Accessibility Resources

The main resource for information and support around creating accessible course materials will be the Accessibility in Teaching & Learning Commons page on the Research, Teaching, & Learning (RTL) Commons site. This page, with its explanations, list of “Top 5 Actions You Can Take Now,” FAQs and links to many subpages with information on specific topics, contains A LOT of information, all useful, but possibly a bit overwhelming. The steps outlined below attempt to make the process more manageable, following the likely steps most instructors will go through in building a bCourses site. We’ll link to subpages in the Research, Teaching & Learning Commons site when it’s necessary, to provide detail on a process.

A note on PDF documents: PDFs have long been considered the most universally accessible and easiest to share document format, and they’re one of the most common file types instructors upload to bCourses. But in the context of the new accessibility standards, they’re actually one of the most inaccessible formats, and are also among the most challenging to retroactively bring into compliance. You’ll find more information about accessibility in PDF documents on the Accessible PDF Files page on RTL Common’s site

A note on Ally: Ally is an accessibility tool built into bCourses which can scan your bCourses site, creating a Course Accessibility Report showing which elements are accessible and which aren’t, and providing suggestions for creating accessible versions of materials that currently aren’t accessible. Ally can also create alternate, more accessible, forms of some types of course materials.

If you’re creating the bCourses site for your fall class from scratch—not importing the contents of a bCourses site from a previous iteration of the class—please skip ahead to the SYLLABI section below.

Analyze existing materials

If you are recycling a bCourses site from a previous iteration of your the course, once you’ve imported it into your the new bCourses site for your fall course, please 

1. Scan the materials you’re hoping to recycle using Ally. For step-by-step guidance, see the Ally in bCourses page on the RTL Commons site

2. Restrict access to materials that aren’t compliant with the accessibility standards while you work to find/create versions of the materials that are compliant. For step-by-step guidance, see the bCourses Knowledge Board on how to restrict access to a bCourses site or materials

Using this approach, you can update materials gradually, beginning with those that students will need earlier in the semester. Consider letting students know you are actively working on accessibility and invite them to flag any files that are inaccessible.

Syllabi

Creating syllabi in Word or Google Docs will continue to work well, both because it will be relatively accessible if you upload it to bCourses as a Word file or add it as a link to a Google Doc, and because the History Department will continue requesting that you email your syllabi to the office each semester to be archived. Avoid saving your syllabus as a PDF document and uploading that to bCourses. Microsoft and Google documents give students many options for accessing them, and both Microsoft and Google will be continually working to make their platforms more accessible. By keeping documents in these file formats they’re created in, they are more likely to be compliant and to remain compliant.

You can find tips on creating accessible documents in Word and Google docs on RTL Commons’ Accessible Documents (Microsoft Word & Google Docs) page

To maximize the accessibility of your syllabus, you can build a version of it directly in bCourses. The bCourses syllabus template includes the syllabus, course summary, and sidebar—you can find a step-by-step bCourses tutorial, including a video, here. At minimum, you can copy and paste the text of your syllabus from Word or Google Docs into the syllabus description field.

Lecture slides

There’s detailed tutorial on creating accessible slides on RTL Commons’ Accessible Slides (Microsoft PowerPoint, Google Slides, & LaTeX) page. Key steps for making slide decks accessible include:

1. Add alt-text to images and other visuals.

2. Add unique titles to each slide.

3. Upload the slide deck to bCourses in its original format (Powerpoint file, Google Slides link) rather than saving as a PDF file and then uploading.

Readings

The readings you add to your bCourses site will most likely be the materials that need the most attention. Faculty who’ve already begun work on making their course materials accessible have probably found that bringing readings into compliance has been the most challenging. When possible, link to accessible licensed library resources instead of uploading scanned pages or personal PDF copies. Please refer to the Library’s Digital accessibility of Library collections page, and submit questions, suggestions, or requests for support through the Library intake form

Other Course Materials

When creating other course materials—components such as assignments and quizzes—avoid uploading documents created in another platform, or linking to documents saved in another platform. Instead, either type text directly into fields bCourses, or type and edit text in another platform but then copy and paste the text directly into fields in bCourses. Anything that’s created directly in bCourses in this way will be very accessible, because it will be an in-line part of your bCourses website, and will work with all the accessibility tools available for accessing websites.