Accessibility Basics
What
Students have a lot going on with just mastering course content, but we may be unwittingly putting up additional barriers that make things even harder for them.
Universal design boosts inclusivity and smooths the way for student success by reducing barriers to access. Thinking about this beforehand, when designing a course, means making sure our documents, videos, and other resources follow certain standards so that anyone can access them without requesting help.
Common accessibility topics include:
- Giving all images alt-text that screen readers can read
- Captioning all videos and checking for their accuracy
- Using headers and sub headers in a logical manner
- Avoiding poor color contrast that may make documents hard to read
- And more (see below)
Even if we teach face-to-face, we still need to consider digital accessibility, for example color contrast in our presentations, or captioning videos we show in class.
Why
In addition to being the law, it benefits all students to have clear, easy-to-use material online. In addition, accessible design prevents problems before they happen.
How to Ensure Accessibility
Read our Zoho Knowledge Base Guides
Use Built-in Accessibility Checkers
The same basic universal design principles apply to materials in various formats, and many programs have built-in accessibility checkers that will find errors and suggest fixes for you.
Check these Outside Resources