Accessibility Updates

Tune up your website on March 1 at the Web Accessibility Clinic

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When: 1 – 2 p.m. Friday, March 1, 2019
Where: Cheek Hall room 100

Brian Heaton and Kristeena Laroue will present a brief training session. Brian will cover the top five website accessibility issues. Kristeena will demonstrate access technology, so you can better understand how your website may be used.

After the session, you can grab a computer, discover accessibility issues and make corrections.

Free bonus

We will also give you some tips to make your website more search engine friendly, so your pages appear more frequently in search results.

New blackboard accessibility tool available in January

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A new component of Blackboard was announced in Faculty Senate last month called Blackboard Ally. Blackboard Ally automatically scans content loaded to Blackboard and provides an assessment of the content’s accessibility and assistance in increasing the accessibility of course content. Ally uses visual indicators, which provide a measure of the accessibility of your course, which will be very apparent once all courses are activated with the Ally feature. This new product will help to increase awareness of the level of accessibility of our digital course materials and provide tools to help us achieve our commitment to accessibility and promote a more inclusive campus.

Support will be offered for Ally in January 2019.

  • The Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning (FCTL) has developed a knowledge base related to Ally and has created a web page to answer your questions.
  • A list of faculty will serve as Ally Ambassadors to assist you with the implementation of the Ally product.
  • As Ally is activated for all courses, the University will offer additional trainings related to Ally and university accessibility standards.

Please know that as the University continues to implement Ally there is not an expectation that faculty will immediately be able to address all of the issues identified by the Ally product; however, your willingness is appreciated to engage with Ally with the goal of increasing the University’s overall accessibility over time.

The post New blackboard accessibility tool available in January appeared first on Provost Communiqué.

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New blackboard accessibility tool available soon

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A new component of Blackboard was announced in Faculty Senate last month called Blackboard Ally. Blackboard Ally automatically scans content loaded to Blackboard and provides an assessment of the content’s accessibility and assistance in increasing the accessibility of course content. Ally uses visual indicators, which provide a measure of the accessibility of your course, which will be very apparent once all courses are activated with the Ally feature. This new product will help to increase awareness of the level of accessibility of our digital course materials and provide tools to help us achieve our commitment to accessibility and promote a more inclusive campus.

Support will be offered for Ally in January 2019.

  • The Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning (FCTL) has developed a knowledge base related to Ally and has created a web page to answer your questions.
  • A list of faculty will serve as Ally Ambassadors to assist you with the implementation of the Ally product.
  • As Ally is activated for all courses, the University will offer additional trainings related to Ally and university accessibility standards.

Please know that as the University continues to implement Ally there is not an expectation that faculty will immediately be able to address all of the issues identified by the Ally product; however, your willingness is appreciated to engage with Ally with the goal of increasing the University’s overall accessibility over time.

The post New blackboard accessibility tool available soon appeared first on Provost Communiqué.

This post originally published on Provost Communiqué.

Recap: Fall 2018 Web Accessibility Clinic

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Brian Heaton and Kristeena Laroue recently conducted a Web Accessibility Clinic. It was a comprehensive training session for identifying and correcting common accessibility issues with websites, including a screen reader demonstration.

Access the presentation

Key takeaways

Headings

  • Headings are an outline of your content.
  • Do not select heading level based on resulting visual presentation style.
  • Page title is heading level 1 (h1); first heading in your content will be h2; subtopic will be h3; etc.
  • Do not use bold paragraph for heading.
  • Avoid centering headings.
  • Headings should make sense out of context.
  • Headings divide your content into consumable sections.

Alternative text for non-text content

  • Provide alternate (alt) text for non-text content.
    • Images, including poster/flyer images (infographics).
    • Alt text should convey in text whatever meaning is conveyed by the image/flyer.
      • If the image has a lot of information, charts, diagrams, etc., the alt text should contain 1) a short description conveying the essential information presented by the image, and 2) a long description following the image or on another page.
        Bar chart displaying cost comparisons as detailed in the following paragraphs.

Link text (descriptions)

  • Very critical to the page containing the link and the destination page.
  • Links should make sense out of context.
  • Do not use meaningless or incomplete text like click here, learn more, download, etc.
  • Do not use URLs for link text.
  • Optimal link text is typically 2-6 words.
  • Each unique destination should have unique link text.

Content structure

  • Use paragraphs, unordered and ordered lists appropriately.
  • Write for your target audience.
  • Do not use a heading or bolded paragraph for announcement or notice. Use “Intro” or “Notice” markup instead.
  • Do not add blank paragraphs to generate separating space.
  • Do not create manual lists (e.g., starting lines with a hyphen).
  • Do not bold or italicize entire paragraphs, even one-line paragraphs. Treat just the important words.
  • Do not use all capital letters.
  • Avoid centering content.
  • The template is spacious by design; do not try to circumvent vertical spacing.

Tables

  • Used for presenting organized data.
  • Never use for layout (e.g., two columns).
  • Should always have headers (th). No need to bold or specify header as a heading style.
  • Do not combine multiple tables into one with embedded description row preceding each table.
  • Precede with descriptive heading, paragraph or include a table caption.

Screen readers

The screen reader demonstration showed typical page navigation and how page headings and links are frequently processed in a list. This emphasized how lists are consumed without benefit of the surrounding context, highlighting the importance of clear and complete heading and link text.

Hear your site on a screen reader

The testing center, located in Meyer Library Lower Level, room 010, has screen reader software installed and will have limited availability, with advance reservation. Please contact the testing center to make an appointment.

More assistance

Future sessions

The Web Accessibility Clinic is offered annually on the Global Accessibility Awareness Day (third Thursday in May), during the Disability Equity Week (October) and in early February.

Early in each semester a weekly open lab session will be focused on web accessibility where you can get one-on-one assistance with identifying and fixing accessibility issues on your website.

  • Friday, February 1, 2019, 2 – 4 p.m. Cheek Hall 100
  • Friday, June 7, 2019, 2 – 4 p.m. Meyer Alumni Center 601
  • Friday, August 30, 2019, 2 – 4 p.m., Cheek Hall 100

Serving Students With Autism

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On Sept. 14, the office of the provost and student affairs co-sponsored a professional development opportunity promoting accessibility in our campus community. Two consultants from the College Autism Network, Dr. Lee Burdette Williams and Dr. Bradley Cox, facilitated a joint session entitled: Serving Students With Autism — Strategies for Inclusion, Engagement and Success.

Three takeaways from the presentation

  • Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a hard-wired, brain-based difference, not a disease or disorder to be “cured,” but differences to be understood and supported.
  • The common characteristics of ASD are not moral failings.
  • Students with ASD want to learn and succeed, and have overcome tremendous odds to be in college in the first place.

For additional information on the presentation and neurodiversity, review the attached PowerPoint presentation.