2.2.3 Equity issues: accessibility of online material
Another aspect of inclusive teaching that can pose a challenge for
online learning is accessibility of materials. If instructors use the
UDL framework to design their course many of the access issues will have
been addressed. When including posted materials such as PowerPoint
slides, pdfs, or word documents, these files should be accessible by a
screen reader and need to be formatted for this purpose. For example,
images that are included should have text descriptions and should use
templates that are compatible for screen readers. Microsoft and Google
Slides have tutorials available for designing screen-reader friendly
files and PowerPoint has an Accessibility Checker function under the
Review tab. Additionally, some learning management systems can help
instructors comply with accessibility. For example, Blackboard now
offers an accessibility feature icon which provides a quick rating of
file accessibility. If one would like to provide video lectures or
tutorials for online viewing, that material must be accessible for all
learners. For American Disabilities Act compliance, this accessibility
includes closed captioning of material or providing a downloadable
transcript of the presentation. There are several options for recording
online content, some of which provide transcription services (voice to
text) either for a fee or free of charge, others provide the option for
instructors to type out text or to upload a transcript of the
presentation for closed captioning. A list of some online presentation
programs are listed here, but instructors should check with their
institution on software preferences and licenses: Adobe Presenter;
Animoto; Blackboard Collaborate/Collaborate Ultra; Camtasia; Capture;
Conceptual Academy; Final Cut; Google Slides; iMovie; Loom; OBS;
Panopto; Powerpoint narration capture; Sapling; Screencast-O-Matic;
Screencastify; ScreenRecorder; Snagit; Vidgrid; Voicethread; YouTube;
Zoom; Zubtitle. For some practical tips and examples on how to make both
lab and lecture content more accessible see (Hackl and Ermolina, 2019).