In the various modes of delivery in distance education (webpages, web-based instruction, and other electronic media sources), accessibility refers to the ability of every person to access the information presented. Accessible distance education takes into account the special needs of people with auditory, visual, mobility, and cognitive impairments and gives those users an equivalent browsing, viewing, and communication experience to that of nondisabled individuals.
It is important to remember that all files uploaded to the Web by SRJC faculty and staff, including audio and video files, must be accessible to individuals with disabilities to the fullest reasonable extent possible. Access to persons with disabilities is guaranteed by Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, and by Title 24, California Code of Regulations. It is the policy of Santa Rosa Junior College to maintain compliance with all federal and state laws and regulations pertaining to persons with disabilities.
Your Responsibility
It is the instructor’s responsibility to initiate the process of making online and web-based course activities and materials accessible to all students and in compliance with applicable laws.
Although CATE has basic integrated accessibility features, faculty and staff will often choose to enhance materials and delivery modes with the consequent need for first-hand information regarding access.
This document will provide you with the following information:
The basics of access barriers for various disabilities
Universal Design
Procedures for making multimedia files accessible
Answers to frequently asked questions
SRJC campus resources to assist you
Internet resources, including technical information and legal guidelines.
1 - Access Barriers and General Solutions
Blindness
Students or instructors who are blind will be using a computer equipped with screen reader software and a speech synthesizer. The system reads whatever text appears on the screen. To navigate the Web, the blind individual uses a text only browser or simply turns of the graphics loading feature of a multimedia web browser. The blind user cannot interpret graphics (including photographs, drawings, and image maps) unless text alternatives are provided. Printed materials, videotapes, video podcasts, televised presentations, overhead transparencies, and other visual materials also create access challenges.
These barriers can be overcome with accessible design and alternate media (with assistance from the Disability Resources Department):
Make sure all images, photos, graphics, and links have alternative text tags.
Make sure the label for the link describes what it actually does.
Make sure all areas are accessible with the keyboard or alternatives available with the keyboard
When using PowerPoint, provide an HTML version
Provide audio recordings
Provide Braille printouts
Provide electronic text
Provide tactile drawings
Provide aural descriptions of visual material
Test webpages for accessibility
See resource links at the end of this document for more information
Other Visual Impairments
A person with limited vision can use special software to enlarge screen images. This changes the screen so that only a small portion of a webpage can be seen at one time. Cluttered webpages or frequent page layout changes can therefore create confusion. Standard printed materials may be inaccessible for this person, large print or electronic text may be required. Individuals who are color blind cannot successfully navigate webpages that require the user to distinguish colors.
Ideas for removing barriers:
Hearing Impairments
Most electronic resources are accessible to people with hearing impairments because hearing is not required. However, when audio output exists, a Deaf student is denied access. Course videotapes that are not captioned are also inaccessible. Likewise, Telephone conferences or videoconferences create barriers.
Ideas for removing barriers:
Provide transcripts or text equivalents of audio clips
Provide text captioning for videotapes
Provide captions for online videos
Provide sign language interpreters for videoconferences and utilize California Relay Service for telephone conferences.
Set up a private chat room utilizing a transcriber
Provide alternatives to distance verbal interaction such as chat rooms or e-mail
Mobility Impairments
A person with a mobility impairment may not be able to move their hands. They might use an alternative keyboard and/or mouse, no mouse at all, or speech recognition software. Or, an individual may simply lack the fine motor skills required to select small buttons on the screen.
Ideas for removing barriers:
Make sure all course functions are available with the keyboard
To offset fatigue (an issue with some motor disabilities) provide a way to navigate through a long list of links or lengthy text
Check websites and materials for accessibility with voice recognition software (Dragon NaturallySpeaking).
Design large buttons
See resource links at the end of this document for more information
Cognitive Disabilities
Cognitive disabilities include learning disabilities, acquired brain injuries, and other impairments which impact the ability to read, write, and/or process information. Memory, problem solving, attention, and comprehension may also be affected. Software designed to assist in reading comprehension may be utilized.
Ideas for removing barriers:
Apply principles of effective communication by making site information clear and simple
Keep layout consistent from page to page
Use plenty of white space in the structural design
Use Visual Cues to Highlight Important Information
Use supplemental video and graphics when possible in addition to essential text
Speech Impairments
A speech impairment may limit a student's ability to effectively participate in interactive telephone conferences or videoconferences.
Ideas for removing barriers:
Provide electronic mail communication alternatives
Seizure Disorders
Some of the attention grabbing features of webpages, including objects which have strobing, flickering, or flashing effects can induce seizures for people who are susceptible.
Ideas for removing barriers:
Do not create flickering effects with a frequency greater than 2 Hz or lower than 55 Hz
Avoid bright flashing elements that strobe more than 2 times per second
2 - Universal Design
Accessibility requirements can be helpful for everyone, not just people with disabilities. All users benefit when there are a variety of ways to access the material on a webpage. Planning for access as the course is being developed is much easier than creating accommodation strategies after a person with a disability enrolls in the course or applies to teach it.
Universal design is defined by Ron Mace of the Center for Universal Design at North Carolina State University as: “the design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design." The concept stresses design that is marketable to people with diverse abilities, preferences, native languages, age, and other diverse characteristics. (http://www.design.ncsu.edu/cud)
3 - Procedures for making Multimedia Files Accessible
• Audio Files must have a transcript. • Video files must be captioned. On request, an audio descriptor of the visual images must be provided.
If you need assistance
The SRJC Disability Resources Department will help you in procuring a transcript and subsequent captioning.
The procedures are:
Contact Debbie Ezersky (Coordinator, Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program) by E- Mail (dezersky@santarosa.edu) or telephone, 707-522-2702, to begin the process.
Upload your file to the File Depot and notify Debbie that it has been uploaded. (Information and instructions regarding File Depot are available on the Computing Services Web site. File Depot streamlines the process of transferring large files outside the email system.) You can also send the file to Debbie Ezersky on a CD via intercampus mail or via USPS (c/o SRJC - DRD, 1501 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa, CA 95401).
Debbie Ezersky will then make arrangements to have the files transcribed and captioned.
Upon completetion, transcript or captioned files are returned to the instructor. If there are any problems with files, the instructor will return to Debbie for editing, who will return to the instructor when editing is complete.
If you want to transcribe and caption on your own
To create captions on your own from your transcript, instructions and resources are available on this SRJC Faculty webpage. Information regarding free captioning software is on the "Captioning Videos" link. You can also contact assistive technology instructor Kathy Burton at 707-527-4579.
If you need assistance, the trainers in Academic Computing can help you in creating captions from your podcast transcription. Contact John Hemenway: email: jhemenway@santarosa.edu, phone: 707-527-4748.
See additional information under Internet resources below.
Design uncluttered webpages with consistent page layouts
Use true text rather than text in graphics (screen magnifiers will blur edges)
Maximize the contrast of webpages and PDF documents
Avoid using color alone to convey information. Provide alternatives.
Use relative rather than absolute units so the screen can be widened or narrowed to meet the users need
For better visibility avoid complicated fonts in italics, increased letter spacing and increase spaces between lines
Design large buttons
4 - Frequently Asked Questions
Should I include information on accessibility on my syllabus? Answer: Yes. Include a statement regarding your accessibility practice and the availability of academic accommodations (e.g. "If you have any disability which limits your access to any aspect of this course, please contact the instructor immediately, and we will work together assure your access to all aspects of this class.") Be sure to include several ways a student may communicate with you.
Will I receive information from the Disability Resources Department regarding students in my class with disabilities? Answer: Most students with disabilities who do need accommodations will have met with a specialist in the Disability Resources Department and will present an Academic Accommodation Authorization letter to their instructors authorizing and clarifying the accommodations and access support that they need. Students in distance education classes may have no connection to the physical campus, and may not know that academic accommodations are available. In this case, refer the student to the Disability Resources Department (found under Student Services on the SRJC website) for orientation and procurement of support services.
How do I know if my website or assigned websites are accessible? Answer: The best way to ascertain accessibility is to utilize an accessibility evaluation tool. Staff in SRJC's Disability Resources Department recommend the following site: http://www.cynthiasays.com/
What about Power Point? Answer: Web-based PowerPoint presentations have limited accessibility support. Different export utilities allow for the conversion of MS PowerPoint files into accessible, Web-based presentations including captioned video presentations. The video, "Strategies for Accessible Web-based PowerPoint Presentations", a flex workshop held May 1, 2008 is available through the SRJC Resource Center.
How do I make "Camtasia” or “Captivate" accessible? Answer: Applications such as Camtasia or Captivate allow for the capture and delivery of rich media simulations. The video, "Developing Accessible Rich Media Presentation with Camtasia or Captivate", a flex workshop held May 2, 2008, is available through the SRJC Resource Center. The video reviews the strategies to follow when developing rich media simulations to ensure the content is accessible and functional for all students. Special focus is placed on captioning and descriptive narration for such media presentations.
I'm including a real-time interactive video event or CCC Confer in my course. Do I need to arrange for this transmission to be “live” captioned? Answer: If none of the enrolled students request a live caption accommodation, the answer is no. However if such a live transmission is being taped for future use, the tape segments would need to be captioned. Also, if it will be transmitted to a larger undisclosed public audience, the live transmission of the course would need to be live captioned.
Does every multimedia file that I put on the Web need to be captioned? Answer: If your podcast is just for the use of one semester, and no requests for transcripts or captioning have occurred, then, no, you do not need to provide a transcription or caption the file. However, it is a good idea to have a transcription of your podcast, or be prepared to make one, which makes captioning a quick and easy process if requested.
If I create a multimedia file (e.g. podcast or video) that I will use again, or regularly in future classes, or that will be used publicly, do I need to caption that? Answer: Yes in all cases listed in the above question.
Who is responsible for the funding of creating transcripts and/or captioning? Answer: Funding for captioning is supplied through a cooperative agreement between the SRJC District and SRJC DSPS.
5 - SRJC Campus Resources
Debbie Ezersky, Coordinator, Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program, Disability Resources Department: Transcript and captioning assistance, dezersky@santarosa.edu, 707-522-2702
The trainers in Academic Computing can help you in creating captions from your podcast transcript. Contact John Hemenway: email: jhemenway@santarosa.edu, 707-527-4748
6 - Sean Keegan's 508 Accessibility presentations, May 1 and May 2, 2008
Following are links to Sean Keegan's HTML slideshows used in the lectures he gave here at SRJC in May of 2008. Click on the links to open the HTML slideshows. Click anywhere in the browser to advance to the next frame. Move the curser to the bottom, right to access navigation controls. Use the "T" key to toggle between the presentation view and the notes view.
