Join the Center for Teaching & Learning for this interactive workshop that introduces staff to the updated Title II regulations under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and their implications for digital accessibility in higher education. You will explore key principles of digital accessibility, usability, and universal design, with an emphasis on meeting WCAG 2.1 AA guidelines.
Did you know that Maine law requires that all technology developed, procured, or provided by publicly funded organizations must meet the accessibility requirements of Section 508 and WCAG 2.1 AA? There are also policies intended to protect student data privacy and security, even for free apps and services. But, do you really have time to read through all of the fine print on the website of a new technology platform to determine if it is acceptable?
The deadline for compliance with the new Title II regulations on digital accessibility is approaching. We don’t anticipate that everything will be perfect by then, but there is a lot of work to do and you may feel overwhelmed or not sure where to start. Here are our recommendations:
The Universal Design for Learning research suggests that providing multiple modalities of content will improve student learning outcomes, but it can be time-consuming to develop multiple formats of your course content. The new Ally tool will do this for you … Read More
All images in your files need to have alternate text that describes the purpose and important information for those who cannot see the image. While we used to just consider this as an accessibility issue for people who use screen readers, there are additional uses for alt text: people with low internet bandwidth may turn off images to speed up page loads, descriptions of images will display if the image does not load because of broken links or technical issues, and these verbal descriptions will be included for those using the MP3 audio file created by Ally Alternate Formats. The fundamental purpose of Universal Design for Learning is to design for learner variability which then benefits more learners in ways that you may not have considered.
This training introduces new Accessibility Mentors at UMPI to the role and responsibilities, as well as some of the simple “quick fixes” to improve digital accessibility of our files.
Color contrast is critical in your digital content because it ensures people with low vision, color blindness (approximately 1 in 12 men), or situational impairments (like screen glare) can easily read text on the screen. Ideally, the ratio between the text color and the background color should be 4.5 to 1, but what does that mean and how do you know whether you are using the right colors?
Are you curious about what it’s like for someone with a vision impairment to navigate a website? Gareth Fuller attended this training at the Association on Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD) conference last week and returned with the session materials. This website explains how screen readers work and what the experience is like for someone to use it. It also provides guidance on downloading and using software to try it yourself.
This PDF Accessibility training series was provided to Microsoft employees on creating accessible PDF documents. Use these videos, along with documentation from Adobe to learn to create, remediate, and check for accessibility issues. To test your knowledge, use the PDF sample documents shared by Microsoft