Universal Design for Learning: Creating Accessible Documents

Universal Design for Learning: Creating Accessible Documents February 2013 Allison Kidd Shannon Lavey

Introductions • Assistive Technology Resource Center • Provide Assistive Technology for students with disabilities • Provide 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

Outline • Principles of Universal Design for Learning • 2 Main Concepts for All Documents • Structure / Organization • Alt Text for Images • Hands-On: Word Documents • Hands-On: PDF Documents

Today’s Students Are Diverse • Ethnicity & Culture • Native language • Non-Traditional • Gender • Learning Styles • Disabilities

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

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 expresstheir comprehension and mastery of a topic. • Students engage with new ideas and information in multiple ways.

Offer Multiple File Formats • Students have different Operating Systems • Mac, PC • Students have different versions of software • Microsoft Office 2003, 2007, 2010 • Open Office, iHome, MS Office for Mac • Students use a variety of Assistive Technology • Let students pick the format that works best for them • Start with Word, and convert to RTF and Accessible PDF

What Makes a Document Universally Designed? • Search-ability • Select-ability for Copy and Paste • Consistent Structure / Organization • Bookmarks or an Interactive TOC • Text to Speech capability • Accessibility

Two Main Concepts No matter the type of document you are creating, these are the most important aspects to consider: • Structure / Organization • Headings • Alternative Text • Images • Links / URLs • Tables • Charts

1. Structure / Organization • The organization of content is the structure • Includes headings, lists, tables, columns, emphasis, etc. • Make the structure of the document apparent at a glance • Use built-in styles to set headings, to number lists, to make fonts bold, etc. • Be consistent with styles throughout the document.

2. Alt Text for Images Ask: “What is the function of this image?” • Screen readers can only read text • Any images must have alternate text provided • Alt Text describes both the content and function of the image in its context

Alt Text: Context is Key • Alternative text for images should describe the meaning of the image in its context • Ice Cream Manufacturer • Girl Scouts of America • My Niece's Blog • Diversity Website Source: Jesse Hausler, The ACCESS Project

Alt Text: Practice 1 Because of his role as the Commander in Chief of American forces in the Revolutionary War, and, later, the first President of the United States, George Washington is often called the "Father of his Country." What would be appropriate alternative text for the image in Example 1? "Image of George Washington" "George Washington, the first president of the United States" No description is necessary "George Washington" Source: http://webaim.org/techniques/alttext/

Alt Text: Practice 2 Because of his role as the Commander in Chief of American forces in the Revolutionary War, and, later, the first President of the United States, George Washington is often called the "Father of his Country." George Washington What would be the appropriate alt attribute for the image in Example 2? "George Washington" No description is necessary. "Image" The image does not need an alt attribute. Source: http://webaim.org/techniques/alttext/

Hands-On: Word Documents

Add Structure: Use Styles

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 (ignore the ‘Title’ field)

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

Hands-On: PDF Documents Scanned to PDF Word to PDF

Let’s Look at Scanned PDFs • Scanned PDF • Scanned PDF with Optical Character Recognition • Scanned PDF with OCR and Tags added

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

Morgan Library E-Reserves • Great resource for faculty • Library staff will do entire process from scanning to accessible pdf • Login at: https://reserve.colostate.edu

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

Hands-On PDF • Before Conversion! • Make sure Tagged PDF is enabled in Preferences under the Word PDF Toolbar

In Adobe Acrobat X Open the Accessibility Toolbar Click on ‘Full Check’

Further Resources: • CSU’s Accessibility Website • http://www.accessibility.colostate.edu • CSU’s Access Project Tutorials • http://accessproject.colostate.edu/udl • WebAIM Accessibility Tutorials • http://www.webaim.org • National Center on UDL • http://www.udlcenter.org/aboutudl/udlguidelines

Contact info: Allison Kidd Allison.Kidd@Colostate.Edu 970-491-0625

Universal Design for Learning: Creating Accessible Documents