1. FACULTY CENTER FOR LEARNING DEVELOPMENT & ACCESS-ABILITY SUPPORT SERVICES 2015

2. RECENT NEWS: INSTITUTIONS ON NOTICE FOR RISK OF EXPOSURE FOR INACCESSIBILITY Harvard and M.I.T. Are Sued Over Lack of Closed Captions, New York TimesNew York Times 8/14/152 We don’t want to end up in the same boat…

3. 8/14/153 Accessibility means equal access. The ability of all persons, regardless of special needs or disabilities, to access, use, and benefit from everything within their environment. “ “ Suzanne Anderson McNeil Assistant Vice President, Student Health and Wellness Dean of Students Office/Student Affairs

4. ACCESS 8/14/154 What is the University’s Official Position on Accessibility? Disability Services at the University of Hartford What accommodations can be made for students who self-identify? ABILITY

5. 8/14/155 THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITES ACT Section 504 Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (1973) requires that all institutions that use federal funds such as financial aid, are required to comply with these standards to make web content accessible. Section 508 Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act (1973) talks about equal access to programs, opportunities and activities.

6. BUT HOW DO WE DO THIS? 8/14/156 Seems overwhelm ing? Some pointers to quickly make adjustments in your courses to ensure accessibility…

7. The easiest and quickest thing you can do, is to add ALT Tags (alternative text) to images in Blackboard (and any of your images in Word, Excel or PowerPoint files.) 8/14/157 ALT TAGS 1 In the name of the law.

8. 1.In your content area, Create Item. 2.From the tool bar, Insert/Edit Image. 3.Click Browse My Computer and attach file. 4.Input Image Description and Title to create alternative text to describe the image. 8/14/158 ALT TAGS in Blackboard

9. 1.Go to the Insert tab and click the Picture button, find your image and insert. 2.Right click on the image and Format Picture. 3.Click the Alt Text tab. 4.Insert a Title and Description. Then Close. 8/14/159 ALT TAGS in Office

10. The second thing you can do to make sure your courses are in good order is to make sure any videos or audio you use in your courses are set up so all students can access them. 8/14/1510 CAPTIONS/TRANSCRIPTS 2

11. Have you ever noticed the CC symbol on YouTube videos? Try to locate videos that already have Closed Captions (CC). If they don’t have it, consider contacting the creator to see if they can add it. If not, consider providing a text transcript for students and provide it next to your video link in your course. 8/14/1511 CAPTIONS &

12. YouTube has built in functionality to Create Subtitles and Closed Captions on your own videos that you have created and uploaded YouTube: 8/14/1512 CAPTIONS &

13. Two options: 1.Transcripts: Consider using student workers to create a transcript by typing word for word all the spoken text from the video into a Word Document, attach next to any videos uploaded/linked in Blackboard. 2.Captions: University of Hartford has employed a captioning service to help caption videos. See Office of Disability Services. 8/14/1513 CAPTION SERVICE Don’t have captions or transcripts?

14. Adding Transcripts to Ensemble (Uhart’s YouTube) Video embeds in Blackboard: 8/14/1514 TRANSCRIPTS Upload to Ensemble & then embed into Blackboard. 1.In your Blackboard course go to the video, click the down arrow next to it and then click Edit. 2.Browse My Computer to search and attach for your text transcript. 3.Your file will show up as attached, then click Submit.

15. Consider your students when uploading your media or content documents into Blackboard. Vision impaired students use screen reader software to read text to them. 8/14/1515 TEXT & COLOR 3 JAWS Demo: Reading a Course Schedule

16. Browsers have built-in ability to reduce or enlarge the text based on the viewer’s needs (12 pt. text for documents, 18 pt. for PowerPoint) In Blackboard, use the default size. If you enlarge the font, your browser may display it small, but others may see it large depending on their settings. 8/14/1516 TEXT (FONT/SIZE) Use a standard font and size

17. Styles, such as paragraphs, headers, etc. help students with screen reader software to navigate content easily. 8/14/1517 TEXT STYLES Use Styles to Separate Content

18. Avoid blinking text – Why do we do this? 8/14/1518 BLINKING TEXT

19. Avoid underlines – In the digital age, indicates a hyperlink TEXT UNDERLINES 8/14/1519 Some random underlined text… am I a link?

20. 8/14/1520 TEXT/COLOR CONTRAST Text/Background Color Contrast Some color combinations are very difficult to see… Here’s a chart to help you.

21. 8/14/1521 COLOR Minimal Use of Color Too much color can be overwhelming, distracting and detract from the purpose of your text. Do not use ONLY color to emphasize Use bold/italics. Screen readers cannot “read” color.

22. Documents and content embedded in Blackboard or shared with students should follow prior suggestions for Media, Images, Text and Color and Layout 8/14/1522 DOCUMENTS 4

23. 8/14/1523 OFFICE DOCUMENTS Word Alt Text Table Headers Standard Font Size Styles Minimal Use of Color Excel Alt Text Table Headers Chart Labels Don’t use color to emphasize PowerPoint Alt Text Table Headers Standard Font Size Styles Slide Titles Captions/Transcripts Narrate in Notes

24. File  Info  Check for Issues (Prepare for Sharing)  Check Accessibility 8/14/1524 Run Office Accessibility Checker ACCESSIBILITY CHECKER

25. PDFs –Use PDFs created from word documents or text programs that convert to PDF (able to highlight text in PDF), include a text file with PDF OCR –scan documents from photocopies/books so it converts to text. Library copy machines scan to OCR Create OCR from scanned documents FREE online 8/14/1525 Text-Based PDFs or Scan to OCR PDFs & OCR

26. COMMON QUESTIONS FROM FACULTY 8/14/15 26 “Doesn’t this seem like a lot of work for one student?”

27. COMMON QUESTIONS FROM FACULTY “What about all the work I’ve already done for this course?” 8/14/1527

28. COMMON QUESTIONS FROM FACULTY “Who’s going to pay for it?” (money, extra time commitment, etc.) 8/14/1528

29. COMMON QUESTIONS FROM FACULTY “Can’t I just wait until I have a student with a disability in my course that has requested accommodations?” 8/14/1529

30. COMMON QUESTIONS FROM FACULTY “Where can I get help?” Help us help you! “Where can I get help?” Help us help you! 8/14/1530

31. RESOURCES New York Times - Harvard and M.I.T. Are Sued Over Lack of Closed Captions http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/13/education/harvard-and- mit-sued-over-failing-to-caption-online-courses.html?_r=0http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/13/education/harvard-and- mit-sued-over-failing-to-caption-online-courses.html?_r=0 The World Wide Web Consortium which sets national & WCAG2.0 international standards for the Web: http://www.w3.org/TR/2008/REC-WCAG20-20081211/ http://www.w3.org/TR/2008/REC-WCAG20-20081211/ Americans with Disabilities Act http://www.ada.gov/http://www.ada.gov/ Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/civilrights/resources/factsheets/504.pdf http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/civilrights/resources/factsheets/504.pdf Web accessibility 508 standard: http://webaim.org/standards/508/checklist http://webaim.org/standards/508/checklist Wave – Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool http://wave.webaim.orghttp://wave.webaim.org See Priority 1 and Priority 2 as they are the most critical http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/full-checklist.html http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/full-checklist.html Web Accessibility Initiative – for those who are new to web accessibility standards http://www.w3.org/WAI/Resources/http://www.w3.org/WAI/Resources/ Html code validator http://validator.w3.orghttp://validator.w3.org 8/14/1531

32. Accessibility Features. https://help.blackboard.com/en- us/Learn/9.1_SP_12_and_SP_13/Administrator/035_Accessibilityhttps://help.blackboard.com/en- us/Learn/9.1_SP_12_and_SP_13/Administrator/035_Accessibility Blackboard Course Accessibility Checklist http://www.temple.edu/cs/training/accessibility/blackboard/CourseAcce ssibilityChecklist.pdf http://www.temple.edu/cs/training/accessibility/blackboard/CourseAcce ssibilityChecklist.pdf Making your content accessible in Blackboard http://info.uwe.ac.uk/online/Blackboard/staff/guides/accessibleContent. asp http://info.uwe.ac.uk/online/Blackboard/staff/guides/accessibleContent. asp Palacios, K. (2012, March 23). Adding Alt Text to Images in Blackboard. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRdxvtT57qg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRdxvtT57qg Latest on Section 508 Laws http://www.section508.gov/section508- lawshttp://www.section508.gov/section508- laws Guide to the Section 508 United States standards http://www.access- board.gov/guidelines-and-standards/communications-and-it/about-the- section-508-standards/guide-to-the-section-508-standardshttp://www.access- board.gov/guidelines-and-standards/communications-and-it/about-the- section-508-standards/guide-to-the-section-508-standards Section 508 Of The Rehabilitation Act. http://www.section508.gov/Section-508-Of-The-Rehabilitation-Act http://www.section508.gov/Section-508-Of-The-Rehabilitation-Act Images: Via subscription service with http://presentermedia.comhttp://presentermedia.com 8/14/1532 RESOURCES