Accessibility is essential in fostering an inclusive and equitable learning experience for all. This means considering the fundamentals of digital accessibility when creating or curating digital content.
Digital content may include, but is not limited to:
- Electronic documents (word files, PDFs, forms, presentations, spreadsheets)
- Websites, including content within learning management systems
- Web and mobile applications, instructional technologies, and courseware
- Digital correspondence, including emails and social media posts
- Multimedia content (videos, audio, images)
Often, this content being available is equated with being accessible, but this is not always the case. Everyone can follow some basic principles of digital accessibility to ensure the content they create or curate is both available and accessible to all users. These guiding principles are derived from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and are known as POUR (Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, Robust).
Perceivable
Everyone must be able to perceive digital content to benefit from the information being shared, regardless of sensory abilities.
- Provide alternative text for images and graphics
- Enable captions and transcripts for multimedia content
- Use sufficient color contrast for text and images
- Provide content with digitally readable text, or text processed with optical character recognition (OCR); do not use images of text
Operable
Everyone must be able navigate and interact with digital content using a variety of methods and assistive technologies.
- Use heading and list structures to organize content in documents or HTML
- Create hyperlinks with descriptive names, such as “Student Accessibility Services” instead of “Learn more”
- Ensure all content can be navigated with a keyboard; do not use interactive elements or widgets that rely on mouse only (ex. drag-and-drop activities)
- Assess content using built-in accessibility checkers or Ally in Brightspace
Understandable
Everyone must be able to understand key information and instructions to complete tasks.
- Use plain and concise language whenever possible
- Organize information in well-structured and consistent formats
- Provide clear instructions and feedback
- Choose high contrast colors and avoid using color alone to convey meaning
Robust
Everyone must be able to access digital content and platforms with compatible devices and assistive technologies.
- Use websites and applications that are known to be accessible to assistive technologies
- Ask third-party vendors for accessibility conformance documentation
- Assess web-based tools with accessibility audit extensions such as WAVE by WebAim
Where to Begin
- Start assessing and remediating high-impact digital content that is public-facing, widely used, or has severe accessibility issues
- Use accessibility checkers and accessible content creation tools
- Fix one issue at a time (ex. OCR all scanned PDFs, add alternative text to all images)
- Ask for guidance from the Digital Accessibility Team and check out available training resources
- Build a culture around digital accessibility by sharing best practices with others
- Celebrate accessibility milestones!
Digital Accessibility Spotlights