Online Course Improvement Program (OCIP) Instructional Innovation & Quality ocip.nmsu.edu © 2016 NMSU Board of Regents Instructional Innovation and Quality (IIQ) Accessible Content: Word/PDF Documents Presented by Sharon Lalla and Miley Grandjean

ocip.nmsu.edu © 2016 NMSU Board of Regents Please share your expectations with us about this workshop What do you want to learn?

ocip.nmsu.edu © 2016 NMSU Board of Regents In this workshop, you will: –Get familiar with Policy protecting students with disabilities –Review screen reader activity –Run an accessibility checker –Edit a Syllabus Word document file to make it accessible –Edit a PPT to make it accessible to screen readers –Convert your syllabus to an accessible PDF –Discuss issues –What’s next? Agenda

ocip.nmsu.edu © 2016 NMSU Board of Regents Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, “ “No otherwise qualified handicapped individual shall, solely by reason of his handicap, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” Retrieved from sas.nmsu.edu Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 “No qualified individual with a disability shall, by reason of such disability, be excluded from participation in or be denied the benefits of the services, programs, or activities of a public entity, or be subjected to discrimination by such entity.” Retrieved from sas.nmsu.edu Why make content accessible?

ocip.nmsu.edu © 2016 NMSU Board of Regents Plan not Retrofit QM8: Accessibility The course design accommodates the use of assistive technologies (8.4)

ocip.nmsu.edu © 2016 NMSU Board of Regents In 2009, NFB and ACB filed suit against ASU and the Arizona Board of Regents. ASU began a pilot program to distribute electronic textbooks to students using Kindle DX. The problem was that the Kindle only supports limited text-to-speech capabilities—users can have the device read books aloud, but the menu system and Kindle Store were not part of this feature. As a result, blind students were unable to navigate the device, or even turn on the text-to-speech feature in the first place, without help from a seeing friend. This, according to the NFB and ACB, was a violation of both the federal Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act of (Cheng 2010). Case #1 “The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) and the American Council of the Blind (ACB) have settled a lawsuit against Arizona State University (ASU) over the university's plan to deploy the Kindle DX among students. The settlement involves no monetary damages, but ASU agreed to use devices that are more accessible to the blind if it chooses to deploy e- book readers in the coming years. If Amazon wants to be part of that deployment, it had better up its accessibility game.”

ocip.nmsu.edu © 2016 NMSU Board of Regents “…Mr. Shandrow took a Spanish class that used an online workbook from a company called Quia Web. It was filled with unlabeled images. Such labels, part of the code under the hood of Web pages, are crucial because screen readers use them to describe pictures. Their absence forced Mr. Shandrow to depend on a sighted aide when he took the class.” (Parry, 2010) Case #2: College Locks Out Blind Students Online “…But even though he can navigate so much of the world, Mr. Shandrow hit a wall when he got to Spanish 101. The obstacle: an online workbook that failed to correctly label images.”

ocip.nmsu.edu © 2016 NMSU Board of Regents Another Benefit Clearing the path for those with special needs clears the paths for everyone to the greatest extent possible (Universal Design for Learning)

ocip.nmsu.edu © 2016 NMSU Board of Regents What does a screen reader do? Reads text out loud Reads out loud heading styles to show subordination Reads words representing hypertext links Reads the alt tag to describe an image Identifies header rows/columns in tables Reading Content Using a Screen Reader (Youtube)Youtube

ocip.nmsu.edu © 2016 NMSU Board of Regents Here’s How to Check Word Documents for Accessibility 15 min 1.Open your Word file. 2.Run the Accessibility Checker: a. Go to File>Info>Check for Issues>Check Accessibility 3.Review any errors tips found (located on the right side of screen). 4.Discuss observations.

ocip.nmsu.edu © 2016 NMSU Board of Regents Exercise 20 minutes 1.Fix errors listed in he Accessibility Checker box. If there are no errors, use the example we are providing in class. 2.Go to for guidance. 3.Discuss activity.

ocip.nmsu.edu © 2016 NMSU Board of Regents Here’s How to Check PPT Documents for Accessibility Let me go through the PPT and show you a few things…then your turn— 1.Go to our OCIP Resources wiki page, and download the Practice PPT. 2.Run the Accessibility Checker: a. Go to File>Info>Check for Issues>Check Accessibility 3.Review any errors tips found (located on the right side of screen). 4.Discuss observations.

ocip.nmsu.edu © 2016 NMSU Board of Regents Exercise 20 minutes 1.Fix errors listed in he Accessibility Checker box. If there are no errors, use the example we are providing in class. 2.Go to for guidance on what to fix.

ocip.nmsu.edu © 2016 NMSU Board of Regents Convert Word Documents to Accessible PDFs 1.Select File from the menu. 2.Select Save As and PDF as the format. 3.Select Options. 4.Make sure Document Properties and Document Structure tags for Accessibility are selected. 5.Rename the file and save it to the desktop.

ocip.nmsu.edu © 2016 NMSU Board of Regents Scanned Text as PDFs

ocip.nmsu.edu © 2016 NMSU Board of Regents Let’s Review Create and modify documents using tagged structure. Use heading styles. Use short headings. Add alt text to images. Specify column header rows in tables. Use hyperlink text that is descriptive. Ensure that the reading order of each slide is logical. What not to do: Scan document as image Scan a document as a pdf Avoid image watermarks Avoid using tables if you cannot identify row and column titles Avoid using blank cells for formatting

ocip.nmsu.edu © 2016 NMSU Board of Regents Baby Steps… 1.Take training on how to make content accessible (content authors) 2.Keep one copy of Adobe Pro in each department. It will recognize text and make text accessible. 3.Force companies to include accessibility by refusing to buy or use their products without it. 4.Make access a high priority (such as Cal State - iTunesU). 5.Find textbooks that can be read by screen readers or other assistive technology (paper and electronic textbooks accessible). "Academic freedom is not something that provides a pass from, say, ADA.“ Mark turner Cal State

ocip.nmsu.edu © 2016 NMSU Board of Regents Resources Ocip Resources NMSU UDL Website Screenreader youtube video Workshops: –Feb 23: Accessible Web Content –April TBD: Accessible Video

ocip.nmsu.edu © 2016 NMSU Board of Regents Contacts: Online Course Improvement Program (OCIP) Sharon Lalla, Miley Grandjean,

ocip.nmsu.edu © 2016 NMSU Board of Regents Survey Monkey Name of workshop: Creating Accessible Documents URL: