Technology and Learning Program
Toolkit for Creating Accessible Instructional Materials
In general, these are the most important steps to follow when creating or retrofitting instructional materials for accessibility:
- Distribute instructional materials in an electronic format created using Word, PowerPoint, Adobe Acrobat (PDF), etc., so that students using assistive technology can effectively access the information contained in these materials. Faculty can distribute instructional materials electronically by posting the materials in their Blackboard Vista course.
- Provide electronic instructional materials in a character-readable and editable format so that assistive technology can be used. For scanned documents, ensure that they are accessible by scanning them using optical character recognition (OCR) software. The Technology and Learning Program lab has staff available to assist faculty with the use of high-speed scanners and OCR software. For more information, call (530) 898-6167 or send an email to tlp@csuchico.edu.
- Instructional materials, such as Word and PowerPoint documents, should be created using built-in formatting styles (i.e. headings, subheadings, slide layouts, etc.) to create a logical document structure. By using these features, students using assistive technology will be able to manipulate long documents and will be able to access the information contained in a PowerPoint presentation more effectively. For instructional materials with images (e.g. pictures, diagrams, clip art, etc.), provide a written description of the image (this is often called "alt text" or "alternative text"). The instructions to use and these built-in features to create headings and describe images in Word and PowerPoint can be found the tutorials on the Create Accessible Instructional Materials web page: http://www.csuchico.edu/tlp/accessibility/materials.shtml.
- Courses which use the Blackboard Vista learning management system to distribute instructional materials and conduct instructional activities should make use of the accessibility features of the system, such as image labelling and the ability to create accessible and intuitive navigation structures. A series of tutorials containing instructions for using the Vista system to ensure the maximum accessibility of online instructional materials is located on the Using Vista Accessibly web page: http://www.csuchico.edu/tlp/accessibility/using_vista/index.shtml.
About TLP
The Technology and Learning Program's faculty lab is open to all faculty and staff who wish to create instructional materials including online, print, and multimedia. Lab staff are available to assist faculty using the equipment and software in the lab as well as Blackboard Vista, and one-on-one consultations are available with an Instructional Technology Consultant. For more information contact TLP at (530) 898-6167 or visit the TLP website at http://www.csuchico.edu/tlp.
This information was adapted from San Jose State University's Accessible Toolkit: http://www.sjsu.edu/cfd/docs/accessibility_toolkit.pdf