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).