1.  Copyright Curtis D. Edmonds, 2002.  This work is the intellectual property of the author. Permission is granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided that this copyright statement appears on the reproduced materials and notice is given that the copying is by permission of the author. To disseminate otherwise or to republish requires written permission from the author.

2. PowerPoint Accessibility for Students with Disabilities in Online Distance Education

3. Curtis D. Edmonds Georgia Institute of Technology Southeast Disability and Business Technical Assistance Center

4. PowerPoint Accessibility  There are several options available to faculty members to provide PowerPoint content in online distance learning courses.

5. PowerPoint Accessibility  First, faculty members can simply place a PowerPoint file online for students to download.

6. PowerPoint Accessibility  Students can download the free PowerPoint viewer from Microsoft.  Students can view the file using a PowerPoint plug-in in their Internet browser.

7. PowerPoint Accessibility  However, students with visual impairments may have difficulty accessing presentations offered in this way.

8. PowerPoint Accessibility  Example Improving Atlanta’s Air:  http://environmental.gate ch.edu/SAMI/soft_link/upd ate3.ppt http://environmental.gate ch.edu/SAMI/soft_link/upd ate3.ppt

9. PowerPoint Accessibility  The PowerPoint plug-in presents slides in a JavaScript format that is inaccessible to students with visual disabilities.

10. PowerPoint Accessibility  Students with visual impairments who have PowerPoint may not be able to access all images or charts in a file.

11. PowerPoint Accessibility  Alternatively, PowerPoint also allows faculty members to save presentations as web pages.

12. PowerPoint Accessibility  Example: Yours Is A Very Bad Hotel:  http://www.snopes.com/b usiness/info/badhotel/fram e.htm http://www.snopes.com/b usiness/info/badhotel/fram e.htm

13. PowerPoint Accessibility  The web pages use five separate frames to display information, which can be confusing for students with disabilities.

14. PowerPoint Solutions  There is a quick and easy way to provide online access to PowerPoint presentations for all students.

15. PowerPoint Solutions  Example:  http://www.txreviews.com /ppt/navajo3.html http://www.txreviews.com /ppt/navajo3.html

16. PowerPoint Solutions  The first step is to save PowerPoint slides as JPEG images.

17. PowerPoint Solutions  The second step is to create an HTML page that contains each of the JPEG images.

18. PowerPoint Solutions  The third step is to intersperse the text of each slide into the HTML document.

19. PowerPoint Solutions  You can use Cascading Style Sheets to make the text hidden within the HTML, but so that people who use screen readers can access it.

20. PowerPoint Solutions  Inserting the text allows all users to search the contents of the file for information.

21. PowerPoint Solutions  Presentations presented in this manner are easier to navigate than presentations that require multiple clicks.

22. PowerPoint Solutions  The Southeast DBTAC is funding a tutorial on PowerPoint accessibility that should be available in 2003.

23. For More Information  Visit our web site at http://www.sedbtac.org/ http://www.sedbtac.org/  Or call your regional DBTAC at (800) 949-4232.  E-mail: sedbtac@catea.org