Learn about the basic requirements to meet the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) for distance education: describe images and hyperlinks, use sans-serif fonts, caption video and transcribe audio, and ensure your PDFs are readable and not scanned images of the printed word.

1. Library & Instructional Resource Services
How to Make Your Online
Course Accessible

2. Rehabilitation Act, 1973
“No otherwise qualified individual with a
disability …shall, solely by reason of her or
his disability, be excluded from the
participation in, be denied the benefits of, or
be subjected to discrimination under any
program or activity receiving Federal
financial assistance…(Section 504, 29
U.S.C. Sec. 794)”

3. 4 Basic Guidelines
• Describe images and hyperlinks.
• Use San Serif fonts for online text.
• Check PDFs for accessibility.
• Close caption all video and transcripts
for all audio.

4. Provide Accessible Hyperlinks
Simplify information by providing the specific
name of the Website not the web address.
Good example: Spring Hill College Online
Bad example:
https://secure.ecollege.com/shc/index.learn?
action=welcome

5. Add Specific Title for Links
Provide the full name (title) of the website,
so that it’s understandable to all.

6. Provide Accessible Images
PowerPoint 2016: Right click image. Select
Format Picture Size & Properties >Alt
Text. Provide explicit description.

7. Add Description to Images
Schoology doesn’t require that you add a
description to images when you upload
them. Add it afterwards by selecting the
image in edit mode.

8. Use Sans-Serif Fonts
Sans-serif fonts are recommended for online
text to provide accessibility. Sans-serif fonts
do not have the “hats and shoes” on certain
letters that serif fonts include. These extra
lines can make it difficult to read.
Schoology provides the sans-serif font of
Arial.

9. Microsoft Accessibility Checker
MS Word 2016 has an accessibility checker
that will highlight any issues your document
has. Select File >Acrobat > Create PDF
and Run Action> Make Accessible. A
menu of steps will appear on the right-hand
side to make it accessible.

10. Don’t Use Scanned PDFs
Are your PDFs readable? Conduct a word
search within the Find box of the PDF for a
word you see in the document. If you
receive the message, “No matches were
found,” then the document is a scanned
image that cannot be read by persons who
use assistive technology.

11. Repair Scanned PDFs
Use Adobe Acrobat XI:
File> Action Wizard> Create Accessible
PDFs> Action Step (Accessibility Checker)
Note: You have access to Adobe Acrobat
Pro XI in the Faculty Development Center,
which is located in BL112.

12. Caption All Media
❧Use YouTube or other free captioning
services.
❧If you don’t have your media captioned, at
the very least, provide a script until you do.
❧See video tutorial on how to correct the
YouTube automatic captioning.
❧Don’t forget about providing scripts for
narrated PowerPoints.

13. Guidelines for Captioning
• Accurate- errorless
• Consistent- uniformity in style
• Clear- complete representation
• Readable- sufficient display time
• Equal- preserve original meaning
(Captioning Key, 2011)

14. Universal Design for All
• “Captioning is critical for students who are
deaf or hard of hearing, but it also aids the
reading & literacy skills development of
many others” (DCMP, 2016).
• This is true for other accessibility
recommendations like font size, readability
of PDFs, & precise hyperlinks.

15. Providing Test Accommodations
To provide verified test accommodations to
students with disabilities in Schoology,
save your original test to your Resources.
Bring it back into your course and assign to
the individual.

16. Resources
• Caption it Yourself™: Basic Guidelines by Bill
Stark
• List of Typefaces (Serif vs. San Serif Fonts) by
Wikipedia
• Universal Design for Learning Guidelines by
CAST.org
• Microsoft Support provides information on
creating accessible PDFs.

17. Questions?
Contact
• Sandra Rogers, Instructional Designer
• Burke Library, room 113
• srogers@shc.edu
• 251-380-4480
LibGuide on Accessibility

18. References
2011 Captioning key: Guidelines and preferred
techniques. (2011). The Described and Captioned
Media Program. Retrieved from
http://www.dcmp.org/captioningkey/captioning-
key.pdf

19. References
Best practices for captioning. (2011).
KnowledgeBase. Madison: University of
Wisconsin. Retrieved from
http://kb.wisc.edu/helpdesk/page.php?id=11956
Evans, L., & Schmidt, D. E. Power points for all
learners: Making accessible PowerPoint
presentations. Chico: California State University.

20. References
Freed, G., & Rothberg, M. (2006). Accessible
digital media guidelines. National Center for
Accessible Media. Retrieved from
http://ncam.wgbh.org/invent_build/web_multimedia
/accessible-digital-media-guide/
Sammons, M. C. (2007). The Longman guide to
style and writing on the Internet. New York, NY:
Pearson.

21. References
Technology and Information Accessibility
Standards (Section 508). (2000). Access Board.
Retrieved from http://www.access-
board.gov/sec508/standards.htm
W3C.
Web Accessibility in Mind. (2013). Center for
Persons with Disabilities. Logan: Utah State
University. Retrieved from http://webaim.org/

22. References
Web content accessibility guidelines 2.0.
(2008). Retrieved from
http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG/
Note: The Accessibility Logo was created by
Christy Blew of The University of Illinois on
behalf of the EDUCAUSE IT Accessibility
Constituent Group.