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Guidelines for Accessible Learning Resources

Guidelines for Accessible Learning Resources

It is vital that all of the material published by UCD is accessible. This includes reports, documents, teaching materials, websites and any other communication materials. Below you will find guidelines and instructions to help you ensure the accessibility of your own content. It is your individual responsibility to make sure anything you create follows these simple steps. You will notice that the creation of accessible content follows three core principles:

  • Appropriate structure and layout e.g. heading styles
  • Plain English
  • Variety and clarity in message delivery e.g. images and video with captions/text descriptions

If your team, unit or school would like accessibility training please email disability@ucd.ie

  • WAVE.

WAVE is  a tool to help web developers make their web content more accessible. WAVE cannot tell you if your web content is accessible. Only a human can determine true accessibility. But, WAVE can help you evaluate the accessibility of your web content. WAVE is available as a plugin extension for both Chrome and Firefox.

You can use the WAVE Toolbar here.

  • Microsoft Office Accessibility Checker.

Available in Microsoft Office 2010 and above as standard, just like the spelling checker tells you about possible spelling errors, Accessibility Checker in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint tells you about possible accessibility issues in your Office file so you can fix these issues so someone with a disability can read and get to your content.

Learn how to access the Accessibility Checker in Microsoft Office here.

At a glance

A uniform heading structure is often the most important accessibility consideration in Word documents. 

All images contained in a Word document must have alternative text. It is needed in Word documents to provide a non-visual means of representing the content or function of an image. 

Microsoft Office Accessibility Checker

Available in Microsoft Office 2010 and above as standard, just like the spelling checker tells you about possible spelling errors, Accessibility Checker in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint tells you about possible accessibility issues in your Office file so you can fix these issues so someone with a disability can read and get to your content.

For more information, and how to access the Accessibility Checker in Microsoft Office, please click here.

Principles into Practice

Ready to get started? Select your version of Word for specific recommendations:

Captions are an important accessibility tool and should be included in all video content. Captions do not just support individuals who are hard of hearing, but those who may have processing or attention difficulties, folk who are commuting and those who may find themselves in a loud and busy environment. Accessible choices benefit everybody.

There are a number of ways to caption videos:

1.  Recording using Zoom - If you are creating new voiced-over content, recording on Zoom will generate a VTT file with the cloud recording. This can then be checked and amended in notepad or your preferred Word Processor for any errors. You should then be able to attach this to your video in Brightspace or on YouTube as a  caption file.
2.  Upload content to YouTube - The quickest way to  caption videos these days is to use Youtube's automatic  captioning and then to amend it. There is then the option to set the URL to Private for only those that have the link.
3.  Use Microsoft Stream - Video quality itself can be patchy on Zoom. If you have another recording tool you prefer to use, or existing content you wish to  caption - for example a voiced over PowerPoint, but aren't comfortable hosting on YouTube, Microsoft Stream is available to all UCD staff using  office.com (it's at the very bottom of the sidebar). You will need to change your upload settings to private.  This walkthrough explains how to use the automatically generated  captions on this platform - like YouTube, you can also edit the transcript for inaccuracies. (It is very slow to create the automatic content, so you might want to have a cup of tea while it loads!) 
Once you have edited and saved the transcript you can  download the captioning file and attach it to your video on Brightspace or share it with your students as a transcript.
4.  Use Screen-Cast-O-Matic - This is a free web-based video editor which is very handy for recording your screen (for example if you want to demonstrate a particular digital skill). The free version allows you to record for up to 15 minutes, and where it differs to Zoom is that it also basic video editing tools. It also allows you to automatically generate and then edit  captions and to embed them into the video - if you are creating content for Instagram or another social media platform, this is particularly helpful for ensuring accessibility as these platforms do not use custom video players with the option of turning  captions off and on.

Creating Accessible PDFs

PDF files are usually created in another program and converted to PDF. You can create accessible PDF files using Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, or Adobe tools such as InDesign.

Microsoft Office

To create accessible PDFs with Word and Powerpoint, you must first make sure the file you wish to convert to PDF is accessible.

Guide to making accessible documents with Microsoft Word

Guide to making accessible slides with Microsoft Powerpoint

Once your document is accessible, you can convert it to an accessible PDF.

Guide to creating accessible PDFs from MS Office

Adobe InDesign

Guide to making accessible PDFs with Adobe InDesign

Check if your PDF document is accessible

You can check if your PDF is accessible here.

Three Accessibility Principles for Content Creators/Curators

These three principles have the greatest impact for improving the accessibility of your website. They can be easily and quickly implemented.

Provide Appropriate Document Structure

Headings, lists, and other structural elements provide meaning and structure to web pages.

Users with disabilities need these structural elements to navigate websites.

Guidelines on Using Headings for Structure

Ensure Link Text is Descriptive

Write links that make sense out of context. Use descriptive link text detailing the destination; not just "click here," or other similar phrasing.

Every link should make sense if the link text is read by itself.

Guidelines on Using Descriptive Link Text

Write Clearly and Simply

Create your content with the maximum clarity possible.

Well-designed content illuminates concepts rather than obfuscates them.

Guidelines on Writing Clearly and Simply

Further Resources

Introduction to Web Accessibility

Infographic on Web Accessibility

WAVE

WAVE is  a tool to help web developers make their web content more accessible. WAVE cannot tell you if your web content is accessible. Only a human can determine true accessibility. But, WAVE can help you evaluate the accessibility of your web content.

You can test your website's accessibility with WAVE here.