioning and Video Description
Good Link for Print Materials – Include the address in parentheses:
Good, Bad, and Ugly: Closed Captioning and Video Description ( A)

28. Demo/Hands-On: Adding Display Text to Links

29. Demo: Listening to Images
Listen to images as they are read by JAWS
With alternative text
Without alternative text

30. Writing Alt Text: Context is Key
Consider the picture. How would the alt text change if the image is used for…
Ice Cream Manufacturer
Girl Scouts of America
Diversity Website
Source: Jesse Hausler, ATRC & The ACCESS Project

31. Hands-On: Adding Alt Text Microsoft Office
Right-Click on Image to Format Picture or Format Shape
Click on Layout & Properties in the Sidebar
Expand the Alt Text menu
Add the text in the Description field

32. Adding Alt Text in Canvas
When you insert an image in Canvas, add the text description in the “Alt text” box provided

33. Use the Accessibility Checker
In Microsoft Office
File > Check for Issues > Check Accessibility
Manually check images, since the checker will not realize when the alt text is ‘junk’

34. Converting from Office to PDF
Start with an Accessible Source Document
Using Acrobat Professional Plugin
“Enable Accessibility and Reflow with Tagged Adobe PDF” in Plugin Preferences
Use “Save As PDF” or “Create PDF”
Avoid Printing to Adobe PDF in the Printers List!
Using Microsoft Built-in Converter
“Document structure tags for accessibility” in “Save as” Options

35. Fixing PDFs (Advanced)
Both Scanned and Converted PDFs need to be manually checked for accessibility within Acrobat
Check “Tags” for Correct Reading Order
Images will be out of order on converted PDFs
Images need to have tags and alt text added manually on scanned PDFs
Run the “Make Accessible” Action Wizard (v.XI)

36. Add Captions to Videos
Captions benefit many students, including those who:
Have Hearing Impairments
Have a Learning Disability or other non-apparent disability
Don’t have speakers / headphones
Are in a quiet workspace
Are in a loud workspace
Are learning English
Have difficulty understanding different accents
Want to search and jump to a specific point in the video
Want to highlight and take notes on a video (Echo 360)

37. Captioning Options at CSU
YouTube Auto-Captions
A good place to start
Must edit for accuracy
Outsourcing Captioning
CSU is currently in an RFP process to determine a campus-wide solution
3rd Party Videos
The responsibility is on the 3rd party to provide you with a captioned version of the video
It is our responsibility to ask for it if it’s not automatically provided

38. YouTube Auto-Caption Example
Source: Funniest YouTube Captions Fails (CLONED) ( youtube-caption-fai_n_ html)

39. Campus Resources and Supports
Services for CSU students and employees with disabilities
Students need to register with Resources for Disabled Students first
ATRC Website (
(970)
ATRC Resources on Universal Design and Accessibility
– Accessibility Specialist
– Campus Service Coordinator
Trainings offered throughout the year (PDI, MTI) and by request
Tips and Guides at Accessibility By Design (
Allison