Faculty Online Digital Accessibility

The following Accessibility Statement and associated links should be made clear to our students. It is included on the main Blackboard Learn Institution page under Student Support Services and should be included within the Blackboard course site and syllabus.

"Tri-C is committed to providing online services, software, and electronic information that is accessible and usable by all of our students, including those with disabilities. It is our mission to provide accessible opportunities and services by complying with Federal and State accessibility guidelines.

Documents & Files

The best way to create accessible documents is to follow the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL). Here are a few helpful guidelines on how to create accessible documents.

Faculty should contact their CLE with questions on creating accessible documents.

 Microsoft Word 

• Guide to applying UDL to Word documents
• Use the Microsoft Accessibility Checker on all MS Word documents

PowerPoint 

• Use a built-in template whenever possible
• Use high-contrasting font colors (e.g. a dark font on white background)
• Use 20-point font sizes or higher when possible
• Give images an Alt Text description that conveys both meaning and context of the image
• Check the reading order and adjust it as needed
• Refer to pubcom.com's Alt-Text guide
• Use the Microsoft Accessibility Checker

Portable Document Files (PDFs)

• Refer to Section508.gov's Create accessible PDFs webpage
• Avoid scanned PDFs and image-only files
• Provide the MS Word compatible version (.doc) if possible
• Use Adobe DC to add or edit the Alt tags. Adobe DC is freely available to Tri-C employees
• Use the Adobe Accessibility checker

Text Availability

• Avoid underlining for emphasis because screen readers interpret underlining as a line
• Use headings or the Styles tool to identify different sections of a document, this improves learner visualization and interpretation by assisting devices
• When using color, make sure the color contrast meet WCAG standards 
• Avoid using image effects such as Shadows, 3D, etc. A basic image frame is best
• Avoid blinking text or .GIF files

Fonts

Font styles used in any document, course material, or webpage should be easy to perceive by the reader and enable the reader to understand the formulas, symbols, and characters used. 

• Use high contrast text (e.g. black text on white background)
• Use a 12-point or larger font size
• Font types that are simple with good spacing

Color Contrast

WebAIM offers an excellent online Color Contrast Checker.

Images

• Use Alt Text for all images that convey content
• Text should be less than 125 characters
• Images not being used to convey content may be marked as decorative in documents

Graphs & Complex Images

• Describe graphs and complex images using a table caption or brief descriptive text
• A complex image is one that requires more than 150 characters to describe within alt text
• All table columns and rows should be labeled
• Accessibility guide for complex images
• Guidelines for STEM images

Links

• Ensure the purpose of each link can be determined by the link text alone
• Link to a page with a description of where or what it is (i.e. My Tri-C Space)
• Avoid the use of buttons or images for links
• When linking to external sites, select sites that comply with WCAG 2.1 AA guidelines
• In Blackboard, indicate if your hyperlink will open in a new browser window

S.T.E.M.

• When creating documents in Microsoft Word, use the Equation Editor
• When creating documents or test in Blackboard, use the Equation Editor
• In Blackboard, indicate if your hyperlink will open in a new browser window

Course Navigation

• Use the Blackboard Learn Course site template as a guide
• Use an organized and consistent layout
• To assist screen readers, attempt to minimize scrolling and clicking to access materials

Tables

• How to make tables accessible
• Make sure you use a header row
• Use the simplest table possible
• Remember that screen readers read from left to right and then from the top to the bottom
• Describe only the data from tables that needs to be conveyed to students in the Alt Text
• If a long description is needed, provide a caption with a description to improve understanding
• Use identifying headers for rows and columns

Videos

• Videos must have either captions or a detailed transcript available to students
• Tri-C provides closed captioning to videos uploaded to Mediasite, our preferred video platform
• If captions are not possible, create and provide transcripts for video files
• Provide a text-based alternative for interactive elements
• Set instructional media files to play upon user demand (instead of auto-play)

Publisher Materials

Select content and materials that comply with this Accessibility Checklist. All Publisher websites, eBooks, and digital course material must be evaluated for accessibility.

• The CLEs and OLAT can assist with vetting publisher material
• Faculty should request a Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) or check with OLAT to see if the college has a current VPAT on file.
• The WAVE Website accessibility checker add-on for Google Chrome can check publisher websites