Digital Learning Resources

Accessibility

Access isn't just about compliance; it's about digital equity, aiding all learners,
irrespective of disability. For example, podcasts assist not only visually impaired
individuals but also busy parents studying at night, enabling multitasking. This
principle is known as Universal Design for Learning.

US Laws

Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (includes Section 508)
ADA Title II

USF Policies

Policy 0-108 Disability and Accommodations
Policy 10-506 Captioning and Access of Media Used in Course Content

Student Accessibility Services have a variety of resources to help you provide the access to course content that your students need. 

SAS Accessibility Guide 
SAS Resources 

Canvas Accessibility Design Guidelines
Canvas Accessibility Checker Guide 
Extending Quiz Time with Moderate Quiz Tool

Make your online course materials accessible: organize PDFs and docs with clear titles, headings, and alt text. Screen readers can then relay content effectively to  students with visual impairments. Check the SAS Accessibility Guide for tips on pages 10-12, and the following resources for different document types. 

Microsoft Office 365

Office 365 Accessibility Checker

Microsoft Office Products Accessibility Checking

MS Word

WebAIM Guide to Making Word Documents Accessible

MS PowerPoint

Make Your PowerPoint Presentations Accessible
WebAIM Guide to Making PowerPoint Accessible

PDF Documents

Create and Verify PDF Accessibility 
WebAIM Guide to Making PDF Documents Accessible 

Improve multimedia accessibility with concise, 10-minute content with closed captions and transcripts. This can also increase play and review rates. Contact Student Accessibility Services for assistance if captioning tools from Kaltura, Teams, or Canvas don't meet your needs.

Editing Captions in Kaltura
Captions in Teams
Adding Captions in Canvas RCE

Images require Alternative Text, or Alt text. These are descriptions of the images that are read with screen readers instead of the image file names. Following are resources to show how to add Alt text in common files. 

Adding Alt text in Canvas
WebAIM Article on Alternative Text
Adding Alt text in MS365
Adding Alt Text in PDFs 

Color is an important consideration when determining the accessibility of your content. Check out our video about it and some tools to help.

WebAIM Color Contrast Checker
Color Blindness Simulator