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.
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.
As we inch closer to the start of the fall ’21 semester, you’ve probably got a mile-long checklist of things to prepare. But before you update that web page, or publish that PDF document, or launch that form, or build that online course, have you thought about accessibility?
Learning Environments has got you covered with a new round of workshops that includes topics on accessible design essentials, PDFs, Microsoft Word and PowerPoint, video captions, and Universal Design for Learning (UDL). Check out the schedule and sign up using the registration links below.
For a full list of all of the upcoming Learning Environments workshops, check out the Digital Teaching and Learning Workshop Calendar.
Description:
Learning a handful of simple accessible design principles can have a huge impact on a wide range of the digital content you create and share, including web pages, PDFs, Word documents, presentations, videos, social media, communications, and more. In this one-hour presentation-based workshop, learn what these principles are and how you can start weaving them in your own digital design practices. Choose any one of the following three sessions:
Description:
This session is designed to give you an overview of accessibility best practices in PowerPoint. We will discuss slide layouts, reading order, slide titles, alternative text, font sizes, and more.
Description:
This session is designed to give you an overview of options for live (synchronous) and recorded (asynchronous) closed captions using Zoom and Kaltura, as well as other applications like PowerPoint 365 and Google Slides. Choose any one of the following three sessions:
Description:
Learn about the basics of accessibility in Canvas so that all students can access your course. Choose any one of the following three sessions:
Description:
This session is designed to give you an overview of accessibility tools in Adobe Acrobat Pro/DC. We will discuss essential tools like the Tags and Content panels, as well as the Accessibility checker and Alternative Text wizard.
Description:
Microsoft Word is available to all Rice students and employees. It is a gold standard application for all word processing needs. In this session, we will discuss several of the basic techniques for designing Word documents that are accessible for everyone. Using Word also makes it easy to export PDFs that meet most accessibility needs.
Description:
In this interactive workshop, you are encouraged to bring your own online course design ideas for live discussion. This includes Canvas content, quizzes, navigation and organization, accessible documents, alternative formats, groups and collaboration, discussions, Kaltura and using video effectively, Zoom, breakout rooms, polling, anything else you’d like to discuss. John Williams will facilitate the discussion using a demo course.
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!
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.
Description: Learn the best practices for making accessible Word documents and a workflow for converting them into accessible PDFs.
Dates:
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:
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:
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:
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.
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.
“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
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.
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.
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.
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.
If you have any questions about the new policy, or to request training, contact me at a11y@rice.edu.
During the month of August, there are plenty of exciting opportunities to attend virtual workshops covering a variety of digital accessibility topics.
Continue reading for more details and registration links.
Note: All workshops are one hour and limited to Rice faculty, staff, and teaching students.
We will discuss what digital accessibility means at Rice. Learn more about Rice’s legal commitments, Rice’s standard and recommendations, “low-hanging fruit” of accessible design, and more…
Register for one (not a series):
We will discuss best practices and strategies for creating and remediating accessible Word documents. We’ll also review a workflow for converting them into accessible PDFs.
Register for one (not a series):
Learn more about the best practices of using automatic speech recognition (ASR) captions and caption editing.
We will discuss of options for live (synchronous) and recorded (asynchronous) closed captions using video applications like Zoom, Google Meet, and Kaltura. We’ll also look at presentation applications like PowerPoint 365 and Google Slides, which have integrated ASR captions.
Register for one (not a series):
We will discuss how to apply the “low-hanging fruit” of accessible design when working in the Canvas rich content editor. We will also review how to use the Canvas accessibility checker.
Register for one (not a series):
Following up on last week’s post about automatic speech recognition (ASR) captions and transcripts in video recordings, this week we’re talking about ASR in live presentations.
You might recall that Zoom uses ASR to transcribe and caption videos recorded to the cloud only. So what can you do when you’re presenting during live synchronous class meetings, lectures, and webinars with Zoom?
We recommend using one of two presentation applications available to members of the Rice community. Both applications include live ASR:
Either create your presentation in PowerPoint 365, or upload an existing file from your computer.
When you launch the presentation, select the ‘Use Subtitles’ button in the presentation toolbar to activate real-time captions.
Create your presentation in Slides, or upload an existing file. You’ll need to convert uploaded files to the Slides format to use live captions.
When you launch the presentation, select the ‘Turn on Captions’ button in the presentation toolbar.
In addition to live captions, the following links have great tips about how you can make your presentations more inclusive.
As the need to move more of our content and communications online increases, pre-recorded and live videos are likely to become a bigger part of your digital toolbox. In online courses, public web pages, and live streaming events, it’s up to you as the content author/host to make sure that your videos include accurate captions.
Some platforms include automatic speech recognition (ASR) of pre-recorded video, though the accuracy tends to fall below the threshold of accessibility and needs some manual cleaning up. If you have a student who requires captions during live class meetings, or if you are hosting a webinar for the Rice community and beyond, please contact the Disability Resource Center to learn more about transcription service options.
The following platforms are used commonly to host and share video content. Use this quick guide to choose the one that’s right for you and your audience.
Because Vimeo does not include automatic closed captions, we do not recommend using it unless you have a detailed process for creating and uploading your own caption files. For more information, see the following ‘Contact’ section.
For additional questions and support, contact the Digital Information Accessibility Coordinator.
COVID-19 is causing us to move more and more of our information, communications, and operations online, so digital accessibility is more important than ever before.
As a community striving for greater access, inclusiveness, and diversity, it’s up to all of us to improve digital accessibility for everyone, including people with disabilities. When we do not apply accessible design principles and leave barriers in our content, we create opportunities for exclusion and inequity, which are counter to Rice’s V2C2 goals.
Take time this summer to learn more about improving digital access. As you prepare for the fall 2020 semester and beyond, be sure to integrate basic concepts of accessible design into your online learning materials, tasks, and assessments.
Check out these FREE learning resources on Digital Accessibility:
These concepts don’t just apply to Canvas; they can be used broadly to the design of all kinds of web content and digital documents. And remember, accessibility is not about perfection, it’s about progress.
For more guidance, please contact the Digital Accessibility Coordinator: