Designing for Accessibility: An Introduction to Universal Design for Learning

For any non-text content (e.g., Images) that you plan to use in your course materials, ask yourself what is its purpose – “Is it for decoration? Or is it delivering a message”?

Although usually not seen on or around the images, alternative texts provide a textual alternative that helps users with visual disabilities understand the content and function of each image. This makes a huge difference for visually impaired students while they use assistive technology such as screen readers.

Audio/Video transcriptions, captions, and even just a page with the information covered in the media can be hugely helpful for online learning, serving as an alternative for anyone who has difficulties accessing the media content.

They can also be beneficial to ESL students who struggle with pronunciation or students who experience low-bandwidth connections.

Using title and section headings helps to prioritize information and emphasize specific content. Designing your course in this predictable and consistent manner makes it easier for students to digest and comprehend the material.

Assistive technologies can quickly navigate through correctly identified headings, and convey the course’s structure and information clearly to your students who may be visually impaired.

Descriptive hyperlinks tell you exactly which website or file you will be directed to after clicking on the link. Screen readers can read descriptive hyperlinks as written text, allowing the visually impaired to know exactly where the link will take them.

If a link is ever broken, one can also simply look for the webpage using a search engine such as Google. Descriptive hyperlinks avoid phrases such as “click here”, “read more”, etc. Accessible hyperlinks look like this:

• Please visit Centre for Accessibility at UBC for more information.
  

While there is no official optimal font size, the font size should never affect the readability of the text. A good size would be 12pt for body text, no smaller than 9pt.

Although we may not be able to accommodate all types of colour blindness, we can consider the three most common forms.

1. Deuteranopia/Deuteranomaly - ‘Green’ colour blindness
2. Tritanopia/Tritanomaly - Blue-yellow colour blindness
3. Rod/Cone Monochromacy – Total colour blindness (everything looks grey)

Proper colour contrast will make it easier for colour-blind students to identify and understand the image or text in your course content. A great way to check if your content is colour blind friendly is to use this COBLIS simulator which lets you view your content through their colour-blind lens.

• Do not rely on JUST colour-coding to differentiate or emphasize your content.
• Add icons, shapes, patterns, textures, font differences, hue differences and descriptions to supplement important information.
• Use a colour-blind friendly palette. Avoid using green and certain colour combinations such as Blue + Purple or Blue + Gray.
• Keep things simple. Adopt a minimalistic design to help avoid unnecessary confusion.
  

Ever needed a professional interpreter for your class or meeting but had no idea where to look? You can book an ASL interpreter with UBC Student Services. A professional interpreter can be arranged for in-person, virtual and phone meetings.

However, due to the high demand for these services, you might want to consider opting for a quick phone meeting (if appropriate), which may be more convenient and easier to schedule.

Strang's tip as a non-signing person

Look at the person you are having a conversation with, NOT at the interpreter!

It can be intuitive to direct your attention to the interpreter since you are hearing their voice. Instead, direct your gaze at the deaf or hard of hearing person. It may be helpful to have the interpreter stand behind you.

Additionally, UBC also provides real-time and media captioning services to make your work more accessible. If you require any of these services mentioned, please feel free to submit a Captioning and Sign Language Interpreting Request at least 2 weeks prior to the meeting (for faculty or staff only).

1. If there are any accessibility issues, you will see an indicator on the Accessibility Checker (person in the circle at the bottom of the rich content editor). Click on the Accessibility Checker to view the issues. A sidebar will appear on the right side of the page.
   
2. If an issue is detected, the affected area will become highlighted [A]. The sidebar displays the number of accessibility issues [B], describes the accessibility attribute, explains the error, and provides a task to complete [C].[Optional] Click the "?" icon to learn more about the accessibility attribute [D].
   
3. You can use the Previous/Next buttons to view all issues. After making your changes, click Apply.
   
4. When all issues have been fixed, or if no issues are detected in the Rich Content Editor, the sidebar will indicate that no issues exist.
   

The Live Transcription feature only needs to be enabled in your Zoom account once. This option will be permanently available to turn on during your meetings once the following steps have been completed:

1. Sign in to your Zoom account on ubc.zoom.us.
2. Click Settings [1] in the menu on the left side of the page
3. Click on the Meeting tab [2] > Click In Meeting (Advanced) [3].
   
4. Locate Closed Captioning and toggle the button on the right. It should become blue.
5. Check the box for ‘Allow live transcription service to transcribe meeting automatically '. [Optional but recommended] Check the box for ‘Allow viewing of full transcript in the in-meeting side panel’. Enabling this option will allow students to view the full transcript in a side panel and save captions.
6. Click Save.
   

Please ensure that Live Transcription has been enabled prior to your meeting.

1. Once you have started your meeting, click Live Transcript at the bottom of the screen. If you are unable to see the button, click More > Live Transcript.
2. Click Enable Auto-Transcription. This button will turn blue, indicating that live transcription has begun.
3. The live transcription will appear along the bottom of the screen:
   

Automated captions can be ordered in Kaltura on Canvas. You can order captions for a single video or for multiple videos with quick turnaround times.

Kaltura also has an intuitive caption editing interface where you can make any necessary changes to the transcript. 

Use CLAS to engage your students through collaborative annotation on images, videos, and PDFs. Students and instructors can use shapes and cues to direct the user's attention to important features. You can easily look through all the comments left by the class, and identify the annotation that corresponds with the highlighted comment.

CLAS also can be used to make time-specific annotations on videos and audio.

CLAS provides students flexibility to choose what form of commenting works best for them. They can leave comments by creating a video, an audio clip, attaching a file or leaving a text response!

1. Click the Review tab at the top. (When using Outlook, the Review tab only appears when you are writing or replying to emails.)
2. Click Check Accessibility.
   
3. A list of errors, warnings, and how-to-fix recommendations will appear in the pane on the right. See Rules for the Accessibility Checker for more information.
4. Click on an issue to open the list locating the errors.
5. To address accessibility errors and warnings, click the V icon beside the error location.
6. Apply a fix by selecting an action from the recommended actions list.
7. Refer to the Additional Information section for the recommendation rationale and the steps to fix the issue.
   

If the Check Accessibility button is not in the Review tab, you may be using an older version of the application. Please follow the instructions below to open the Accessibility Checker.

1. Select File > Info.
2. Select Check for Issues [1] > Check Accessibility [2].
   
3. The Accessibility Checker sidebar will appear on the right with the inspection results and recommendations.
   

To use this tool, enter the URL to your website, select a color filter, click "Fetch and Filter!" You will then see two versions of your website. On the left side, you will see how it looks without the filter and on the right side will show your website with the filter applied.