an instructor’s approach

an instructor’s approach Brendan Guenther, Sean Leahy Virtual University Design and Technology MSU Web Accessibility Implementation Team

What is the intent • MSU has values and a tradition… • Broad access to higher education • Inclusive environment, appreciative of diversity & supportive of learners • Track record of continuous capital investments to improve accessibility of transportation infrastructure & facilities • Progress in virtual accessibility analogous to physical accessibility

Why a policy? Why now? • Derives from ADA law • Public Institution • Federal Funding • Consent Decrees Elsewhere • Recommendations not taking hold • Sets a clear goal & clarifies responsibility • Provides a base for support services

Reality Check • We need to take baby steps • Many instructors are working alone • Most of us will need help • No universal accessibility in 2009 • No limits to innovation or quality • Exceptions will be readily granted • Need good faith effort to improve

For instructors… what is the scope? • Open and public facing content • Top level of faculty home pages • Course descriptions • Program marketing • Syllabus? • ‘How to Contact Me’ • In the event of a request to accommodate... the course content or an equivalent experience.

Who helps our students? • RCPD provides a wealth of services • Verify & identify disabilities for students • Communicate with instructors & verify need for accommodation (VISA) • Convert textbooks • Staff of disability specialists • A variety of assistive technologies on campus

How to get started & prioritize… Take a step-by-step approach • Consider our probable audience • Look over our content • Weigh our options • Account for the time / cost • Write down our plan & file it • Make some improvements now • Be ready to act when we need to make other improvements for a specific case

Making a plan… • Can I do this myself? • Can I assess? • Can I remediate? • Can I create new content? • Who can I count on to help? • Where do I start? • What is the scope? • How do I prioritize content?

What does context tell us? • What is the subject matter? • How many people are in the course? • Where is this in the curriculum? • Who enrolls? • Have we had requests before? • Can we understand probability? • How far ahead can we see?

Making an assessment • Take a representative sample • Identify distinct types of content • Account for how much of each type • Note what needs to be done • Note opportunities for alternatives

First Steps to take • Options for cognitive disabilities • Using Heading Tags to format text • Adding Alternative text to images • Proper use of PDF’s and Word docs • Video Captioning

Using headings • Clearly identify sections of content • Provide structure for the page • Easy to identify

What do headings look like? • Proper Heading Tag • <h2>Lorum Ipsum</h2> • Improper Heading • <font size="5"><strong>Lorum Ipsum</strong></font><br /> • Output: Lorum Ipsum

Demo of using Headings • Video demo of using headings in an ANGEL editor.

Using image alt tags • Alternate Text Tags • “alt” tags describe an image using text • Without alt tags, there is no written description of the image. • How do you know what the image is, if you cannot see it? • Long Description • Detailed information on an image or graph

Example: Image alt tags

Alt tags – how they are seen • Without Alt description • <img src="image36.jpg" /> • With Alt Descriptions • <img alt="Picture of the Taj-Mahal in India" src="image36.jpg" />

Demonstration of tagging images/diagrams • Video clip of adding alt tags to images from ANGEL editor.

PDF’s (scan v. txt) • Scanned pdf’s come in 2 forms • OCR (optical character recognition) • Image Scan • Text Documents scanned as pdf images are not accessible, they are images.

Demonstration of captioning • Magpie 2.0 (Free Software) • http://www.webaim.org/techniques/captions/magpie/version2/ • Use a script, retain it • From script develop transcript • Use transcript for captioning • Retain all source files on USB drive

Accessibility Evaluation & Planning Demonstration using real content with gracious contributions by… • Beth Weisenborn • Antoinette WinklerPrins • Cathleen McGreal • Alan Arbogast • Adele Denison

Filing Plan & Asking for Exceptions • Proactive fixes • Plans to fix when needed • Plans to provide an alternative • Exceptions based on… • Technical reasons • Scope of effort / lack of resources • ??? • Identify partners • VISA = real student’s specific needs

Summary of findings from survey • Respondents view Accessibility as a social good & catalyst for innovation. • 92% of responding MSU instructors regularly and extensively use rich media in their teaching, averaging 3 of 5 different forms. • 71% MSU instructors have never had a student request either visual or auditory accommodation. • Two thirds of instructors and 49% of student respondents were aware of the MSU Web Accessibility (may not have read it).

More findings from survey • 54% don’t know how policy will impact their teaching; 19% indicate plans are underway to adapt their course content, and 19% indicate alternative arrangements will be made. • Around 70% of instructors express willingness to learn about making content accessible. • However, 81% of instructors would likely request support to make their online rich media accessible. • Forecasts of the impact on use of technology for teaching varies greatly by college.

LC&T working together with RCPD • LC&T Instructional Tech survey • What RCPD services might apply to online instruction (in real-time)? • Anything you’d like vuDAT & RCPD to discuss or provide?

Helpful links… http://webaccess.msu.edu/ http://techbase.msu.edu/article.asp?id=9876 http://webaim.org/blog/screen-reader-survey-results/ http://vudat.msu.edu/vudatsurvey/

Let’s Talk it Out! • Invite vuDAT to talk to others in your unit. Have smarts will travel! • What kind of faculty development & training do you hope to see? • Is the web access site helpful now? • Did this talk help you understand what is going on & what to do? • Questions?

an instructor’s approach