Teaching Essentials

Accessibility Tips

LEARN

  • Use the default font and font size
  • Use Headings to create meaningful structure to pages
  • Describe the purpose or context of a link or where the link goes. Do not use ‘click here’.
  • Use the Accessibility Checker to identify and resolve accessibility issues

More information: Use templates and HTML to make LEARN content more accessible.

Assignments and Assessments

  • Provide clear instructions  using an unordered list (bullets) or ordered list (numbers)
  • Provide clear indication of how much time is being given for assignments and assessments
  • Provide clear due dates for assignment submissions and assessments dates
  • Provide extra time  for completion for students with disabilities
  • Be prepared to provide accommodations for students with disabilities
  • It’s best not to use Respondus Lockdown Browser. It can cause issues with some assistive technologies.

More information: Make assignments and assessments more accessible.

Word Documents

  • Use Heading Styles correctly to create meaningful page structure
  • Sans serif fonts are easier to read. Arial is preferred by most people.
  • Use 14 point font size for the smallest type (Normal)
  • Black or dark text has high colour contrast and is easier to read
  • Use simple tables without merged or split cells, and include header rows
  • Use the Accessibility Checker to identify and resolve accessibility issues

More information: Make Word documents more accessible.

PowerPoint Presentations

  • Use PowerPoint templates
  • Title each slide. Do not use duplicate titles.
  • Sans serif fonts are easier to read. Arial is preferred by most people.
  • Use font size 30 point for the smallest type
  • Use the 6×7 Rule: no more than 6 lines per slide and 7 words per line
  • Use bulleted lists rather than full sentences
  • Keep the design of your slides simple so the text can be read
  • Use the Accessibility Checker to identify and resolve accessibility issues

More information: Make PowerPoint presentations more accessible

PDFs

  • It is best to avoid using PDFs unless you know for certain they are accessible
  • Do not use PDFs containing scanned pages. These are images, not text.
  • Testing for and fixing accessibility issues requires significant expertise and the use of Adobe Acrobat

More information: Avoiding PDFs

Plain language

  • Write using clear and simple language
  • Aim to write to a grade 6-9 level for understanding
  • Use Hemingway App for writing and editing plain language

More information: Use plain language for better understanding

Images

For images in LEARN, Word and PowerPoint:

  • Add alternative text (or alt text) to the images that describes their content or their context
  • Complex images (graphs, charts) and info graphics require alt text and captions of text transcriptions to describe their contents

More information Make images in LEARN, Word and PowerPoint accessible

Audio, video and digital media

For recorded audio and video, and digital media :

  • Audio requires a text transcript of the embedded audio content
  • Video and multimedia requires a text transcript and captions of the embedded audio content
  • American Sign Language (ASL) – English interpretation is available for Deaf and hard of hearing students

More information: Use transcripts, captions and ASL for media with audio content

Live video meetings

If you use WebEx or Teams for meetings, you may have students who require an accommodation, such as:

  • American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation
  • Computerized note taking
  • Recordings

More information: Use video for live meetings