Digital Learning Resources
Accessibility
What is 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 Resources
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
Canvas Accessibility Design Guidelines
Canvas Accessibility Checker Guide
Extending Quiz Time with Moderate Quiz Tool
Document Accessibility Checkers
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
Turning Page Scans into Clean Text
Multimedia Files
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
Image Files
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
What About Color?
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