Course Accessibility
Moodle Accessibility Tips
| ITEM | ACCESSIBILITY STEP | MORE INFORMATION |
|---|---|---|
| Design Elements | Include an accommodation statement in your syllabus | Refer to UPEI’s Academic Accommodations for Student’s with Disabilities web page |
| Add a link or contact information to the Accessibility Services Office | Cathy Rose, Coordinator, Accessibility Services; 902-628-4364 or crose@upei.ca | |
| Use concise, meaningful text when labeling resources and activities | Helps persons with vision or learning disabilities to navigate Moodle | |
| When possible, open linked items in the same window | Opening a linked item in a new window can be confusing for persons using screen readers | |
| Avoid identifying objects by color (e.g. "all assignments in red are optional") | Color blind individuals cannot distinguish between colors on the screen | |
| Make sure printable materials are still usable in black and white print | Some people prefer to work from printed documents | |
| Avoid course materials that display blinking or flashing graphics | This can cause seizures or migraines in some individuals | |
| Quizzes | Check your quizzes with screen reader technology Provide an alternate version of the exam, if necessary |
Screen reader technology information |
| Provide extended time to those students requiring this accommodation | Use groupings to assign students to an extended time test or create a user override for an individual student | |
| Discussion Forums | Use explicit discussion forum topics (e.g. "Question about Assignment #2" vs. "Question") | |
| Require participants to create a new topic when appropriate, instead of continually replying to a single post | It can be difficult for people using screen readers to find information in nested replies |
| ITEM | ACCESSBILITY STEP | MORE INFORMATION |
|---|---|---|
| Word | Use sans serif fonts such as Arial or Helvetica and make sure they are of sufficient size | Makes the document easier to read for someone with low vision |
| Avoid using WordArt |
WordArt prior to Word 2010 is rendered as an image and cannot be read by screen readers Other graphically portrayed text, like Wordles, may also not be readable by screen readers |
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| Create clear, consistent headings throughout the document | Can use Word's Styles toolbar or Moodle and Google Docs heading versus paragraph formatting to create consistent headings | |
| Use Moodle, Google Docs or Word's columns, numbered and bulleted lists, and tables instead of attempting to create these items using spaces or tabs | The document is more screen reader compatible | |
| When pasting text from a Word document into a Moodle course, use the ‘Accessibility checker’ button in the text editor toolbar | You can get to the ‘Accessibility checker’ button by first clicking on the ‘Show more buttons’ button located in the text editor toolbar | |
| Avoid posting Word documents in Moodle that have been saved as web pages | Saving Word documents as a web pages adds additional coding that makes the page slower to load and more difficult for screen readers to read | |
| Check PDF documents for screen reader compatibility |
Some PDF documents are rendered as an image and will not be readable by screen readers Use the ‘Screen reader helper’ button by first clicking on the ‘Show more buttons’ button located in the text editor tool bar |
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| Use an OCR (Optical Character Reader) to convert the PDF document to text, if necessary |
OnlineOCR.net is a free OCR website for converting PDFs Make sure to check the converted file and make students aware of the conversion. Let them know to contact you if a correction needs to be made. |
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| Provide the information in an alternative format | Persons with reading difficulties may need to manipulate items on the page such as font size, character spacing, font and background colour | |
| PowerPoint | Use alt tags or provide descriptions for images, photos, charts, and tables | Adding alt tags |
| Use strong colour contrast between font and slide background |
Avoid common colourblind type contrasts like red/green and blue/green Consider using this colour contrast calculator |
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| If you have embedded narration, include a transcript | ||
| Video | All above points apply | All above points apply |
