Advancing Accessible Learning: One Step at a Time

At the beginning of this 9-week exercise, we highly recommend a comprehensive review of your Blackboard course and digital course materials. Generally, content will fall into one of three categories:

Retire

Do you have content in your course that is not being used? Now is the time to remove it. The course accessibility report in Blackboard scans ALL documents, regardless of whether they are visible to students. If you are saving content that you "might" use in the future, move it to your one drive.

Replace 

Rather than remediate, it is possible to replace certain types of content with more accessible versions. For example:

• Replace scanned PDFs with an accessible link from the publisher or CSU library.
• Replace scanned PDFs with a better quality, more accessible digital version.
• Convert PDFs to a more accessible format, such as an Ultra document or a Word document, which can be more easily remediated.
• Rethink instructional content and activities to make them more accessible.

Remediate

For content that will remain in a course, remediate the accessibility errors in the appropriate application. 

If you are using the CSU Template in your course, be sure to have the most recent version of the document to avoid making unnecessary remediations and to ensure the most recent information. Complete the template update request form on the Center for eLearning website. 

Accessible course content makes it easier for everyone to read and access your materials and can help improve overall quality and usability. There are many low-effort adjustments you can make to start creating more accessible content.

• Use a font size of at least 12px.
• Have sufficient contrast between text and background.
• Use proper heading styles.
• Use a logical heading structure.
• Add alternative descriptions to images that convey the full meaning of the image.
• Use tables for tabular data only.
• Ensure that all tables have column headers.
• Use built-in list functionality for all lists (numbered and bulleted).
• Ensure that all links have text that describes the target.
• Use built-in PowerPoint slide templates.
• Don’t use scanned PDFs.
• Ensure that all PDFs are tagged.

View the video from the W3C Web Accessibiility Intiative (WAI) to learn the importance of web accessibility, W3C Standards (link to video opens in a new window). 

The Ally Guidance Handout shows how to use the Course Accessibility Report in Blackboard to identify content that needs remediation

• Login to Blackboard. Navigate to "Best Practices for Accessible Online Course Design" course. Review the reference module, "Understanding Accessibiity," and Module, "Ally for Blackboard."

Blackboard's Content Editor creates accessible documents, as long as you are mindful to use the tools in the content editor as you are creating your Ultra documents. These tools are also helpful in remediating existing content. Most of the accessibility issues we see in Blackboard Ultra documents are: 

Headings

In Ultra documents, use the built-in tools in the content editor to create headings, rather than increasing font size and/or bolding text. Make sure you are using Headings in the proper hierarchical format. For instance, Title>Header>Subheader

Tables

Use the Tables tool in the content editor to format your table. Avoid empty cells and merged or split cells. Make sure your table has a table header. 

Ordered Lists

Use the bullet tool or the numbering tool in the content editor to create lists in your documents. 

Color Contrast

Blackboard's Content Editor will only allow you to use accessible colors that are dark enough to read against a white background. Use the color picker tool in the content editor to color text. If you have copied content into the content editor, you can change the color of your content by selecting it and changing the color using the color picker.

Watch the video to see how Ally can help you create and remediate Blackboard Ultra documents.

Some of your Blackboard Ultra documents may have images that do not have Alt-text. Ally's built-in AI alt-text generator can help you remediate this accessibility issue. See the video below to learn how to use it! 

Login to Blackboard. Navigate to "Best Practices for Accessible Online Course Design" course. Review the reference module, "Ally for Blackboard."

All images in any type of document need Alternative Text (alt-text). Alt-text describes the content and the purpose of an image to your audience. Alt-text is metadata added to an image. It does not appear visually to users, but it is announced by screen readers. Alt-text should:

• Keep it brief: Aim for roughly 125 to 150 characters or a single clear sentence.
• Skip "image of": Screen readers already announce that an element is an image, so starting with "picture of" or "photo of" wastes time.
• Focus on purpose: Describe what the image communicates in context, rather than listing every minor visual detail.
• Include text in images: If an image contains words (like a flyer or banner), write those exact words out in the alt text.
• End with a period: A closing period ensures the screen reader pauses naturally after reading the description.
• Points taken from section 508.gov. 

WebAIM provides a good introduction to using alt-text for different types of images and contexts. 

Any type of file can have color contrast issues. Download and use the Color Contrast Analyser available from Vispero (whitelisted from CSU's IST) to check color contrast in different types of documents. Watch the video below to see how it works.

• Microsoft: Everything you need to know to write effective alt-text
• Image Description Guidelines from the Diagram Center - a great resource that includes guidelines for specific types of images including: Art, Photos and Cartoons; Chemistry; Diagrams; Graphs; Maps; Math; Tables; and Text Only Images.
• Alt-text for STEM content (from Nova Techset)
• WebAIM's Color Contrast Checker

All Microsoft applications have a built-in accessibility check. 

In general, the steps to using the Word accessibility checker are:

• Open your presentation in the desktop version of Word.
• Select Review, then click Check Accessibility.
• Review the errors, warnings, and tips in the Accessibility pane.
• Select each reported issue to see the issues it identifies.
• Fix the issues, then run the checker again.

Watch the video to see how to use the accessibility check to identify and correct accessibility issues in your document. 

Word styles can be used to format text in your Word document. Watch the video to see how to apply a Word style heading.

• Login to Blackboard. Navigate to "Best Practices for Accessible Online Course Design" course. Review the reference module, "Understanding Accessibiity," and Module, "Creating Accessible Word Documents."
• See the video below of the CFE Recording of "Creating Accessible Word Documents" webinar:

Sometimes, Ally identifies an issue with a Word file "no language set." This sometimes happens when we convert PDFs into Word to remediate. Your document should have a language set. Watch the video to see how to set the language in Word.

In general, the steps to using the PowerPoint accessibility checker are:

• Open your presentation in the desktop version of PowerPoint.
• Select Review, then click Check Accessibility.
• Review the errors, warnings, and tips in the Accessibility pane.
• Select each reported issue to see which slide or object it identifies.
• Fix the issues, then run the checker again.

Watch the video to see a demonstration of how to use the accessibility checker.

Login to Blackboard. Navigate to "Best Practices for Accessible Online Course Design" course. Review the reference module, "Creating Accessible PowerPoint Presentations."

Watch the video of the CFE recording of "Creating Accessible PowerPoints" webinar.

Watch the video below to learn about the challenges associated with using and remediating PDFs (produced by Allly).

PDFs are the most difficult types of files to remediate. Here is some guidance to help you get the best results for your documents. 

Advice on PDFs

We can’t recommend using PDFs in your course unless you have checked and found them to be accessible. They are often problematic. If you discover that a publisher PDF that you've added to Blackboard has accessibility issues, contact the publisher and ask for an accessible version of that content. You have to decide if you have time to both learn how to fix the accessibility issues and to do the work. This can be very time-consuming, especially for longer PDFs. It may be easier to look for another, accessible source for the content, or delete it, if you do not want to revise it. 

If you decide to remediate your PDF, you will want to obtain the BEST POSSIBLE digital version of the document before proceeding.

Leave Documents in the Original Microsoft Office Format

CSU’s Office of Disability Services recommends leaving your Word and/or Power Point documents in their original format because they are more easily edited for accommodation and accessibility. If you can avoid converting something to PDF and make it accessible within its original authoring environment, that is how you should proceed. Don't convert your Word handouts to PDF. Leave them in Word or PowerPoint and use the formatting for accessibility in those applications to make them accessible. Students can easily convert a PDF to an editable text document. So, if your argument for using PDF is to ensure that students don't change your wording, this wouldn't be the case. You always retain your original text that you authored and know what it said.

Save PDFs as Word or PowerPoint files for easier remediation

Recognize text in Adobe Acrobat Pro and save as Word or PowerPoint. Accessibility of information like math equations are far more accessible in Word or PowerPoint than PDF. See Adobe's guidance on converting PDF documents to Word documents.

Make sure you have Copyright Permission from the Publisher or it is Fair Use

PDF articles from subscription based professional journals or licensed online textbooks require permission from the publisher to be uploaded to a course. It’s the same with scanned content from books. Unless you can obtain this permission or find a written statement of copyright permissions online, and post it within the online course, don’t upload publisher content that you've scanned or downloaded from an external site.

Create Links in a Course to Library Licensed Content available as PDF, HTML, or Online, For Example Journal Articles

It's better to use Blackboard's Create menu and select the Link tool to add the journal article's Permalink to the content area of a course. Students located off campus will authenticate into the library's site and be able to access and read the journal article there. To learn how to add a Permalink to your course, from the library's web site, see: How to add Permalinks to Articles on Michael Schwartz Library's site.

Watch the video to see how to add a library Permalink in your Blackboard course:

Use a Document Title 

The document title is important so that users of assistive technology can hear the name of the document when opening the file and when switching between multiple tabs within a PDF program. 

Set the Document Language 

The document language determines which speech synthesizer is used by assistive technology programs. 

Add Alternate Text for Images 

• Any images or figures that convey important information in your document must have alternate text.
• Alternate text is a short description of the image that will be read out loud to assistive technology users.
• Keep your alternate text to 1-2 sentences long. 

Add a Tag Structure 

Is the document tagged? Accessible PDFs must have tags. 

• Paragraphs must have paragraph tags, lists must have list tags, images must have image tags, tables must have table tags etc.
• Tag the content by choosing Tools > Accessibility > Reading Order.
• Select the content, and then apply tags as necessary. 

Use Table Headers 

To ensure that tabular data are read logically by assistive technologies, use table header tags for column headers, row headers, or both. 

Check the Reading Order 

• You will need to manually check that the content in your PDF follows a logical reading order.
• To check the reading order, open the tags panel and arrow down.
• Move items up or down in the tags panel to correct problems with the reading order. 

Check the Color Contrast 

You will need to manually check that your PDF document has sufficient color contrast. Use any of the resources below to check color contrast. 

The Ally tool allows users to do some remediation of PDF files inline. Results on remediations will vary depending on the quality of the original file. Ally will:

• OCR scanned documents
• Auto-tag a PDF
• Add a title
• Add a language set 

Additionally, Ally has more features planned for the coming months for additional remediation capabilities, including:

• AI Alt Text for PDFs
• PDF Decorative Image Workflows
• OCRed PDF Guidance

See the Ally Roadmap Recap for more information on upcoming features. 

Watch the video below for adding a missing language set to a PDF. 

Watch the video below to see how to use Ally to auto-tag a PDF

Video by Popetech that demonstrates how to make your PDFs more accessible by using Adobe Acrobat Pro's Accessibility Checker. 

Note: All CSU Faculty and Staff have access to Adobe Acrobat Pro from Adobe Could. See instructions on IST's website. 

Faculty now have access to Toptal Accessibility Portal to process and remediate PDF documents to help meet accessibility standards. Learn more about the Toptal Remediation Tool and how to access and use the tool.

• Login to Blackboard. Navigate to "Best Practices for Accessible Online Course Design" course. Review the reference module, "PDFs."

Videos recorded or uploaded in our Panopto environment are automatically captioned using Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) generated captions. Captions should be reviewed by faculty to make sure they are correct. You can edit captions in the Panopto editor if necessary. You can also add captions to videos that are uploaded to Panopto. Watch the video below to learn how to:

• Add Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) generated captions.
• Edit existing captions.

Watch the video to see how you can use Co-Pilot to create long descriptions for complex infographics.

Image Description Guidelines from the Diagram Center - a great resource that includes guidelines for specific types of images including: Art, Photos and Cartoons; Chemistry; Diagrams; Graphs; Maps; Math; Tables; and Text Only Images.

Blackboard assignments and assessments require accessible content. Consider the student experience when developing your assignments and assessments, especially when including images and attached files. 

• Use Blackboard's built-in content editor to format documents. Use headers, table headers for tables, alt-text for images. The content header helps to ensure that you are creating content with the structure required to meet accessibility standards.
• Create grading rubrics in Blackboard Ultra (as opposed to attaching as a separate file).
• Add meaningful alternative text when uploading images. Blackboard may prompt you to enter alternative text or identify an image as decorative.
• Avoid visual-only questions.
• Check mathematical notation and symbols to ensure they are accessible.
• Use accessible question types. Hotspot questions in Blackboard do not provide full support for assistive technologies.
• Review test accommodations and exceptions. In Blackboard, configure additional time, attempts, or other assessment settings as appropriate for approved accommodations. Confirm that settings are applied to the correct student and assessment.
• Check uploaded files separately. Blackboard's accessibility features do not automatically make every attached Word document, PDF, or PowerPoint accessible.
• Use Ally to check the content in your course. Review accessibility indicators and use the feedback to identify and remediate issues in course materials.

Accessibility work is different across the different academic departments and disciplines. There are some field-specific resources for meeting digital accessibility challenges including:

• Accessible Math Guidance from the American Mathematical Society
• Accessible Chemistry Guidance from the American Chemical Society 

• Use Microsoft’s equation editor in Word documents and PowerPoint presentations. See Microsoft’s site for more information on Equation Editor 

• Microsoft's Equation Editor allows authors to created structured mathematical notation that is more accessible than image-based equation. Use the Equation Editor to insert any mathematical notation. Currently, support in Word is better than PowerPoint, but Microsft reports that better PowerPoint support is coming soon.
• Mathpix - AI-powered Optical Character Recognition tool for STEM content that converst math, science and technical content from images, PDFs and screenshots into editable digital formats such as LaTeX, Markdown, DOCX, HTML, MathML and plain text. 

Does your course still need work? 

At this point, it may be helpful to revisit the 3 R’s (Retire, Replace, Remediate) as you evaluate the remaining items.

• Retire: Review your Ally report to assess if you removed all material that is no longer needed to meet your course goals.
• Replace: Determine if the content that made it past the “Retire” stage can be replaced with a more accessible version or format. Here are three tips:
  • Replace scanned PDFs with a better quality, more accessible digital version or an accessible link from the publisher or CSU library. If you need assistance finding a more accessible version, your content area librarian may be of assistance.
  • Review your course to see what PDFs can be converted to a more accessible format, such as an Ultra document or a Word document, which can be more easily remediated.
  • Rethink instructional content and activities to make them more accessible. Consider alternative content or methods that could meet this course objective. (do we want to offer a consult for brainstorming with an instructional designer here?)
• Remediate: For content that will remain in a course, remediate the accessibility errors in the appropriate application. 

Make a Plan

How will you complete the remaining course materials remediation? Follow these guidelines:

• Run your Ally Accessibility Report regularly to track and prioritize fixes.
• Build Accessibility into your workflow. Use native accessibility checkers (MS Word, PPT) as you create instructional materials.
• Keep your courses clean and intentional. After course copies, delete unused files. Use a Development shell or a One Drive folder for keeping unused instructional materials.
• Choose accessible formats by default. Use PDFs only when necessary.
• Review accessibility through a student’s lens. Center student experience in your decisions. Document your efforts when more context or professional judgment is needed.

Make use of available resources:

• Start with your Ally Accessibility Report
• Make use of the Best Practices for Accessible Online Course Design course in Blackboard
• Attend or watch recorded training webinars on making accessible content 
• Find more accessible versions of your content: Contact your Subject Matter Librarian
• Brainstorm alternative learning activities: Schedule a Consultation with an Instructional Designer
• Request a Development shell for housing unused instructional materials
• Utilize the Toptal PDF Remediation Tool

Download our 

 to plan and track your accessibility progress.