This collection of teaching tips represents my work as an instructional designer at the Innovation in Learning Center at the University of South Alabama. Tips include addressing the accessibility guidelines in online environments.
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Tip for USA Faculty & Staff
USAonline
Accessible Hyperlinks in Resources
Description: Avoid general confusion and at the same time provide accessibility to Website links in Resources by providing the name and description.
The default setting when adding a hyperlink into Sakai Resources will auto fill the Website Name field with the URL.
For accessibility, provide the actual name instead. Then describe the Website in the text box below. Remember to fully describe all acronyms.
Figure 1. Resources page when you add a link.
Not accessible
If you don’t provide a Website Name, then students will only see the URL in Resources. This may cause confusion, especially for students with screen readers.
Accessible
Figure 2. Good and bad examples of accessibility in Resources.
For further assistance, contact the Innovation in Learning Center at (251)461-1888 or visit http://usailc.org.
Tip for USA Faculty & Staff
USAonline
Convert inaccessible PDFs easily with Adobe Acrobat Pro 11
Description: Are you still using really old scanned PDFs? Adobe Acrobat Pro 11 magically rights your old scanned PDFs into fully accessible documents quickly. Faculty has access to this version of Adobe Acrobat on the university Purchasing Department website.
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Conduct a quick find (Ctrl+F) to see if your PDF is readable by searching for a word you see in it. If you receive a message that no matches were found, then the PDF is a scanned image, which cannot be read by persons who use assistive technology.
Figure 1. Scanned Page Alert
Upload the PDF to Adobe Acrobat Pro 11. Select the Create tab and PDF from File menu option.
Figure 2. Create drop-down menu
The Recognize Text pop-up window will appear. Edit the settings to provide a ClearScan for the Output Style. Click OK and the program will convert the PDF into an accessible document.
Figure 3. Recognize Text pop-up window
Adobe Acrobat Pro 11 download link from the University Purchasing Department: http://www.southalabama.edu/financialaffairs/purchasingdepartment/. For further assistance, contact the Innovation in Learning Center at (251)461-1888 or visit http://usailc.org.
Tip for USA Faculty & Staff
USAonline
How to Make a Scanned PDF Accessible with Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro
Description: Are your PDFs accessible for all? Breathe life back into your old scanned PDFs with Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro.
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Here’s an easy way to find out if your PDF is unreadable. Conduct a word search within the Find box of the PDF for a word you see in the document. Type Ctrl+F if you don’t see a Find box. If you receive the message, “No matches were found,” then the document is a scanned image, which cannot be read by persons who use assistive technology. To make the PDF accessible, you’ll have to change the settings of the document. Open Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro. Then click File>Open to select the file you want to convert. Click the Document tab and *OCR Text Recognition in the drop-down menu. Next select the Recognize Text
Using OCR command. (Short cut keys: Alt+D+C+R.) When the Recognize Text box appears, click Edit. Then select ClearScan from the drop-down menu for the Output Style setting. *Note. OCR stands for Optical Character Recognition. OCR is an electronic conversion technology for converting scanned images into machine encoded text. The Downsample setting should be set to 600, which results in the highest resolution in dots per inch (dpi). Click OK.
For further assistance, contact the Innovation in Learning Center at (251)461-1888 or visit http://usailc.org.
Tip for USA Faculty & Staff
USAonline
How to Create Accessible PDFs using Word 2010
Description: Learn how to create accessible PDFs from the get-go! You can use this same information to convert PowerPoints to PDFs, too.
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Save your Word document as a *PDF. The Word 2010 program will create a tagged PDF file by default without installing Adobe Acrobat. Click File > Save as a PDF. Otherwise select Create from the Adobe Acrobat ribbon. Select the Preferences tab on the Acrobat ribbon. Make sure the box is checked for the Application Setting: Enable Accessibility and Reflow with tagged Adobe PDF.
*Note: PDF stands for portable document format.
Word 2010 has an accessibility checker that will highlight any issues your document has. Select File > Info> Check for Issues > Check Accessibility. Then click on the various alerts within the document to repair the issues accordingly.There’s a Quick Check and a Full Check option.
Figure 1. Acrobat PDFMaker screen
For further assistance, contact the Innovation in Learning Center at (251)461-1888 or visit http://usailc.org.
Tip for USA Faculty & Staff
USAonline
Make Images Accessible by Adding Alternative Text
Description: This tip describes how to add alternative text to images to provide accessibility to your online course content.
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Alternative text allows people with screen readers to hear descriptions of images. When you add alternative text to an image, it will appear when you move the pointer over a picture.
Figure 4. Alternative text for logo
Add a meaningful name and description to graphics or media when you upload them to the Sakai Resources.
Figure 5. Display Name box
When you add an image to a lesson or other course pages in Sakai, add alternative text in the box.
Figure 3. Image Properties pop-up window in Sakai
For further assistance, contact the Innovation in Learning Center at (251)461-1888 or visit http://usailc.org.
Tip for USA Faculty & Staff
USAonline
Font for All _________________________________________________________________
Sans-serif fonts are recommended for online text to provide accessibility. Sansserif fonts do not have the “hats and shoes” on certain letters that serif fonts include. Description: This tip describes the sans-serif fonts available in Sakai to provide accessibility.
Sakai’s default font in the Rich Text Editor is Arial, a sans-serif font.
The Rich Text Editor dropdown menu option includes other appropriate sans-serif font choices: Tahoma, Verdana, and Comic Sans.
Figure 1. Compose content for lessons with the editor
Avoid using these serif fonts in Sakai: Times New Roman and Courier New.
For further assistance, contact the Innovation in Learning Center at (251)461-1888 or visit http://usailc.org.
Tip for USA Faculty & Staff
USAonline
Making Videos Public & Reusable in Media Gallery
Description: This tip describes how to share your already uploaded media on your course or project site.
Each media item has options to be public, reusable, or remixable. The default setting for new media is for admin only.
Reusable media can be placed into other Sakai content. Remixable media can be combined with other media to create new media.
Also, a Collection has sharing options for who can view the collection.
In order for your students to see a video, you must share it. To share a video, click on Edit Details, and then click the box next to Public. Then click Save.
Figure 1. Site Library
For further assistance, contact the Innovation in Learning Center at (251)461-1888 or visit http://usailc.org
Tip for USA Faculty & Staff
USAonline
Media Types Supported by Media Gallery
Description: This tip explains which types of media you can add to Media Gallery in your USAonline course or project site.