Accessibility Guidelines

Accessibility Considerations when Developing Online Courses

Universal Design for Learning

Please see MU's website on Universal Design for Learning and learn how everyone benefits!

The following suggestions are offered to faculty for designing online courses:

D2L Training

If you would like to request training on D2L’s accessibility features, please contact the Instructional and Technology Support team by submitting a Help Desk ticket with the subject ‘D2L Course Accessibility.’ You can submit help tickets directly from the MU Help Desk website or you can email your request to help@millersville.edu or copy and paste https://millersvilleuniversity.sysaidit.com/EndUserPortal.jsp.

Setting extended time for exams in D2L 

Instructions for extending quiz and exam time in D2L is explained in this short video or copy and paste https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1dPuEiVkDU to watch this YouTube demonstration. 

If you would like to receive more in-depth training or information on this topic, please contact the Instructional and Technology Support team by submitting a Help Desk Ticket with the subject ‘Extended Time on Tests.’ You can submit help tickets directly from the MU Help Desk website or you can email your request to help@millersville.edu or contact the MU Help Desk at: 717-871-7777.  

Accessible Content and Design

The sites listed help with accessible content and design.

Pictures and Images: Students with blindness or visual impairment use screen readers to access information online. Pictures and other images should have alternative text or "alt tags" that describes the image using semantic meanings. Computers and screen readers cannot analyze images; hence the need for alternative text. Techniques for alternative text can be found at http://webaim.org/techniques/alttext/.

Videos: Unless videos are captioned on websites, current and prospective students may feel courses are inaccessible. Captions are helpful for students with deafness or hearing impairments and those who have auditory processing disorders. These students need to read for understanding. Techniques for captioning videos can be found at http://webaim.org/techniques/captions/.  

Tables/Lists: Tables and lists are difficult to read using screen readers. To learn how to make them accessible, go to http://webaim.org/techniques/tables/.

Forms: Forms available to all students must be accessible to those who use screen readers and should be able to be completed using only a keyboard. Go to http://webaim.org/techniques/forms/ to learn how to create accessible forms.

Color: Aspects of color should be accessible to those with low vision and/or color blindness. Check the accessibility of color at http://webaim.org/resources/contrastchecker/. Vischeck is a website that will show how images and web pages will be seen by someone who has color blindness. http://www.vischeck.com/vischeck/

Video Access for the Visually Impaired: Try to use videos with good verbal descriptions in them. Consider offering students information about the Audio Description Project for course requirements that include expectations for students to watch TV shows as a part of the course. This can be difficult for someone with a visual impairment. This site illustrates how one can access audio descriptions of TV programs. www.acb.org.

Online and Distance Learning Programs

Please keep in mind that publisher products that institutions use should be accessible to screen readers and/or have captions if video content is included.

More information about How Can Faculty Address the Issues Facing Students with Disabilities in Online Courses

Bridging the Gap: Overcoming Barriers in Higher Ed for Students with Disabilities including Neurodivergent Learners

Accessible Documents

Content loaded to websites must be accessible and therefore creating accessible PDF's is often necessary for student access.

Create an accessible document using Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel and check it with the embedded accessibility checker before saving as a PDF. Avoid scanning documents and uploading just a picture of the document that cannot be read by screen readers. Start with a clean document (no highlighting, underlining or marking), use original material, if possible, and not copies of books or articles. Use an OCR (optical recognition reader) like Adobe Acrobat Pro because it has an accessibility checker in it that will check the document for images, reading order, etc. Training for creating accessible documents can be found at http://tv.adobe.com/watch/accessibility-adobe/creating-an-accessible-pdf-file/. Check documents by opening file/info and then check for issues. The service will show how to correct errors.

When purchasing content from publishers, ask for a captioned version.

YouTube Videos have a caption component that simply needs to be clicked to turn on captioning (cc). Remind students of this feature. CaptionTube is a site that explains how to caption videos prior to uploading to YouTube.  https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2734796?hl=en

Learning Management Systems

Things to keep in mind:

  • Learning management systems chosen for online courses must be accessible by a student's accessible technology.
  • Accessibility of course materials is required.
  • Colleges and universities that contract with vendors must ensure the services are accessible and must check the product to be sure students can gain access.
  • Alternative access should be provided to students with insurmountable issues and should be as close as possible to the access provided to students without disabilities (ease of use and services provided).
  • Students are expected to have access when faculty put up their tools for instruction. n

Additional information about popular learning management systems:

Lessons on Academic Accommodations for Students with Disabilities

The following is a series of Lessons to assist faculty in providing academic accommodations for students with disabilities. The lessons were created by the DO-IT Progam at the University of Washington. The DO-IT Program employs the use of Universal Design so that all students can benefit. The information in these lessons will help faculty understand the specific accommodations provided for students with disabilities in their courses. Alternative accommodations and suggestions are also offered that may be useful when teaching students with disabilities.