Accessibility for Educators

UIS Center for Online Learning, Research and Service

New Faculty Teaching and Learning Academy 2021

About COLRS

COLRS is the UIS hub for the study and application of online learning pedagogy, technology, and best practices.

• Strive to empower UIS faculty in the delivery of online education
• Support original scholarly research
• Build synergies between research and online education practices
• Build online collaborations

COLRS Team

• Vickie Cook, OPEL Executive Director
• Michele Gribbins, COLRS Associate Director/Interim Director
• Emily Boles, eLearning Specialist
• Carrie Levin, eLearning Specialist
• John Freml, IT Technical Associate
• Alana Gomoll, Accessibility Coordinator
• Scott Moomaw, Multimedia Specialist

COLRS Resources for Faculty

• Email, Phone (217-206-7317) & In-Person Support / Consultation
• Request one-on-one support & consultation
• Open Office Hours on Zoom (10 am & 2 pm Weekdays)
• Searchable Blog of Teaching & Technology Tips
• Canvas Commons Content (templates, remote learning orientation)
• Building Digital Community self-paced course
• Canvas Resources (how-to videos)
• DART Team
• Teaching Resources
• COLRS Faculty Fellows Program

Why is Accessibility Important?

• It’s the law.
• It’s the right thing to do.

Types of Disability

• Physical Disabilities (Including visual and auditory)
• Learning
• Cognitive

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• Totaling 25% population
• About 10% of students actually go to Disability Services to get accommodations.

Actions to Improve Accessibility

1. Reading Order
• Heading style & Text Box in Word
• Slide Layout in PowerPoint
2. Showing Emphasis �(Bold, Italics, color changes)
3. Font sizes
4. Color Contrast
5. Repeated Characters

6. Link formats
7. Lists
8. Alternative representations
• Alt Text
• Captions & Transcripts (see Alana!)
9. Table Formatting and Use
10. Read it aloud

TOP 10

The Tools

• PC: Office 2013 or newer
• Mac: Office 2016 or newer
• Online: Office 365 is free for UIS users. Log in at go.uis.edu/office365
• Help for Accessibility in MS Office Products

Reading Order

Navigation in Word: Headings

Reading Order

PowerPoint Titles

• Titles are headings in PowerPoint
• Checking reading order

Showing Emphasis�Skip the color; Just use bold (strong) OR italic (emphasis)

• Many people like to add emphasis to their words in documents by highlighting, changing text to a different color, or changing the font to be in bold, italic, or underlined.

Fonts Sizes

• Arial for online materials �(and other san-serif fonts like Verdana, Tahoma, Calibri, or Helvetica)
• Size 14 +
• 90% of visions issues relate to limited vision
• 60-80% of students access info on phones

Color Contrast�& Color Combinations to Avoid

• Green & Red
• Green & Brown
• Blue & Purple
• Green & Blue
• Light Green & Yellow
• Blue & Grey
• Green & Grey
• Green & Black

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WebAIM Color Contrast Checker

Repeated Characters

and Screen Readers

• Space Space Space
• Enter Enter Enter
• Tab Tab Tab
• Repeated Characters are read aloud!
• Use other built in features to arrange text.

Natural Language Hyperlinks

• https://Doyoureallythinksomeonewantstoreadthis\imeanit!\@huh\#$too\%^dontforget&*()-_?><,.?     OR
• Assignment 1

Lists Create Structure for Information

Unordered List

• Bullet
• Bullet
• Bullet

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Ordered List

1. First
2. Second
3. Third

Alternative Representations

Alt text for images

Defining Alt Text

• Alternative text provides a textual alternative to non-text content in web pages. 
• Read by screen readers
• Displayed in place of an image
• Provides information to search engines

Alt Text Activity

1. View the image.
2. We’ll call on volunteers to describe the photo to the group and discuss what makes for high quality alt text.
3. We’ll share the alt text for these images used in real courses.

Picture 1

Alt text for Picture 1

Depicted is a photograph of an X chromosome (longer and larger in size on the left) and a Y chromosome (much shorter and positioned on the right).

Picture 2

Alt Text for Picture 2

Two indigenous Maya women are seen standing and talking together in a marketplace; each is wearing brightly colored clothing specific to her community, with a huipil (wi-pil) blouse, long corte (kor-te) skirt, and cloth wrapped on her head.

Alt Text Wrap Up

• Like many things in web accessibility, determining appropriate, equivalent, alternative text is often a matter of personal interpretation. 
• As the content matter expert in your course, you know why you selected the image and provide that context for your students.

Alternative Representation in Videos

• Captions
• Transcript
• Audio Description

Tables should format tabular data�Not replace forms

Read it out loud

• How does a screen reader interpret these? 
• 7-10 
• Faculty/staff 
• Automated Systems and Solutions
• Wed

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Accessibility Resources at UIS

Accessible Syllabus Template

• Face-to-Face Course Syllabus Accessible Template (docx)
• Online-Blended Course Syllabus Accessible Template (docx)
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• New! Design Plus Syllabus tool in Canvas (HTML)

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If you decide to Convert a DOCX to PDF...

• You're going to need to check for accessibility AGAIN in your PDF. 
• The conversion process adds new issues!
• PDFs used in Course Reserves through Brookens Library will be made accessible. 

Canvas + Accessibility

• It is only as accessible as what you upload.
• Page accessibility checker
• UDOIT Canvas course-level accessibility checker

Free Professional Development Programs for UIS Faculty

ION Professional eLearning Programs

uis.edu/ion

Contact COLRS

• For more information about Hyflex learning pedagogy, visit the COLRS website
• To schedule a meeting with a member of the COLRS team, visit the Office 365 “Book COLRS” site.
• Join COLRS open office hours, daily at 10 AM: go.uis.edu/colrszoom

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