This workshop will present the audience with examples of accessible and inaccessible designs, and illustrate the relevant law and regulations based on the examples. The workshop will explain universal design (UD) principles, then introduce useful tools for checking the accessibility of online materials, and demonstrate how to use the tools.
Purpose
Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, Amendments to Americans with Disabilities Act, and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 provides specific instructions for universal design when creating online content. However, many instructional designers and faculty members have not mastered the technical skills of making accessible course content or checking the accessibility of existing materials. This presentation introduces tips and tools for universal design and provides participants with hands-on activities to practice the skills.
Intended Audience
The intended audiences of this presentation are instructors, instructional designers, and other professionals who are often involved in creating or distributing documents, educational materials or web pages, but have not mastered universal design principles and skills.
Features
This presentation is designed with lectures as well as hands-on activities to achieve the instructional goals. The presenters will first illustrate UD principles through a case. Further, we will introduce tools for evaluating the accessibility for different types for materials (MSWord, PDF, webpages, videos etc) . Audiences will be engaged in interactive activities, including assessing the accessibility of sample content, correcting inaccessible elements, and practicing accessibility checkers. Each participant will receive a hard copy of an infographic with the key points from this presentation.
This workshop was selected as the Best-In-Strand session in OLC Accelerate 2017.
Agenda
The detailed agenda of this presentation is planned as below:
5 Minutes: Introduction to UD;
15 minutes: Activity— Presenting examples of inaccessible designs and inviting participants to identify the problems in the examples;
30 minutes: Explaining UD principles with the examples;
15 minutes: Presenting accessibility checking tools and demonstrating how to use them;
15 minutes: Participants reviewing and practicing the tools;
10 minutes Q&A—troubleshooting and summarizing common questions from audience.
Learning Outcomes
After attending this presentation, the audience will be able to:
Explain principles of UD;
Assess examples of content design for UD principles;
Use UD principles to create accessible documents and webpages;
List useful tools for checking accessibility of Word files (.doc or .docx), PDFs, and webpages;
Revise and improve the quality of course content using UD.
References
Section508.gov. Quick Reference Guide to Section 508 Requirements and Standards. Retrieved from https://www.section508.gov/content/learn/standards/quick-reference-guide.
United States Department of Justice. (2010). 2010 Standards for Public Accommodations and Commercial Facilities Title III. Retrieved from https://www.ada.gov/regs2010/2010ADAStandards/2010ADAstandards.htm.
W3C Web Accessibility Initiative. (2017). Accessibility Principles. Retrieved from https://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/people-use-web/principles.