8. Accessibility & Usability
Uncertain how to make your course more accessible? In search of better tools for accomplishing this?
This page provides guidance, templates, and tutorials that will ease your efforts here.
Making Text Accessible
In this workshop, Peter Schilke introduces Ally and demonstrates how it enables greater text accessibility.
Making Videos Accessible
In this workshop, Peter Schilke illustrates how to caption videos and create transcripts in order to improve accessibility.
Making Images Accessible
Peter Schilke explores the use of alt text with complex images in this workshop.
Additional Resources on Digital Access in Education
Intro: An Introduction to Digital Accessibility
Topic 1: Digital Accessibility: Three Points About the Law
Meet Catherine Lhamon, the Assistant Secretary for the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, as she introduces key topics in the area of digital accessibility in education.
Learn about two Federal civil rights laws relevant to digital accessibility in the educational context: Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Topic 2: How Some People with Disabilities Use Technology
Topic 3: Recommended Practices & Tips for Digital Accessibility
Meet some students and parents with disabilities and learn how they interact with and use technology.
Learn some helpful tips to providing quality online experiences to everyone.
Topic 4: Vendors and Partnerships
Topic 5: Creating an Organizational Culture that Embraces Accessibility
Explore ideas for partnering with institutions and working with vendors to meet your digital accessibility goals.
Explore thoughtful approaches to partner with key stakeholders and mission-critical individuals within your organization to create a seamless, supportive culture around digital accessibility.
Topic 6: The Importance of Manual Testing for Digital Accessibility
Topic 7: Keyboard Access and Visual Focus Indicators
Learn why manual testing is important and how to incorporate reliable testing protocols into your workflow.
Explore fundamental concepts of testing for keyboard access and visual focus indicators, barriers typically missed by automated checkers.
Topic 8: Testing When the Screen is Magnified
Topic 9: Logical Reading Order
Dive deeper into manual testing, and see what can happen to navigation and content when web pages are enlarged by people with low vision.
Check out what can go wrong when web pages don’t follow a logical reading order for people who rely on keyboard navigation and screen readers.
Topic 10: Alternative Text
Topic 11: Fillable Forms
Learn about alternative text and why it is important for people who cannot see photographs and graphic images.
Forms can be a useful way of collecting information from your users. Do you know how to make sure everyone can use them?
Topic 12: Buttons & Form Controls
Topic 13: Use of Color Alone to Convey Information
Learn about form fields and buttons used on web pages, and how to test them for specific accessibility concerns.
What to think about when using color to convey information.
Topic 14: Color Contrast
Topic 15: Links
How to check for sufficient color contrast, and why it’s important.
All about links: how they are used in navigation, labelling concerns, and distinguishing them from surrounding text.
Topic 16: Tables
Topic 17: Heading Structure
Do you need to use a data table on your web page? If so, learn how to appropriately format table content to ensure everyone can understand your data.
Learn how to use heading structure on a web page so everyone can navigate your content with ease.
Topic 18: Video Captioning
Topic 19: Reporting & Responding to Digital Barriers for People with Disabilities
What counts as “success” when captioning your videos – and how to avoid epic (and embarrassing) gaffes.
A discussion of best practices for how schools can be aware of potential barriers and respond to such concerns, and tips for people with disabilities who experience barriers.