Digital accessibility resources include creating accessible documents such as Word, PPT, HTML and PDF, Ally instructions for students and instructors, and using the D2L accessibility checker.
Improve the accessibility of your course with the built-in accessibility checker in the HTML Editor. Accessible content improves the learning experience for all of your students, but especially those with disabilities. By using the accessibility checker, you can be sure you are on your way to creating an inclusive learning environment for all of your students.
Ally is a feature that promotes inclusivity for all learners. Ally integrates into D2L to gauge the accessibility of your content, while also providing guidance and tips for lasting improvements to your content accessibility.
Ally creates multiple alternative files from the original documents in your course. You can download these alternative formats anywhere that files are used.
Contrast and color use are vital to the accessibility of digital content. All users must be able to perceive content on the page, including those with visual disabilities such as low vision and color blindness. The following information will guide you on how to evaluate and understand the use of color and contrast in your digital content.
Microsoft PowerPoint is one of the most popular tools used to create slide show presentations, typically during face-to-face meetings and lectures. However, PowerPoint can be used to organize thoughts for a lesson, present key points, and create handouts that can be printed. Because of this, the content will need to be accessible to those viewing the presentation live, those viewing printed versions of the slides, and those accessing the content electronically.
Microsoft Word is a commonly-used application and is reasonably accessible. The text within Word documents can be read by assistive technologies such as screen readers and electronic Braille devices. Word is often used as an authoring tool and can be converted to PDF and HTML files for websites. Good design makes documents more usable for everyone. The following best practices are provided to help you maximize the accessibility of your Word documents.
PDFs can provide an accessible way to deliver content. They allow people to share documents created in practically any software with someone who does not own that software. If not created correctly, though, they can be completely inaccessible to people who use screen readers and present barriers to many more. The following best practices are provided to help you maximize the accessibility of your PDFs.
Digital accessibility is the practice of designing and developing websites, applications and documents such that their presentation, content and functionalities are understandable and operable by as many people as possible. Following the best practices in this article will start you on a path in creating accessible digital content for your students.
Many people use YouTube to post videos. When a video is uploaded to YouTube, automatic captions are generated by machine learning algorithms and, because of this, the quality of the captions may vary. It is important for the video creator to review the automatic captions and edit any parts that haven't been properly transcribed. Follow the directions below to edit your captions in YouTube.
Scanned PDFs are commonly used in the academic world. You may find yourself scanning from a textbook or a magazine article. Although the PDF looks like real text, the scan essentially creates an image of the text, which is completely inaccessible to students with visual impairments and can be problematic for everyone. The following practices using Ally in D2L can help you create a more accessible PDF document from a scanned image.