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Keep It Simple: Creating Accessible Instructional Materials Easily. Peter Mosinskis Supervisor of Web Services CSU Channel Islands Presentation: http://tinyurl.com/c6aklq. Yes/No. Multiple Choice. Polling. Multiple Choice. Question #1.
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Keep It Simple:Creating Accessible Instructional Materials Easily Peter Mosinskis Supervisor of Web Services CSU Channel Islands Presentation: http://tinyurl.com/c6aklq
Yes/No Multiple Choice Polling
Multiple Choice Question #1 • How often do you work on making instructional materials accessible? • A. Every day • B. Every week • C. Once a month • D. Rarely or never
Multiple Choice Question #2 • How well is your campus is doing in making instructional materials accessible? • A. We’re in great shape. • B. We’re doing OK, we could do more • C. Swamped & barely squeaking by • D. Uhhh…what are we supposed to be doing?
Question #3 • Does your campus have a plan for making instructional materials accessible? • Yes • No
Question #4 • Does your campus provide incentives to your faculty to make instructional materials accessible? • Yes • No
Agenda • Background • Principles • Strategies
CSUCI Quick Stats • Students: ~3600 • Employees: 630 • Faculty: 285 (200 lecturers) • Staff: 345
CSUCI Teams • Academic Technology Services (ATS) • Instructional Design & LMS support • Multimedia & captioning • Web Site Design • Graphic Design • Web Application Development • Everything (6 student assistants)
CSUCI Teams (cont.) • Library • eReserves/eText (1-2 persons, plus 0-2 student assistants) • Disability Resource Programs • eText & Accommodations
Our Challenges • Course Section Growth • 320% since 2005 • Blackboard • 840 courses (every course section Fall 08) • 586 “active” courses (70%), All prior courses archived • Faculty Web Sites • 8,500 web pages • 1,900 MS Office Documents (Word/Excel/PPT) • 2,500 PDF files
“Keep It Simple” Principles of IM • Simple = fast & easy • Something > Nothing • Some technical ability required • Harvest low hanging fruit
Target Audience • Faculty • Never heard of accessibility • “Comfortable” with MS Office
Types of IM What’s easy, what’s not
Definitely Low Hanging Fruit • Syllabus & most “electronic” handouts • Presentations
Maybe Low Hanging Fruit • “Mostly-text” hard-copy handouts • Faculty & Course Web Sites • Online Quizzes/Tests • Audio Podcasts • Blogs
Not Low Hanging Fruit • Text books & Course Reader • Purely visual materials (fine art) • Scientific materials (math, science) • Multimedia (Audio, Video, Flash) • External Web Sites • Surveys • Web-based applications
IM Training Pulling it all together
Definitely Low Hanging Fruit • Operating System (Win/Mac) • MS Word • PowerPoint • LMS Basics
Low Hanging Fruit? • Maybe… • Universal Design for Learning • Not! • Section 508 • ATI Manual Evaluation
Recap of LHF • Types of IM • Syllabus & most “electronic” handouts • Presentations • IM Training • Operating System (Win/Mac) • LMS Basics • MS Word • PowerPoint
Strategy 1 – Teach 4 Concepts Image description, good color use, styles and tables
Poll • How familiar are these 4 concepts to you? • A. Know and use every day • B. Know how to use when needed • C. Heard about them but never tried • D. First time I’ve heard about them
Concept 1: Describe images and diagrams • Is it decorative or meaningful? • If meaningful and simple: • write short description • If meaningful and complex: • write short and long description • If decorative: • Leave it blank
Concept 2: Color • Color Words • Color Contrast
Color Issue #1 – Color Words • Color words: “red”, “green”, “yellow”, “purple”, etc. • Look for text color changes • Look nearby for color words • Replace color words with text or text symbols
Color Word Examples • WRONG: • “See the red section for additional information” • “Read blue items for Friday” • CORRECT: • “See the ‘Next Steps’ section for additional information” • “Read items 1-3 for Friday”
Color Issue #2 - Contrast • Easy tool: TPG Colour Contrast Analyzer • Free download: http://tinyurl.com/2l6msr • Windows + Mac • Compare background and foreground colors • Minimum: meets both WCAG “AA” luminosity checks • Recommended: meets “AA” and “AAA” checks
Concept 2 – Keeping it Easy • Use default text + background colors • No other colors? No problems? • Avoid color words • Default templates? Sometimes…
Concept 3: Styles • Use default templates & styles • Use headings! • Use bullets & numbering!
Concept 3 Big Benefits • Word • Change the look of all headings with ease • Table of Contents • PowerPoint • Change look of all slide headings, etc. • Helps export to PDF + HTML
Concept 4 – Tables • Use tables instead of tabs
Table Rules • Use column and row headings • Write a short table summary
Things to Watch Out For • Word • Complex tables • Floating text boxes • Mac! • PowerPoint • Native PPT format • Mac
Handy Tools • LK4 Virtual508 Wizard (Word + PPT) • LecShare (PPT) • TPG Colour Contrast Analyzer (all)
How Tools help • Check descriptions of images • Add descriptions to images • Check color contrast • Convert to HTML & maintain markup & layout
Tools will NOT help • Ensure image descriptions are meaningful/sufficient • Semantic/markup problems • Solve all color problems • Create accessible audio/video
Other “Tools” • IM Checklist (SJSU) • http://tinyurl.com/64altt • Adobe Quick Reference Card • http://tinyurl.com/59zycz
Syllabi • Create list of syllabus guidelines • Create a MS Word template • SJSU: http://tinyurl.com/6xeppt • Create a web template • CSUN: http://tinyurl.com/6kb9j2 • Fillable, web-based form + database
Text-Based Handouts • Create in electronic format (Word) • Scan hard copies & convert to PDF • Post Word/HTML/PDF in your LMS • Post Word/HTML/PDF on faculty web site