When using Moodle in your course there are many ways to share content and materials.
Certain filetypes work better for students by opening through their web browser rather than requiring a download. If you are creating resources that are to be viewed by students you may want to avoid posting MS Word and MS PowerPoint files directly to Moodle, instead you might want to export those as PDF files. PDF files will open in web browsers like FireFox and Chrome, so students will be able to open notes without having to download them. Another option is using Google Docs and giving students view or comment access to your document.
If you have a video file on your computer you want to share with students consider uploading the video to your UPEI Google Drive account and posting the video link in Moodle. Linking to a video from Moodle is a better option than uploading the video file directly to Moodle. Firstly, Moodle has an upload limit of 500 MB which will limit the size of files. More importantly Moodle is not set up to host video as well as other services. Uploading a video to Google Drive will make the video easier to play for students who have weaker internet connections.
When sharing a video file you should ensure that the video is captioned and the captions are accurate to what is being said or described. Once you've uploaded your video file you can add captions to the video or upload a transcript file.
Ensuring that any print resources that you have in your course are screen-reader accessible is a great way to cover a baseline accessibility for your documents. Many of the tools supported institutionally have tools to make your documents more accessible for screen-readers.
For documents that you did not create, you may want to check whether the text of the document can be copied so that a screen-reader can read it, or it can be copied to another program to be read there. If you are unable to highlight or copy the text of the document, you may want to check for a better version or contact your liaison librarian to see if the document can be processed with optical character recognition (OCR).
When sharing a video file you should ensure that the video is captioned and the captions are accurate to what is being said or described. Many video hosting platforms will allow you to update transcripts for videos you upload.
Accessibility Checker in MS Word
Accessibility Checker in MS PowerPoint
As you add files, resources, and assessments to your course you will want to consider the navigability of the course page. Leveraging principles of visual hierarchy can help students track key points, manage deadlines, and easily find what they're looking for on a course page. When using Moodle you may want to use headings, colour, and labels to break up the course page. Another approach may be having a course topic set up with just the course deadlines.
Some countries will restrict citizen and resident access to web services such as YouTube, Google Suite, and more. Making sure that students are able to read, watch, and engage with your course materials, regardless of their geographical location is a part of accessible course design. You may want to include a survey about where you students will be learning from and whether they have concerns about access to course materials.
When in doubt, hosting resources directly on Moodle either by uploading a document as a file on Moodle or writing content into a Moodle Page Resource.
For video content many common tools may not be accessible in a country with geo-restrictions. Blackboard Collaborate recordings are accessible, though synchronous sessions may be difficult for students living in these countries. The UPEI OneDrive is another alternative that frequently works if Google Drive is blocked. Having the video transcript available is a good practice for ensuring students have options for accessing the material.