1. Talking with Faculty about Accessibility
Talking to Faculty about Accessibility
November 2016
Talking with Faculty about Accessibility
Gaeir Dietrich
HTCTU Director
11/10/2018
CC copyrighted under creative commons

2. Learning from Mistakes
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3. Round One It’s the law People listened politely…and did not change
Also managed to upset and alienate some people
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4. Round Two It’s the right thing to do Worked a bit better
Think of your students!
Worked a bit better
Worked particularly well with STEM faculty
STEM faculty REALLY want everyone to learn their subject matter
They like solving problems
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5. Time to Reassess
Took a step back and asked myself, What would make faculty *want* to help with accessibility
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6. Round Three Accessibility intersects with basic skills
Becoming a better teacher
Began engaging faculty member’s thoughtfulness around the issue
Started getting a LOT more interest
Although the interest level increased, I still wasn’t seeing the change I wanted
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7. Round Four Make it simple
I thought the more I could simplify the process, the better the results would be
Sort of worked—gained more interest
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8. But…
Still encountering resistance because accessibility was perceived as taking extra time and effort
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9. Back to the Drawing Board…
Finally, realization dawned…what was needed was “enlightened self-interest”
If faculty felt there was “something in it for them,” they would become more interested
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10. Round Five
I looked for ways that making documents accessible would save faculty members time
Finally, I was seeing real change
Faculty members really wanted to know this information AND they got to feel good about ALSO helping students
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11. Win-Win I finally had a message that led to change
BUT I had to overcome a good bit of initial resistance
AND I wasn’t getting many people in the audience
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12. Reevaluating Again
I needed a presentation that would generate greater openness before I began talking about document creation
I wanted to create an enlightening experience
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13. Experiencing Differences
I developed a presentation on Universal Design for Learning (UDL) based on a learning styles profile
This strategy worked better than I could have imagined
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14. Learning Styles Profile
Used a learning styles profile broken down into visual written, visual graphic, auditory, kinesthetic
Have faculty take the profile and then share with small groups
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15. HUGE Experiences People were having incredible Ah ha! moments
Visual written instructor
Auditory and visual graphic spouses
Kinesthetic son
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16. Round Six Strategy Start with the UDL presentation
Move to a hands-on presentation on creating accessible Word documents
Add accessible PDF
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17. Results? Knockout!
Not only are faculty excited about how much time they can save, they have experienced in a personal, deep way what it means to have learning differences
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18. Other Tips Give faculty permission to not be perfect!
Remind them that they can start to include accessibility on new material and work on archival materials as needed.
Provide support -- who can they call?
Make retraining available
Tap into your champions—enthusiasm is contagious!
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19. The UDL Presentation
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20. Principles of UDL Present content and information in different ways
Provide multiple means for students to express what they know
Provide multiple means to engage learners

21. Learning Styles Different people learn differently
We process information from different sensory pathways differently
Visual
Auditory
Kinesthetic

22. Learning Profile1 Visual Auditory Kinesthetic Visual graphic
Visual written
Auditory
Kinesthetic
1 Thanks to Myra Lerch, Butte College, retired

23. How do you learn?
Read each question and choose the best answer for you
Add the columns and collate the results on the back
We will take a few minutes to complete the learning profile

24. No Right or Wrong
Differences in learning styles are simply differences
Knowing your learning style and the learning styles of others can aid communication and understanding
No one way is more “right” than any other, but some are more useful in certain situations
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25. Consider Some Results Low on Auditory Low on Visual Graphic
May be better face-to-face than over the phone
Low on Visual Graphic
May struggle with charts and graphs
High on Kinesthetic
Learn by doing

26. Consider Our Biases “Students should read before they come to class”
I’m probably high on Visual Written
“I want to understand how to put something together before I do it”
I’m likely low on Kinesthetic
“I summarize information in charts”
I’m probably strong on Visual Graphic
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27. Doing Unto Others… If we are high visual written
May expect students to read material before the lecture/lab
If we are high visual graphic
May assume that charts and graphs will help all students
If we are kinesthetic
May expect to engage students in an activity with no written preparation
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28. Implications for UDL
Realize that we may be communicating to ourselves!
The principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) are designed to engage everyone
Teach to all the modalities—not just our own strengths

29. Additional Strategies?
Lecture (auditory)
Readings (visual written)
Writing assignments (visual written)
Graphic organizers (visual graphic)
Activities (kinesthetic)

30. And it just so happens…
When you communicate to/design for someone who is blind, it helps others not strong in visual learning
When you communicate to/design for someone who is deaf, it helps others not strong in auditory learning

31. Better Communication
Learning to consider the needs of individuals with disabilities segues into learning to better communicate to all learning styles
There are times when all of us are functionally blind or functionally deaf.
TV Raman
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32. The Accessible Word Presentation
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33. Helpful Acronym Use this “colored” LIST for access! Links Images
Structure
Table
And watch your color contrast!
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34. L is for Links Instead of …
Click here for document X
Use the name or description as the hyperlink
Document X has the information you need
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35. Benefits Benefit for you Benefit for others
You don’t loose connection with your materials when you make edits
Linking to documents and learning objects by their names allows you to keep track of them easily!
Benefit for others
What you get when you click is clear
Screen reader users can use a “links list”
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36. How to Create a Link Select the text for the hyperlink’s name
Right-click
Choose “Hyperlink…”
Browse to the object you want to link
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37. Checklist
√ Links
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38. I is for Images Add very brief text description
If graphic is simply decoration, wait and mark it as “decorative” in Adobe Acrobat Pro
If graphic is informative, describe as succinctly as possible
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39. Benefits Benefits for you Benefits for others
Requires “out of the box” thinking
Text becomes searchable online
Benefits for others
Text appears on mouse-over, clarifying purpose of graphic
Provides access for nonvisual users
Higher “hit” on Google
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40. Checklist
√ Links √ Images
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41. S is for Styles Use styles Use columns if needed DO NOT use text boxes
Headings
Lists / bulleted lists / numbered lists
Use columns if needed
DO NOT use text boxes
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42. Benefits Benefits for you Benefits for others
Allows easy changing and editing
Improves document navigation
Can use “outline” view to rearrange sections
Automatic table of contents
Benefits for others
Improves document navigation for all—headings useable with screen readers
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43. Checklist
√ Links √ Images √ Styles
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44. Talking to Faculty about Accessibility
November 2016
T is for Table
Mark the header row in your tables
Word calls this “Repeat as header row at top of every page” or just “Repeat Header Rows”
Note: If you have column headers (i.e., header in first column), that will need to be marked in Adobe Acrobat Pro
11/10/2018
CC copyrighted under creative commons

45. Benefits Benefits for you Benefits to others
Always see header row, even across multiple pages
Lessens reformatting/editing issues
Benefits to others
Screen reader users will be able to hear the header text repeated as needed
Users of large print will still see header row when enlarging text
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46. Checklist √ Links √ Images √ Styles √ Tables And you’re done!
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47. Results
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48. Faculty Are Excited Receiving more presentation requests than ever
Faculty are sharing with each other
Faculty are now requesting MORE training on accessibility!
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49. Thank you! Gaeir (rhymes with “fire”) Dietrich gdietrich@htctu.net