Posted on No Comments on May 2021 Workshop Rewind

May 2021 Workshop Rewind

Well, it’s somehow already Memorial Day weekend, which means it’s pretty much June! We will roll out a whole new schedule of workshops and training sessions soon, so stay tuned.

As for May, we hosted some awesome virtual sessions, which resulted in two new recordings, so it was a great success. Check out the links below to view the edited recordings as well as the workshop outlines/agendas.

One thing that’s been on my to-do list is to create a new section of the Access @ Rice website where you can find archived workshop recordings and workshop handouts. Until then, you can view our previously recorded workshops here.

Please contact me at a11y@rice.edu if you have any questions or comments, and let me know if there are any workshop topics you’d like me to tackle in the future. Also, if you ever encounter accessibility barriers with any of Rice University’s digital information, please contact the accessibility steering committee at access@rice.edu and we’ll get back to you ASAP.

Posted on No Comments on May 2021 Accessibility Workshops

May 2021 Accessibility Workshops

It’s been a little while since my last update here. The good news is that a lot of exciting updates have been taking place behind the scenes in that time, including some improvements to the rice.edu website. More on that in a future post.

There are some exciting accessibility learning opportunities lined up for the month of May, including an interactive workshop on Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD).

There are multiple repeated sessions covering the basic principles of accessible design, so take your pick. There are also sessions on favorite topics like Adobe Acrobat, PDF forms, Microsfoft Word and PowerPoint, and video captions. You’ve also been asking us to add workshops on Adobe Indesign. We listened and we’ve scheduled two!

Check out the full schedule below. Register for each session by clicking the link title.

Date Title/Registration Link Description
Wed. 5/05 Basic Accessible Design Principles Learn the basic principles and how to apply them to your own digital designs.
Thu. 5/06 Microsoft Word Accessibility Essentials Learn how to apply the basic design principles to your Word Documents.
Fri. 5/07 Acrobat & PDF Accessibility Essentials Learn the basics of creating, cleaning up, and remediating accessible PDFs in Adobe Acrobat.
Mon. 5/10 Basic Accessible Design Principles Learn the basic principles and how to apply them to your own digital designs.
Wed. 5/12 InDesign Accessibility Essentials Learn how to apply basic accessible design principles to your InDesign layouts and export options for best result to PDF.
Thu. 5/13 Accessible PDF Forms Learn to design fillable forms for PDF format with emphasis on tags, form field labels, descriptions, and tab order.
Fri. 5/14 Microsoft PowerPoint Accessibility Essentials We will discuss slide layouts, reading order, slide titles, alternative text, font sizes, and more.
Mon. 5/17 Basic Accessible Design Principles Learn the basic principles and how to apply them to your own digital designs.
Tue. 5/18 InDesign Accessibility Essentials Learn how to apply basic accessible design principles to your InDesign layouts and export options for best result to PDF.
Thu. 5/20 Fix Your Web Content with the Pros (GAAD 2021) Learn how to scan your webpages and documents, identify issues, and remove common accessibility barriers. Think of it like a guided hackathon to improve access for all.
Mon. 5/24 Basic Accessible Design Principles Learn the basic principles and how to apply them to your own digital designs.
Wed. 5/26 Better Captions for Everyone An overview of options for live (synchronous) and recorded (asynchronous) closed captions including Zoom, Kaltura, and other options.
Posted on No Comments on February Workshop Rewind

February Workshop Rewind

It’s hard to believe it’s already March! In a couple of weeks, it’ll be time for spring break and daylight savings. Before you know it, we’ll all be vaccinated and back on campus, holding workshops together in person.

There’s a lot to look forward to, but I wanted to take a minute to reflect on the excellent digital accessibility workshops we hosted in February and share links to several of the recordings.

Check out the following links to view the edited recordings with accurate closed captions.

I’ll update this post with more February workshop recordings and additional resources soon. Stay tuned!

 

 

Posted on No Comments on 12 Accessibility Workshops for February

12 Accessibility Workshops for February

It’s hard to believe we’re one full month into 2021. How would you qualify that sentence, “only one full month in,” or “already one full month in?” Sometimes, it feels like both.

February may be the shortest month, but we’ve packed it with a really versatile workshop schedule, including sessions on the brand new live caption feature is Zoom. Read more about Zoom live captions.

Each week in February has a kind of theme where most of the Monday and Wednesday sessions are informational and the Friday sessions are hands-on workshops. Week one is an exception though. None of the workshops have any prerequisites, so feel free to sign up for any and all of them.

Take a look at the schedule below and use the links to sign up.

NOTE: All workshops start at 10:00 am and last for one hour.

Week One: Accessibility Essentials

Week Two: PDFs and Adobe Acrobat

Week Three: Online Courses and Canvas

Week Four: Accessible Document Design

Posted on No Comments on Zoom Live Captions Are Here!

Zoom Live Captions Are Here!

Just in time for the spring ’21 semester, Zoom has released live automatic speech recognition (ASR) captions for meetings and webinars! That means you no longer have to rely on workaround solutions like Google Slides or PowerPoint 365 as we previously recommended.

To start using live ASR captions in Zoom meetings and webinars, you’ll first need to go to the settings page of your Zoom account.

On the Settings page, select ‘In Meeting (Advanced)‘ in the menubar.

Find the setting labeled ‘Closed captioning‘ and make sure it’s toggled ON.

Next, select the checkbox labeled ‘Enable live transcription service to show transcript on the side panel in-meeting.’ Be sure to select the ‘Save‘ button after making the change.

Zoom live captions setting.

Note that any changes you make to your Zoom account won’t take effect until the next time you start a meeting or webinar. Any in-progress meetings need to be ended and restarted before the changes are available.

The next time you start a Zoom meeting or webinar you will see a button labeled ‘Live Transcript.’

Enable Auto-Transcription setting.

IMPORTANT: You must manually ‘Enable Auto-Transcription‘ each time you start a meeting to ensure that your meeting participants can use the closed captions.

Once the host enables auto-transcription, each attendee can choose to show or hide the closed captions. Everyone can customize the size of caption text by selecting ‘Subtitle settings.’ Each attendee can also drag the caption box to reposition it anywhere in the meeting window.

Floating caption box is moveable.

Live captions are included in cloud recordings and are fully editable too. See our KB article about editing Zoom captions for more information.

 

 

Posted on No Comments on Math Accessibility and UDL

Math Accessibility and UDL

Happy 2021, everybody! I hope your year is off to a great start so far.

Before the winter break started, I received several questions about making STEM content more accessible, particularly math equations.

This post will attempt to break down a few of the challenges and recommend a few solutions for providing your math equations in multiple formats that better suit the diverse needs of your audience.

Heads up, this is kind of a long one.

Challenges

LaTeX

The standard way to produce math equations is LaTeX. However, LaTeX by itself is not considered to be very accessible for people with visual disabilities.

Technically speaking, anyone regardless of dis/ability could go through lines of LaTeX syntax in the tex file to figure it out, but that is not typically how users read and comprehend math equations. Consider the increased demand this places on working memory for non-visual users: one would have to mentally transform the syntax into a representative equation while simultaneously attempting to work it out. You can probably understand how this isn’t the most equitable option.

PDF

LaTeX exported to PDF often looks great with beautifully rendered equations, but these files do not contain the appropriate semantic structures known as tags. Therefore, anyone using assistive technology like screen readers can’t access the content in a meaningful way.

I don’t want to take up the space here discussing all of the reasons why it’s not feasible to try and make your Math PDFs accessible. Suffice it to say, it would take a lot of expert knowledge of Adobe Acrobat and tags, and a lot of time to remediate everything.

A 40-page evaluation was recently published detailing how one might produce a tagged PDF with “minimal manual intervention.”

Recommended Solutions

As much as it pains me to admit it, not every single format of digital information can be made universally accessible (as illustrated in the LaTeX/PDF example above). Does this mean that math isn’t for people with visual disabilities? Absolutely not!

The solution lies in the framework of Universal Design for Learning which promotes multiple modes of representation, engagement, and action. “Multiple modes” is the operative phrase here.

Can you force LaTeX syntax or PDFs to be accessible? Not really, but you can provide your math content in at least one additional format. To be clear, we’re not saying “don’t use LaTeX or PDFs” for your math content. We’re simply suggesting that you provide at least one alternative format to give your students more choices. This is an example of what Dr. Tom Tobin calls “plus-one thinking.”

For example, if you normally administer an exam by providing your students with a printable PDF, then consider having an electronic version also available in Canvas. Every student could choose between the printed and electronic versions and disabled students would no longer require accommodations. Everybody wins!

MathML

MathML is widely considered to be a more accessible format for representing math equations. However, you may not be accustomed to working in MathML to create your equations. Pandoc is a “Swiss-Army knife” application for markup file conversion. Try converting your LaTeX markup to HTML4 or HTML5, then include the accessible valid markup on your course site.

Canvas

Equation Editor

Canvas LMS includes a WYSIWYG equation editor that makes it easy to build equations by clicking button icons. Alternatively, you can paste your LaTeX markup directly into the “advanced” editor. The LaTeX equations are perfectly rendered as vector graphics in Canvas. By default, the alternative text for these graphics is the LaTeX syntax, which as stated previously, presents accessibility challenges. Replace the LaTex alternative text description using more natural language that represents the equation. See this example from Penn State Accessibility.

MathJax

Currently, a limited number of Rice Canvas sub-accounts include MathJax, which makes creating equations in the Rich Content Editor even easier. For more information, see the Digital Teaching & Learning Blog and see our documentation on MathJax.

Other Options

Think of creative ways to use audio and/or video representations of your math content. These multimedia representations can be highly engaging alternatives for many students. Note that your multimedia should include appropriate captions and/or transcripts.

Process-Driven Math (PDM) is also a very promising method for representing complex math equations for students with an array of disabilities, including visual and cognitive disabilities. Check out Dr. Yvette Pearson’s podcast interview with AUM’s Ann Gulley to learn more about PDM and theLogan Project.

Questions?

If you have any questions or suggestions about creating accessible math equations, email us at a11y@rice.edu, or Tweet @RiceA11y.

Posted on No Comments on December Workshops Added!

December Workshops Added!

Hey y’all! I hope you had a safe and relaxing Thanksgiving holiday. December is shaping up to be a short but busy work month! I’ve crammed eight events into the next two weeks, which coincidentally fall during another eight day festival 🕎 (Happy Hanukkah!). I’m calling it the Festival of A11y, or Festiva11y 🎉 ♿. Okay, I might be stretching a little too hard for that portmanteau…

I’ve added a couple new workshops to the mix which are designed to be honest-to-goodness interactive discussion-based workshops. The two new sessions will focus on Drupal and STEM content respectively. We want to hear about your challenges and concerns, so please plan to attend with a list of questions.

We know it’s a crazy time with finals and winding down the year’s business, but we hope to see you at one (or all) of our sessions. Sign up below.

Workshops

Accessible Docs & PDFs

Description: Learn the best practices for making accessible Word documents and a workflow for converting them into accessible PDFs.

Dates:

Better Closed Captions

Description: This 1-hour workshop is designed to give you an overview of options for live (synchronous) and recorded (asynchronous) closed captions using Zoom, Google Meet, and Kaltura, as well as other applications like PowerPoint 365 and Google Slides.
Learn more about the best practices of using automatic speech recognition (ASR) captions and caption editing.

Dates:

Drupal 8 Accessibility, Successes & Challenges

Description: In this collaborative 1-hour discussion, share your challenges and questions about designing Drupal 8 content with greater accessibility in mind. The accessibility coordinator will help you troubleshoot and recommend solutions.

Dates:

Accessible STEM, Successes & Challenges

Description: In this 1-hour collaborative discussion share your challenges and questions about designing accessible digital STEM content. There is no magic bullet, but the Accessibility Coordinator will help you find solutions that work for you and your students.

Dates:

Posted on No Comments on Recap: October ’20 Workshops, Better Late Than Never.

Recap: October ’20 Workshops, Better Late Than Never.

Website Update

I’ll lead with some really BIG NEWS. We finally launched phase one of the Access @ Rice website. It’s still very much a work in progress, but I’d love for you to check it out and send me your feedback!

We are trying to model accessible best practices that anyone can adopt. For the sake of transparency, we’re still working on a couple of important issues:

  • Adding Skip Nav links (to bypass the hamburger menu for keyboard-only users).
  • Responsive containers and images (resizing on smaller screens).

October Workshops Recap

Thanks to everyone who helped make the October accessibility workshop series a smashing success 🎉 <party popper>! I’m already planning the next series of workshops after the Thanksgiving holiday.

In the meantime, here are some numbers from the October series:

  • 5 workshop topics.
  • 19 sessions from October 5 to October 30.
  • About 100 total attendees in all workshops.
  • About 50 unique attendees.

I’m so impressed by your dedication to making Rice a more inclusive place for all!

Shareable Resources

Feel free to share the following workshop links with anyone and everyone! Unfortunately, I didn’t record every session and I haven’t had a chance to clean up all of the captions yet 🙁 <frown>.

  1. Intro to Digital Accessibility
  2. Designing with WCAG
  3. Accessible Docs & PDFs
  4. Better Captions
  5. What to Expect from Policy 851

Please let me know if you have trouble accessing anything, or if you find any accessibility barriers and I will take care of them.

Upcoming Workshops

I’m planning a new round of training events starting in December, which will most likely include active workshops/discussions on Drupal 8 and STE M accessibility.

Look at for those new sessions here, on the Canvas Workshop Calendars, and on Twitter @RiceA11y. In the meantime, feel free to setup a consultation at calendly.com/rice-a11y.

Posted on No Comments on October Accessibility Workshops & Events

October Accessibility Workshops & Events

It’s hard to believe it’s already October. It seems like only yesterday we were kicking off our inaugural accessibility workshops. Here we are, one year later, and we’ve got a new month of awesome workshops lined up for you.

Change can be difficult, but…

It would be an understatement to say A LOT has changed over the past year. One of the changes we’re most excited about is the new Digital Information Accessibility Policy (#851). We totally get it if you don’t share our enthusiasm at the phrase “new policy.” It probably just sounds like one more thing you have to do. But what if we told you that with just a little more attention to a few simple techniques, you can do your part to make Rice a more inclusive community for everyone. We think that’s worth getting excited about.

We’re gonna rock this!

One thing that hasn’t changed is that October is still National Disability Employment Awareness Month and October 10 is World Sight Day, so we’re in celebration mode. We can’t treat you to delicious pizza and salad this time around (thanks COVID 🙄 <eyeroll>). But, you can join us remotely at any of the workshops with your own slice 🍕 or anything else you want to eat or drink 🍹 (we won’t tell 🤐).

Sign up here.

We hope to see you at one (or ALL) of these exciting workshops.

Intro to Digital Accessibility

This 1 hour workshop is designed to give you an overview of digital accessibility at Rice, including what the law says you must do, what Rice wants you to do, Rice’s standards for accessible digital information and online courses, “Low-hanging fruit” of digital accessibility, and more. Join us for one of the following sessions:

Click here to register for one of the following Intro sessions. On the following Zoom registration page, select your preferred date from the dropdown menu.

  • Monday, October 5, 3:00 p.m.
  • Monday, October 19, 3:00 p.m.
  • Monday, October 26, 10:00 a.m.

Design With WCAG

This 1 hour workshop is designed to give you a high-level overview of the WCAG 2.1, A-AA standards.
Learn about 8 basic techniques that you can apply widely to digital content. These techniques cover all A and AA criteria relevant to Rice content authors/administrators, including Headings, Forms, Tables, Alt Text, Using color, Readable text, Purposeful links, Closed captions and transcripts. Join us for one of the following sessions:

Click here to register for one of the following WCAG sessions. On the following Zoom registration page, select your preferred date from the dropdown menu.

  • Wednesday, October 7, 3:00 p.m.
  • Monday, October 12, 10:00 a.m.
  • Friday, October 23, 3:00 p.m.
  • Tuesday, October 27, 3:00 p.m.

Accessible Docs & PDFs

Learn the best practices for designing accessible Word documents and a workflow for converting them into accessible PDFs. Also learn techniques for remediating existing PDFs. Join us for one of the following sessions:

Click here to register for one of the following PDF sessions. On the following Zoom registration page, select your preferred date from the dropdown menu.

  • Friday, October 9, 3:00 p.m.
  • Friday, October 16, 10:00 a.m.
  • Wednesday, October 21, 3:00 p.m.
  • Wednesday, October 28, 10:00 a.m.

Better Captions & Transcripts

This 1-hour workshop is designed to give you an overview of options for live (synchronous) and recorded (asynchronous) closed captions using Zoom, Google Meet, and Kaltura, as well as other applications like PowerPoint 365 and Google Slides. Learn more about the best practices of using automatic speech recognition (ASR) captions and caption editing. Join us for one of the following sessions:

Click here to register for one of the following Caption sessions. On the following Zoom registration page, select your preferred date from the dropdown menu.

  • Wednesday, October 14, 10:00 a.m.
  • Thursday, October 29, 3:00 p.m.

What to Expect from Rice’s New Digital Accessibility Policy

We will discuss the details of Rice’s new Digital Information Accessibility Policy, 851. In this Q & A session, some topics include:

What “digital information accessibility” means. Who is responsible for accessible digital information at Rice. Priority areas where digital information should be made accessible ASAP. A timetable for remediating digital information. What to do if you receive an email and accessibility report from Public Affairs. Any other questions or clarifications you may have. Join us for one of the following sessions:

Click here to register for one of the morning Policy sessions. On the following Zoom registration page, select your preferred date from the dropdown menu.

  • Tuesday, October 27, 10:00 a.m.
  • Thursday, October 29, 10:00 a.m.
  • Friday, October 30, 10:00 a.m.

Click here to register for one of the afternoon Policy sessions. On the following Zoom registration page, select your preferred date from the dropdown menu.

  • Monday, October 26, 3:00 p.m.
  • Wednesday, October 28, 3:00 p.m.
  • Friday, October 30, 3:00 p.m.
Posted on No Comments on Digital Information Accessibility Policy, The 5 Ws

Digital Information Accessibility Policy, The 5 Ws

We’re proud to announce Rice’s first ever policy regarding the accessibility of digital information and communication technology. Read Rice Policy 851 here.

We’re working hard to create a new digital accessibility website as a one-stop hub for all your questions about training and resources related to the new policy. We’ll be sure to let you know when it’s finished.

In the meantime, I thought I’d write a series of blogs to start answering some of your questions, starting with the five Ws.

 

Why did Rice create this policy?

With so much of the University’s operations moving partially or fully online, it’s more important than ever to ensure that everyone, including people with disabilities, has equal opportunity to independently access and use Rice’s digital information without barriers.

This policy aligns to several of Rice’s V2C2 goals like expanding access and inclusion, providing outstanding undergraduate experiences, building renowned graduate programs and extending Rice’s global impact and reputation.

We cannot hope to truly achieve these goals if we are providing digital experiences that exclude groups of users, even if that’s not our intention.

What does the policy apply to?

“Digital Information” is a broad term that pretty much describes any information and communication technology with a user interface.

Primarily, this policy addresses the need for publicly available digital information, like

  • websites,
  • videos,
  • PDFs,
  • and other applications

to meet Rice’s new standard, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.1, AA). It also applies to online and blended course materials as well as procurement of new software.

Who is responsible for following the policy?

Anyone who creates digital information for Rice’s public website and/or online and blended courses should do so with accessibility in mind. This includes faculty, staff, students, and contractors (i.e. “content authors“).

It’s not important for all content authors to become experts in the complete list of WCAG criteria. If we follow a few simple guidelines from the beginning of our design process, we can do a lot to improve digital experiences for all.

When should I start thinking about the policy?

This policy applies to all digital content created on or after October 31st, 2020. It’s about having the guidance to move forward, so don’t panic about going back and remediating years-worth of older digital content. We ask that you revise older content in a timely manner, but we realize it won’t happen over night.

Where will this policy have an impact?

As we continue expanding our online presence and course offerings, this policy will guide us to improve digital experiences for all users at Rice and beyond.

How do I get started?

If you have any questions about the new policy, or to request training, contact me at a11y@rice.edu.