Posted on No Comments on Canvas Accessibility Easier Than Ever With UDOIT Cloud

Canvas Accessibility Easier Than Ever With UDOIT Cloud

The Learning Environments team is excited to announce that UDOIT Cloud is now available to all instructors in Canvas!

What is UDOIT Cloud?

UDOIT Cloud is an LTI that makes it easy to identify and fix accessibility issues across your entire Canvas course, all from one convenient location. Rather than running an accessibility check on each individual content area, UDOIT Cloud scans your course and produces a report of all accessibility issues. UDOIT Cloud provides explanations, learning resources, and tools for reviewing and fixing issues. See the Access @ Rice website or more information about UDOIT Cloud.

Note: UDOIT Cloud is not a “magic bullet” that automatically fixes accessibility deficiencies for you. Instead, it is an educational tool for helping you improve your own accessibility design practices over time. For more information about accessible design in Canvas, see Rice’s Accessibility Course Guides.

Add UDOIT Cloud to the Canvas Course Navigation

  1. Select the “Settings” link in the Canvas course navigation menu.
  2. Select the “Navigation” tab.
  3. Enable “UDOIT Cloud.” Click and drag it from lower box to upper box or use the ellipsis.
  4. Click “Save.”

Start a UDOIT Scan

  1. Select the “UDOIT Cloud” link in the course navigation menu to start the scan.
  2. On the following UDOIT Cloud “Home” screen, review all issues categorized as either Errors or Suggestions.
    • For an explanation of all issues, click the ellipsis (three dots) in the top right corner, select “About,” then select “What does UDOIT look for?” in the bottom of the pop-up.
  3. Select an error or use the “Ways to Get Started” filters on the right side of the screen.
    • Example: No Table Headers Found.

Fix Issues

  1. After selecting an error or suggestion, you will find a list of all related issues.
    • Note that you are now under the “UFIXIT” tab.
  2. Select one of the issues from the list to open a pop-up window with information and tools related to the issue.
  3. In the pop-up, you will find the following:
    • a brief explanation of the issue.
    • a preview window with the option to view as HTML.
    • a link to open and view the issue in context on the Canvas page.
    • in many cases, tools for fixing the issue.
  4. In the example of a table without headers, determine if the top row, first column, or both should be marked as headers and select the corresponding option to apply a fix.
  5. Important: Select the “Save” button after applying the appropriate fix.
  6. If the issue turns out to be a false positive, check the box labeled “Mark as Resolved.”
  7. Select the “Next Issue” button to move to the next issue.
  8. Repeat these steps until all issues are fixed or marked as reviewed.

Note: Some issues need to be manually fixed by editing the Canvas page directly. After applying the manual fix and saving the changes, you can run a new scan by clicking the UDOIT Cloud link in the course navigation menu again.

Review Files

UDOIT Cloud does not check the accessibility of external files. UDOIT alerts you of course files and gives you information and resources about manually checking and fixing them.

Note: By the last quarter of 2022, UDOIT expects to release a feature that generates alternative file formats like the Blackboard Ally File Transformer.

  1. Click the “Review Files” tab in UDOIT Cloud to see a list of all files in the course.
    • Use the Filter button in the top right to view files by type like PDF and MS Word.
  2. Click on a filename or click the “Review” button to see the details of a particular file.
  3. In the pop-up, you can download the file or view it in the LMS (Canvas).
  4. Recommended: Download and review the file in its native application to ensure that it is accessible.
  5. After saving changes to the file, use the “Replace File” tool in UDOIT Cloud to upload a more accessible version to Canvas.
  6. Save your changes by checking the box labeled “Mark as Reviewed.”

Check for Closed Captions

UDOIT Cloud cannot check the accuracy of closed captions, but it can identify if captions were auto-generated or missing in the following three platforms:

Note: If your course contains videos from any other platform, UDOIT Cloud will generate the error “No Closed Captions Found.” Please review these videos in a similar way as described below.

Rather than manually searching through your course for videos, use UDOIT filter tools to aggregate a single list of videos for you to review.

  1. From the UDOIT Cloud “Home” tab, select the radio button labeled “By issue type” in the right-hand “Ways to Get Started” menu.
  2. Use the dropdown menu labeled “By issue type,” select “Closed Captions Were Auto-Generated,” then select the “Get Started button.”
  3. In the following pop-up, use the preview window or select the link to view the video on the Canvas page.
  4. If the captions need to be edited for accuracy, go to the video platform and make the needed edits.
  1. After confirming that captions are accurate, check the box labeled “Mark as resolved.”

Additional Resources

For more information about using UDOIT Cloud, see Rice’s UDOIT Training for Instructors.

Posted on No Comments on Universal Design for Learning in Canvas

Universal Design for Learning in Canvas

Back in February, Dr. Amanda Barnett joined me for a co-presentation about Universal Design for Learning in Canvas.

It’s taken a little longer than expected, but we’re happy to announce that the recorded workshop has finally been edited and available to share. The recording includes accurate closed captions, as well as a searchable text transcript.

We start with an overview of UDL and talk about the underlying principles and guidelines. We discuss the overlap between UDL, accessibility, usability, and inclusiveness and demonstrate some practical ways to use the framework of UDL in your online and hybrid courses on Canvas.

Check out the following links to view the recording and access the PowerPoint presentation with several great resource links.
Note, right click the links in the presentation and choose open link, or press command and click to open. Alternatively, download the presentation.

Posted on No Comments on Global Accessibility Awareness Day 2022

Global Accessibility Awareness Day 2022

There’s a lot to celebrate in May!
Happy Asian Pacific American Heritage Month!
Commencement is this Saturday, May 7th. Congrats 2022 grads!
Memorial Day is right around the corner.
And I would be remiss if I didn’t say, “May the 4th be with you” today.

Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) is Thursday May 19th!
We want to celebrate with you all month long by recognizing the diverse abilities of our community members, inside and outside the hedges, and commit to improving digital accessibility of our documents, media, applications, websites, and online courses.

Diverse Abilities

Digital accessibility is important for everyone, but crucial for people with disabilities. Check out the following WebAIM links to learn more about different types of disabilities.

It’s important to understand that poorly designed digital information is the problem when it comes to accessibility. We all have the power to learn how to avoid and remove barriers from our digital output and start improving accessibility for all, especially people with disabilities.

What can I do?

Here are some practical steps you can start taking today.

Posted on No Comments on Disability Inclusion in Marketing and Social Media

Disability Inclusion in Marketing and Social Media

Recently I hosted a workshop about social media accessibility [recorded workshop]. One of the many tips that I shared is about including representations of people with diverse abilities in your media and content. This can be a challenge without the right resources. I received some excellent recommendations from peers about inclusive stock image archives and I’d like to pass along a few of the best ones here. A few notes before selecting photos and sharing your content:

  • Please read Lainey Feingold’s excellent blog about choosing the right photos of people with disabilities.
  • Be aware that some photos may include their own license info for purchase and reuse, even within the same archive.
  • Always include an alternative text description (alt text) for your images no matter where you share them. For example, all social media platforms have alt text [Veronica with Four Eyes blog].

Inclusive Stock Image Archives

Example Image from Disabled and Here.
Six disabled people of color smile and pose in front of a concrete wall. Five people stand in the back, with the Black woman in the center holding up a chalkboard sign reading "disabled and here." A South Asian person in a wheelchair sits in front.
Example alt text: “Six disabled people of color smile and pose in front of a concrete wall. Five people stand in the back, with the Black woman in the center holding up a chalkboard sign reading “disabled and here.” A South Asian person in a wheelchair sits in front.”

Posted on No Comments on Digital Accessibility Workshops for Everyone

Digital Accessibility Workshops for Everyone

Is February too late to make a New Year’s resolution? We don’t think so and we’ve got the perfect idea for you:
Make 2022 the year you commit 2 digital accessibility!
We can help you stick to that resolution with a new series of accessibility workshops throughout the month of February.
We’re even trying something a little different this time.

We’ve organized workshops into four main tracks based on different roles including web content, documents, communications, and teaching. We also have Accessibility Office Hours each Friday at 11 AM. Of course, there’s overlap in all of these areas, so feel free to sign up for any sessions that are relevant to your role.

If you prefer to see all of the training events in a monthly calendar, check out the Canvas Training Center.

Start Here

No matter what your role might be, or what track(s) you choose, everyone can get started by attending one of two workshops to learn some basic accessibility design principles.

How 2 A11y: Basic Accessibility Design Principles

    • Session 1: Wed. 2/02/22 @ 2 PM (closed)
    • Session 2: Tue. 2/22/22 @ 2 PM* (closed)

We also recommend that you attend one of the workshops about the Digital Information Accessibility Policy if you can. Read on for more info about training tracks and signing up for sessions.

* indicates repeated session.

Training Tracks

Web Content Track

  • Get to Know Rice’s Digital Accessibility Policy.
    Session 1: Mon. 1/31/22 @ 3 PM (closed)
    Session 2: Mon. 2/21/22 @ 10 AM* (closed)
    .
  • How 2 A11y: Basic Accessibility Design Principles.
    Session 1: Wed. 2/02/22 @ 2 PM (closed)
  • Session 2: Tue. 2/22/22 @ 2 PM* (closed)
    .
  • Check Your Website Content for Accessibility.
    Session 1: Tue. 2/01/22 @ 10 AM (closed)
    Session2: Wed. 2/23/22 @ 10 AM* (closed)
    .
  • PDF and Acrobat Accessibility Essentials, Tue. 2/08/22 @ 3 PM (closed)
    .
  • Better Video Captions, Wed. 3/02/22 @ 3 PM.

Documents Track

  • Get to Know Rice’s Digital Accessibility Policy.
    Session 1: Mon. 1/31/22 @ 3 PM (closed)
    Session 2: Mon. 2/21/22 @ 10 AM* (closed)
    .
  • How 2 A11y: Basic Accessibility Design Principles.
    Session 1: Wed. 2/02/22 @ 2 PM (closed)
    Session 2: Tue. 2/22/22 @ 2 PM* (closed)
    .
  • Microsoft PowerPoint Accessibility Essentials, Mon. 2/07/22, 10 AM (closed)
    .
  • PDF and Acrobat Accessibility Essentials, Tue. 2/08/22 @ 3 PM (closed)
    .
  • Microsoft Word Accessibility Essentials, Tue. 2/15/22 @10 AM (closed)
    .
  • InDesign Accessibility Essentials, Wed. 2/16/22 @ 3 PM (closed)

Communication Track

Teaching Track

  • Get to Know Rice’s Digital Accessibility Policy.
    Session 1: Mon. 1/31/22 @ 3 PM (closed)
    Session 2: Mon. 2/21/22 @ 10 AM* (closed)
    .
  • How 2 A11y: Basic Accessibility Design Principles.
    Session 1: Wed. 2/02/22 @ 2 PM (closed)
    Session 2: Tue. 2/22/22 @ 2 PM* (closed)
    .
  • Microsoft PowerPoint Accessibility Essentials, Mon. 2/07/22, 10 AM (closed)
    .
  • PDF and Acrobat Accessibility Essentials, Tue. 2/08/22 @ 3 PM. (closed)
    .
  • Universal Design in Canvas, Wed. 2.09, @ 10 AM. (closed)
    .
  • Microsoft Word Accessibility Essentials, Tue. 2/15/22 @10 AM (closed)
    .
  • Better Video Captions, Wed. 3/02/22 @ 3 PM.

A11y Office Hour at 11 AM

A11y means Accessibility. Join me Fridays between 11 AM and noon to talk about anything related to digital a11y. Sign up for a session.

  • Fri. 2/04/22 @ 11 AM (closed)
  • Fri. 2/11/22, No session, out for conference.
  • Fri. 2/18/22 @ 11 AM
  • Fri. 2/25/22 @ 11 AM
  • Fri. 3/04/22 @ 11 AM
Posted on No Comments on Happy 2022! Starting with a Quick Look Back.

Happy 2022! Starting with a Quick Look Back.

Well, we made it. It’s already a new year somehow and today is the first day of the spring 2022 semester.

I’ve been wrapping up some projects and organizing data from all of our 2021 accessibility workshops. Looking over the numbers, I can’t help but feel a strong since of pride about the work we’re all doing together to make Rice a more inclusive and accessible place for everyone, inside and outside of the hedges.

Here are some numbers for you:

We hosted a total of 60 accessibility workshops over five different months on about 15 unique topics. That averaged out to about three one-hour workshops per week during those five months of training.

All workshops were hosted remotely on Zoom to help keep us safe during this second year of the pandemic. Fortunately, this enabled us to start producing a pretty nice little library of training videos. Check out our Kaltura Media Gallery. We’re really optimistic about the possibility of bringing back some in-person learning opportunities this year (fingers crossed).

We had a total of 242 registrations from 84 unique individuals across more than 50 Rice departments. That averages to just slightly less than three workshops per person, so we’re feeling pretty good about how accessibility knowledge continues to grow within our community. Keep it up, y’all!

The most popular workshops were:

  1. Basic Accessible Design Principles (a.k.a. Design with WCAG) with 38 registrations.
  2. Acrobat and PDF Accessibility Essentials with 34 registrations.
  3. Microsoft PowerPoint Accessibility Essentials with 29 registrations.
  4. A tie between Better Video Captions and Accessible PDF Forms with 21 registrations each.

We are planning a new month of accessibility workshops for February 2022, so stay tuned for our announcements about that series. Of course, if there are any workshop topics you’d like to see us cover, or if there are any you’re hoping we’ll repeat again, please don’t hesitate to contact us. Also, let us know what delivery modes you prefer (i.e. remote live, in-person, asynchronous).

Let’s make 2022 the best year yet for expanding access, diversity, and inclusion at Rice University and beyond. Cheers!

Posted on No Comments on New Workshop Recording: Get to Know Rice’s Digital Accessibility Policy

New Workshop Recording: Get to Know Rice’s Digital Accessibility Policy

If you could not attend our recent virtual session about the Rice Digital information Accessibility Policy, then I’ve got some great news. The video has already been edited and added to the Learning Environments media library.

Better still, we’ve trimmed the runtime down to only 20 minutes by trimming out all the extras and leaving only what’s important. View the recording here. You can also find additional information and guides related to the policy on the Access @ Rice website.

Posted on No Comments on Fall Accessibility Workshops

Fall Accessibility Workshops

It’s hard to believe another year is coming to a close. For all its ups and downs, 2021 has been an awesome time for digital accessibility at Rice. We’ve made some major improvements to rice.edu content, we’ve hosted over 50 workshops on digital accessibility, we’ve made dozens of new friends and allies, and there are several exciting projects in development for 2022.

Before we all take some well-deserved time away from the office to rest and reflect with our friends and family, we thought we’d squeeze in few more accessibility learning opportunities for you. Check out the following schedule of nine sessions between Thanksgiving and winter holiday. Use the links to register.

All workshops are held on Zoom and last from 10 AM to 11 AM (CST).

We hope to see you there! Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.

Posted on No Comments on New Workshop Recording: Social Media Accessibility Tips

New Workshop Recording: Social Media Accessibility Tips

What a fun-filled month of accessibility workshops October turned out to be! Thank you for your interest and attendance.

If you were unable to be there for a live session, never fear, you can check out all of our accessibility recordings on the Learning Environments Media Gallery, including our latest workshop about Social Media Accessibility. In this recording, we discuss important things to consider when writing text and sharing all kinds of content like links, hashtags, emojis, images, and videos.

Also, check out the companion PowerPoint Presentation, which is loaded with helpful resources for creating accessible posts in Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, LinkedIn, and more. Note that you should be in presentation view to activate links, or right click links and choose “Open Link.”

Update: The Social Media Accessibility workshop recording now has 98%-99% accurate closed captions as of 11/02/21.

 

Posted on No Comments on October 2021 Accessibility Workshop Schedule

October 2021 Accessibility Workshop Schedule

October is here and so is the fall-like weather! Objectively the best time of year 🎃. To keep the good vibes flowing and the grim specter of inaccessibility away, we’ve scheduled a series of workshops so good…IT’S SCARY (lightning crash)! Okay, that’s enough of the Halloween schtick.

Check out our accessibility schedule in the following list. Select the links to sign up for a one-hour Zoom session. All sessions start at 11:00 AM unless otherwise noted. Workshops are limited to Rice faculty, staff, and students, so be sure to include your Rice NetID when signing up. Don’t forget to also check out our full calendar of Teaching and Scholarly Learning events for sessions about Canvas.