Accessibility Strategies in the Brightspace Content Tool

Keep Navigation Consistent

Brightspace is designed to give your site a consistent structure. You, however, control the organization of the Content you add.

Who this helps

• People using screen magnification who can only see a portion of the screen at any time
• People with cognitive and learning disabilities who need consistency to be able to orient themselves
• People using screen-reading software

Who this also helps

• People who are new to Brightspace
• People who are not confident using computers
• People who access their courses using phones and other devices with small screens
• Everyone who can more easily find what they need

Strategy

Leverage the features of the Content tool to create consistent Modules.

• Name your modules so that students can easily find what they need using the built-in Navigation Panel
• Take advantage of Module Description Fields to provide a brief description of each module
• Include information about how much time students will need to complete each module 
• Create a new topic for each activity a student will complete in the module
• [LINK Use the Existing Activities button to add quizzes, discussions, and assignments to your modules]

Use Web Pages

Use Brightspace's built-in HTML editor to create web pages instead of uploading documents and PDFs. You can even cut and paste from a document into the editor - just be sure to "remove formatting" when prompted.

Who this helps

• People who use screen readers and other assistive technologies
• People with small screens who need content to resize

Who this also helps

• Instructors, since webpages are easy to edit 
• Everyone who has access to the most current version
• Instructors who can copy web pages between sites
• Everyone who wants a hard copy since web pages can be downloaded and printed
• Instructors, since formatting work is done for you with built-in tools

Strategy

Use the default font.

People with visual impairments may need to resize fonts. If you use the default font, individuals can adjust their Account Settings in Brightspace and choose "Huge" and "Large" font types.

Strategy

[LINK Use headers (html editor page)] to organize your content.

Headers do double duty. They add formatting, and they provide an index for screen readers.

Strategy

Give your [LINK embedded(HTML editor page] links a descriptive title.

Ensure your title reflects where the link takes you when you select it. Screen readers often use a "list link" feature to bring up a list of all links on a page. This removes links from the surrounding context.

Do not name your links "click here" or "click this link." Screen readers will announce it is a link. Visual learners know this, too, by the blue underlined text Brightspace uses for all links.

Only Upload Accessible DOCs, PDFs, and PPTs

Once you upload your materials, you cannot edit them in Brightspace. Consider creating webpages instead, which you can edit inside Brightspace.

Word Documents

Add headers, alternative text for images, and descriptive link titles to make your Word documents accessible.

Strategy

This WebAIM article describes the steps for making your Word documents accessible.

PDFs

PDFs are images, meaning they rely entirely on visual information.

It is possible, however, to create accessible PDFs, but this does take some effort.

• Strategy 1: WebAIM has an excellent webpage on Acrobat and Accessibility.
• Strategy 2: Converting documents to PDF can also be tricky: there is a right and wrong way to do it. You may also have to do some cleanup in Acrobat. For instructions, visit the WebAIM page on PDF Accessibility. To check your work, review the 5 Most Common PDF Accessibility Errors.
• Strategy 3: Refrain from scanning articles and book chapters. As this Adobe webpage explains, scanned documents are not accessible. Whenever possible, work with the library to gain access to materials. If you must scan materials, use an Optical Character Recognition (OCR) scanner.

PowerPoints

PowerPoints rely on visual elements to convey information. Blind and low-vision students will miss this information.

• Strategy 1: To make PowerPoints accessible, add headings, reading order (in which a screen reader should read the text), alternative text, and descriptive link titles.

  WebAIM provides an excellent guide to creating accessible PowerPoints.

Give Images Alternative Text

Screen readers use alt text to tell blind and low-vision people what is in the image.

When you add an image to a webpage, Brightspace will prompt you to add Alternative Text (sometimes called Alt Text).

Strategy

Be as succinct as possible, but be sure to describe the essence of the image. For example, if you include a bio picture of yourself skiing Mt. Lemmon, describe what you are doing in the alt text since it conveys something about you. 

Caption or Transcribe All Media

Captioning is the process of adding time-synchronized text to a video. Transcripts are not time-synced and are read independently of the video or audio.

[H3] Who this helps

• 15% of the population has some form of hearing loss

[H3] Who this also helps

• Non-native speakers who may find written text easier to comprehend
• People who want text to use as a study guide
• People working in loud environments
• People working in places where they cannot have the sound up

Strategy

Brightspace video notes, Zoom, and Panopto offer auto-captioning. In the help pages for each tool, you will find steps for using auto-captioning.

The university additionally has contracts with several captioning vendors. The cost is approximately $2 per minute. 

If you can't provide captions, consider uploading a transcript. You can add it to your content page as a topic, post it in a discussion, or upload it as an attachment to an assignment. For help determining the best method for providing a transcript, contact the Brightspace Consulting team.

Use Lists Instead of Tables

Screen readers ignore tables and simply read the content in whatever order appears in the code. The association between the information in a cell and the appropriate row and column headers get lost.

Strategy

Consider using bulleted lists instead of tables. If you must use a table, make sure it is tabular data only and not for layout purposes. If you change topics, start a new table. Do not merge multiple topics into one table. 

Don’t Rely on Color to Convey Meaning

Color is great for adding visual emphasis, but blind, low-vision and color-blind learners may not see it.

If you use color, ensure enough contrast between foreground and background. Brightspace will give you a AA WCAG ratio when you choose color. Your text might be illegible if you see a "cross" icon.

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