Somewhere Over the Rainbow: Tools and Design Concepts for Making Content Universal And Accessible For Everyone!

Concurrent Session 1

Session Materials

Brief Abstract

This session will demonstrate the importance of Digital Accessibility by providing simulations of visual and auditory limitations. Participants will learn how to make course content more accessible with a focus on universal, inclusive, and graphic design. Presenters will provide examples using closed-captioning, color contrast, and accessible documentation.

Presenters

Lead Presenter: Vanessa Leonardo, New Jersey Institute of Technology

Co-presenter: Melissa Battista, New Jersey Institute of Technology

Melissa Battista is an Instructional Designer for NJIT. She has been in the field of higher education since 2009 and has experience in teaching and in curriculum and course development and design. In her current role, she provides faculty with professional development and works with instructors to develop fully online courses. She designs and builds courses in Canvas, creates standardized templates and rubrics and reviews courses to ensure they are in compliance with the NJIT Quality Assurance Rubric and ADA Standards for Accessible Design.

Co-presenter: Tim Martinec, New Jersey Institute of Technology

Extended Abstract

Relevance To Community

Accessibility is one of the most important yet most complex aspects of course design. It goes beyond just adding alt-text to images and auto-captions to videos. Accessibility means providing all learners with the ability to access and participate in learning activities by taking measures to make sure every item included in a course allows for all students to be successful. Though many educators have a basic understanding of what accessibility means, they may not know how to make their courses accessible for everyone. Nor how far-reaching these adjustments can be. When people think of disabilities, they often think about overt physical disabilities. However, there are many other types of disabilities that aren’t as obvious such as learning disabilities, language barriers, color blindness, etc. As educators, it’s important for us to consider all types of learners when working on content for any course and promote inclusivity. We aim to provide insight into how many people are served when content is made accessible; thus demonstrating, firsthand, its importance. 

Plan For Interactivity

This session will demonstrate the importance of Digital Accessibility by providing simulations of visual and auditory limitations. These simulations will allow participants to:

  • Experience navigating and reading a document via the use of a screen reader. 

  • View materials from the perspective of those with limitations such as protanopia, reduced contrast, blurred vision, among others. 

  • Decipher videos that lack captioning or contain incorrect captioning.

After each of the simulations listed above, we will then provide step-by-step instructions on how to make course content more accessible for everyone through exercises and examples. We will provide instructions on how to:

  • Make documents accessible by adding alt-text to images, adding headers, and writing descriptive hyperlinks

  • Check accessibility using Ally and Microsoft Accessibility Checker

  • Identify the reasons for making content accessible

  • Edit closed captioning

  • Apply techniques while recording that will make captioning more accurate

  • Check color contrast and adjust colors 

  • Layout material following Universal Design standards

In total, the simulations will take about 15 minutes, instructions will take about 25 minutes, and Q&A will take about 5 minutes.  

The structure of this presentation relies upon the participation of the attendees as we will be asking for volunteers, posing scenarios, and providing hands-on exercises. 

Session Goals

Individuals attending our presentation will be able to identify accessibility issues with course content and apply strategies on how to rectify these issues. They will be able to adjust already existing documents and create new documentations that follow both ADA and Universal Design standards. Participants will acquire a deeper understanding of the needs of diverse learners.