3. Legal Rights and Responsibilities in a Virtual Environment

The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) has adopted the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 Level AA standard.

There are a lot of factors that determine whether content is accessible. Much of it might not apply to your course, but all this depends on the sort of things you create. 

Below are some important things to keep in mind:

General

• Provide lecture slides and notes in advance of the current live lecture.

• Both Microsoft Office and Adobe have built in accessibility checkers. Information about MS Office. Information about Adobe.

Text and Documents

• Use sans serif fonts. Serif refers to decorative strokes at the end of letters.

• This is a serif font. So is this one.

• Some good options: Verdana, Arial, Open Sans.

• Ensure text is at least size 24 in PowerPoints and 12 point in documents.

• All text should be actual text, not images of text.

• Do not format large blocks of text with italics (minimum usage is fine)

• Do not underline works for emphasis. Underline should only be used for hyperlinks.

• A guide from the Canadian National Institute for the Blind.

• Use headings that accurately describe their section in Word documents which contain course content or assignment instructions.

  • You want to use the Headings feature of word processing applications. They are linked to a table of contents, making navigation easier.

  • For example, when writing instruction document, use headings such as, 'Instructions', 'Examples' and 'Rubric'

Colour

• Colour contrast between text and background is at least 4.5:1

  • You can check this by going to a web accessibility checker (or another one), and entering the colour code for the text and background. It will then tell you which guidelines are met. Watch this video to learn how to use the website.

    • You can get the colour code by using the eye-dropper feature of PowerPoint to capture the colour of the text and the background.

  • If you're not sure, stick to dark text on a light background. If you have text over an image, give the textbox a solid white background to ensure that text is readable.

• Color is not used by itself to emphasize or identify content. At least two identifiers need to be present (for example, when creating a line graph, both colour and line style are used).

Prerecorded Video and Audio

• All videos are captioned. Additionally, transcripts can also be provided.

• If using YouTube vidoes, some have closed captioning enabled, others do not. Choose videos with closed captioning enabled.

• If you are making videos for class, upload them to either MS Stream or YouTube in order to provide closed captioning.

• If you are making videos, consider using a script. Not only will this make the audio cleaner and more professional, the script can be provided to students as a transcript.

• Speak slowly and clearly on all pre-recorded content

  • This makes it easier to understand, and also allows auto-captioning software to create captions more accurately.

Images and Non-Text Content

• All images have ALT text and/or a long description, or if decorative, marked as decorative.

• Any images that convey learning content should have a description posted for learners using screen readers. Instructions to add alternative text in MS Office products.

• Where possible, charts and graphs should have a short description of what is being displayed and the key points.

Links

• Hyperlins have meaningful text that describe it's purpose and are underlined.

  • Screen readers will read out the words of a link to students. Change it so the text is not a raw link, but a description of where the link leads.

  • This page is an example of this. As you can see, each link describes where it takes the viewer and doesn't write out the entire address.

Synchronous Sessions

• Zoom, MS Teams and Webex have capabilities to provide automatic live captioning during sessions

• Big Blue Button does not.

  • Big Blue Button's closed caption feature requires that a person volunteer to provide captions in real time.

• Google Slides and PowerPoint have auto captioning features, and can be used in video conferencing software.

  • Information: Google Slides auto captions. Microsoft PowerPoint captions.

  • To use this feature during a live lecture, prepare the slides following the instructions in the links above, and share your screen with students.

• Activities that take place synchronously, such as Mentimeter polls, should be available to students to review after the lesson has ended.

  • A good way to achieve this with Mentimeter is to set the presentation to 'Audience paced' after the synchronous session and provide students the voting and results link.

• Parts of the session that cover content should be recorded and provided for students.

Learning Resources

• Any articles required for class should be freely available either through the library or the internet

  • Articles and resources should not be hidden behind a paywall or require students to register

• When possible, use open education resources as opposed to expensive textbooks

• Include additional resources that contain both prerequisite and more advanced knowledge

  • Resources that explain basic concepts will be helpful for students who want to review prerequisite ideas and concepts

  • Resources that are more advanced give students an opportunity to expand their knowledge

Instructions

• At times, students will be interacting with content in a way that doesn't match the way it is displayed to you. This can include using screen readers, auditory instructions, and other accessibility aids.

  • For example, a student who is colour blind would not benefit from instructions that indicate which buttons to select solely based off of their colours.

  • When giving instructions about submitting an online form, don't just say, 'Click the red box at the bottom right'. Instead, say, 'Select the red box labelled 'submit' at the bottom right'. By adding in a description based on the text, a student viewing the material in a different spatial arrangement or with different colours will still manage to complete the task.

Navigating Content

• Content should be able to be navigated using a keyboard and not require a mouse.

Time Limits (Not graded tests or quizzes)

• Avoid anything with a time limit that is not a graded test or quiz.

• An example might be an activity that requires students to look at something for a certain amount of time before answering a question about it. Remove the time limit to allow them as much time as needed before moving on to the question.

• While Kahoot style quiz games may be popular, use them sparingly, as the time limit may not work for all students.

Consistency

• Presentations should be visually consistent throughout the semester.

  • This can be easily achieved by selected one PowerPoint template and using it throughout the semester.

• Adopt a consistent lecture schedule, within reason.

  • For example: introductions, agenda, questions, lecture, discussion, etc.

For more information and tips, see this document from Seneca's Human Resources department about creating documents that comply with AODA standards.

Generally, using copyrighted materials for educational purposes is acceptable under Canadian Copyright Law. The following advice assumes you are using such content for educational purposes in your work with Seneca.

The two major requirements for such use is that the copied material is short and credit is given. Giving credit is fairly straightforward. When it comes to a 'short exceprt' the following definition applies:

The definition is taken directly from Seneca's Library FAQ article on the subject.

A short excerpt means:

1. Up to 10% of a copyright-protected work (including a literary work, musical score, sound recording, and an audiovisual work),

2. One chapter from a book,

3. A single article from a periodical,

4. An entire artistic work (including a painting, print, photograph, diagram, drawing, map, chart, and plan) from a copyright-protected work containing other artistic works,

5. An entire newspaper article or page,

6. An entire single poem or musical score from a copyright-protected work containing other poems or musical scores, and

7. An entire entry from an encyclopedia, annotated bibliography, dictionary or similar reference work.

Copying multiple short excerpts from the same work, or the work as a whole, is prohibited.  

If you are unsure whether a certain article or resource follows this guideline, provide a link to where it can be found. Directing students to wherever the author has chosen to host the material does not break any copyright laws.

Seneca's Freedom of Information and Protection Privacy Policy (visible here) is a document that was made in compliance with the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA).

This document can be quite difficult to wade through. Some key points and practices to keep in mind to ensure that you are following the policy:

• Grades, names, student numbers, and all student personal information is to be kept in Blackboard only.

  • Other places (Google docs for example) cannot be guaranteed to have the same privacy controls as Blackboard.

• Only discuss a student's situation with that student.

• When creating any videos or instructional documents, ensure no student personal information is visible.

• Section 5.2.2 says:

  • Employees may only share students’ personal information with other employees whose duties and responsibilities authorize them to have access to that information. Employees may only share a student’s information beyond those with authorized access if prior consent is obtained from the student.

  • So, be sure to only share student personal information with those that have authorization to have them.