Accessible Course Design MOU1
Accessible Course Design[MOU1]
[MOU2]Why Accessibility Matters[MOU3]
By creating accessible course content, you improve the learning experience for all learners. For instance, accessible documents are easily navigated to pertinent sections and videos that are captioned assist English language learners or students who may be viewing the video in a noisy environment. As Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO from 2000-2014, stated, “Accessible design is good design.”
Beyond being good design, accessible content is a legal requirement. A growing list of higher education institutions have pending lawsuits against them for various accessibility violations:
- Section 508[MOU5]mandates that federal agencies must make electronic information accessible and applies to schools that receive federal funding. An upcoming “refresh” of this law will include stricter rules or all online content.
- Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)[MOU6]is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability. Title II of ADA prohibits discrimination by public entities, and Title II applies to “public accommodations “that are broadened to include online programs at schools.
- Section 504 is an anti-discrimination measure similar to ADA that addresses web-based communications for public educational institutions.
Tutorials for Creating Accessible Content
Word Documents[MOU7] / Look at bulleted lists, hyperlinks, and tables /And [MOU8]
PowerPoint Presentations / Use slide layouts, headings, etc. /
PDF Documents / Use tagged elements and include alt text for images. /
[MOU1]The title of this document contains two issues:
- A style has not been applied to the title of the document.
- The green selected for the title is too light in color and has inadequate color contrast.
[MOU2]This image does not contain alt text and is not inline.
[MOU3]The headings in this document contain two issues:
- A "Heading 2" style has not been applied to the heading.
- The highlight tool is the only way context is conveyed.
[MOU4]This hyperlink does not link out to a website and should be written as a human readable link.
[MOU5]This list does not use the bullet tool in Word and therefore will not appear as a list to a user with a screen reader.
[MOU6]The text in red is the only way context is conveyed.
[MOU7]This table does not contain a header row and does not contain alt text.
[MOU8]This hyperlink should be written as a human readable link.