Universal Design: Making Documents More Usable for All Learners (Word & PDF)

1. Universal Design: Making Documents More Usable for All Learners (Word & PDF) May 22, 2013

2. Introductions • Assistive Technology Resource Center • Provide Assistive Technology for students, faculty and staff with disabilities • Provide consultation support for faculty and staff at CSU on accessibility • http://atrc.colostate.edu • Allison Kidd • IT Coordinator • UDL / Accessibility Trainer • Shannon Lavey, MS, OTR • Service Coordinator • Assistive Technology Trainer

3. Today’s Agenda • CSU’s Accessibility Guidelines • Principles of Universal Design for Learning • Learning Styles • Learning Challenges • Assistive Technology • Documents that are Compatible with Technology • Structure • Alternate Text • Word Documents • PDF Documents

4. CSU’s Guidelines for Accessibility of Electronic and Information Technology • CSU is committed to providing equal access to electronic information for all students • Universal Design for Learning provides a strategy for preparing materials that overcome barriers to learning and benefit all learners Adopted by Faculty Council, Fall 2012

5. Universal Design Universal design is the design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design. –Ron Mace, UD Institute

6. Universal Design for Learning Universal Design for Learning (UDL)is a set of principles for designing materials that give all individuals equal opportunities to learn. “ ” Source: http://www.cast.org/udl/index.html

7. UDL: A Framework for Inclusive Pedagogy • Information and concepts are represented in multiple ways and in a variety of formats. • Students are given multiple ways to express their comprehension and mastery of a topic. • Students engage with new ideas and information in multiple ways.

8. 3 Concepts for Preparing Materials

9. Multiple Learning Styles

10. Learning Challenges • Native Language • Non-Apparent Disabilities • Dyslexia • Autism • Brain Injury • Apparent Disabilities • Physical Impairment • Hearing Impairment • Visual Impairment • Target multiple learning styles to help with these challenges • Provide multiple ways to access and respond to materials (audio, file formats)

11. UDL & Assistive Technology

12. Features of a Universally Designed Document • Search Capability • Select Text for Copy and Paste • Consistent Structure / Organization • Headings Based on Importance • Table of Contents • Text to Speech Capability • Screenreader Accessibility

13. Assistive Technology Features

14. Literacy Support Software Demo Benefits of a Universally Designed Word Document

15. The Nitty-Gritty of Creating UDL Documents • Document Structure • Headings • Table of Contents • Tables and Lists • Content Reading Order • Descriptive Alternate Text • Images • Graphs • Tables

16. Why is Structure Important? • Visually - It looks easier to read • Easier to pick out important points • Students can take notes based on an obvious outline • Provides a Table of Contents – Navigation Pane • Screen-reading software uses structure to navigate the document more easily • Consistent use of headings lets the listener know how important a section is

17. Demo: Adding Structure to Word Doc Using Headings, Styles, Tables Adding Alt Text

18. Add Structure: Use Styles • Add Headings for each section • Be Consistent • Use Tables to organize columns

19. Add Alternate Text • Images, Graphs, and Tables are all great ways for presenting information to visual learners. • BUT… Screenreaders can only read text! • The “Universal Design for Learning” Answer: • Present the information in more than one way so non-visual learners can also benefit. • Provide a short text description for all non-text elements! • Alt Text describes the purpose or meaning of the image in context

20. How to Write Alt Text • Look at the image in context and ask yourself, • “What is the purpose of this image?” • Write a short description of the meaning added by the image.

21. Context is Key • Alternative text for images should describe the meaning of the image in its context • Ice Cream Manufacturer • Girl Scouts of America • A Food Blog • Diversity Website Adapted from Jesse Hausler, ATRC and The ACCESS Project

22. How to Add Alt Text to Images • Right-click on the image and select ‘Format Picture’ • Select the ‘Alt Text’ option at the bottom • Type the alt text in the ‘Description’ box on the right • Do not use the ‘Title’ field, as a screenreader will not read it!

23. Add Header Row to Tables • Right-click on the top row of the table. • Click on ‘Table Properties’ • Check the box ‘Repeat as header row at the top of each page’

24. How to Add Alt Text to Tables • In the same ‘Table Properties’ screen, select the last tab on the right, ‘Alt Text.’ • Type in the ‘Description’ box • Just as with images, ignore the ‘Title’ field. Screenreaders won’t read it.

25. Microsoft’s Accessibility Checker • Use the Built-in Accessibility Checker • File > Info > Check for Issues > Check Accessibility

26. ScreenReading Software Demo Documents – Structure vs. No Structure

27. Creating PDF Documents Scanned Documents

28. Let’s Look at Scanned PDFs There are three types of PDFs resulting from a scanner: • Scanned PDF saved as image only • This often looks like a photocopied document. • Scanned PDF with Optical Character Recognition (OCR) • OCR is software that interprets text in a document and outputs it as text that you can highlight and edit. • Scanned PDF with OCR and Tags added • Tags determine the order in which a screenreader will read the page.

29. PDF Scanned as Image Sample Source: MasterFile

30. Scanned PDF Results Accessibility Search-Ability Copy/Paste Bookmarks Text to Speech Scanned PDF Scanned PDF with OCR OCR and Tags

31. Morgan Library Course Reserves • Login with eid to request PDF creation • Library staff will do entire process • Find the article • Scan with OCR • Convert existing scanned PDF • Post online for your course • Turn-around time – typically one day On the Reserves Tab of the Morgan Library Homepage or at https://reserve.colostate.edu

32. Good vs. Bad PDF – Literacy Support Software Read & Write Gold

33. Converting to PDF Using the Acrobat Plugin in Word 2010

34. Set Acrobat Plugin Preferences in Word • Before Conversion! • Make sure Tagged PDF is enabled in Preferences under the Word PDF Toolbar • This makes the PDF accessible to screen readers

35. Word to PDF Conversion • Start out with a Word Document • Make the document accessible, then convert it • Use Save As PDF • Or use the Acrobat Toolbar Accessibility Search-Ability Copy/Paste Bookmarks Text to Speech Print to PDF Save As PDF Adobe PDF Plugin

36. In Adobe Acrobat X Open the Accessibility Toolbar Click on ‘TouchUp Reading Order’

37. Touching Up the Reading Order • Click on ‘Show Order Panel’ • The panel will show up at the left • Drag and drop items in the correct order • Empty items or decorative images – set as ‘Background’. • Items set as ‘Background’ will be ignored by screenreaders.

38. Demo: PDF Cleanup

39. Questions? Need Help? DIY Help CSU’s Access Project (Step-by-Step Tutorials) http://accessproject.colostate.edu/udl CSU’s Accessibility Website http://www.accessibility.colostate.edu Or Contact Me Allison.Kidd@ColoState.Edu

40. Sources Adobe PDF, Universally Designed - ACCESS Project: http://accessproject.colostate.edu/udl/modules/pdf/mod_pdf.php Microsoft Word, Universally Designed - ACCESS Project: http://accessproject.colostate.edu/udl/modules/word/mod_word.php PDF Tutorials by Adobe: http://www.adobe.com/accessibility/best_practices.html PDF Tutorials by WebAIM: http://webaim.org/techniques/acrobat/ Universal Design for Learning: http://www.cast.org/udl/index.html VARK Learning Styles: http://www.vark-learn.com/ Word 2010 Accessibility Tutorial by Microsoft: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/support/create-accessible-word-documents-RZ102644124.aspx Word 2010 Tutorial by WebAIM: http://webaim.org/techniques/word/