Closed captions, alt text, keyboard navigation—where does one even get started when building in accessibility? It may seem daunting but accessibility is more important than ever. Accessibility features not only make online learning usable for the one-in-five people that have a disability, but also benefit anyone that works in a loud environment (closed captions), anyone with fatigue from extended computer work (color contrast), and anyone that likes to skim material to find what they need quickly (headings). Let's talk simple strategies that will make your training and courses better and more usable!
In this session we'll practice simple strategies for building accessibility into your learning projects. There are many quick and stress-free ways to build in accessibility features from the very start, or to retrofit an existing project. Learners will get started right away with hands-on practice, and they will walk away with an accessibility checklist and workflows. This session will cover what accessibility is, how to avoid common accessibility pitfalls, how to implement the most important accessibility features, and we'll also practice analyzing accessibility of existing content. We will practice using Microsoft Word, as the accessibility features available in Word are highly representative of those you'll find in other authoring software. We'll also practice creating and downloading closed captions using YouTube. Finally, we'll practice analyzing accessibility of existing content using WAVE, a free tool.
In this session, you will learn:
- The definition of accessibility and 508 compliance
- To identify the most critical accessible features
- How to implement alt text and closed captions
- Accessible formatting of documents and web documents
- How to write accessible copy for the web
- How to analyze accessibility of online content using WAVE
Technology discussed:
Microsoft Word, YouTube, WAVE accessibility checker
Participant technology requirements:
Tablet or laptop connected to the internet with Microsoft Word and WAVE (open source)