Learn How to Use Assistive Technology

Did you miss the webinar on Atomic Learning Features and Assistive Technology? Not a problem! The webinar was recorded, so you may view it at your convenience. 

 

Video on Atomic Learning Features and Assistive Technology

Web and Media Accessibility Training in Big Rapids

Join the Technology Assistance Center, Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning, and the Disabilities Services Office the week of June 9, 2014 to learn more about web and media accessibility; what it is and how to create accessible media such as PDF files, Word documents, videos, and websites.

June 9-12, 2014 

Big Rapids, FLT 110 (Capacity: 30. Also available via Adobe Connect). 

Monday, June 9, 2014. 10:00am to Noon. Julie Rudolph, Educational Counselor. Accessibility in Web and Media: What is accessibility? What is your role? 

Students come to the University with diverse learning challenges. Law requires making educational material accessible to all learners. This brief session gives an overview of laws regarding accommodations and accessibility in higher education. 

Tuesday, June 10, 2014. 10:00 am to Noon. Jody Gardei, Technology Services Coordinator. Creating Accessible Documents: How to create accessible newsletters, meeting minutes, and other documents. 

It is important to use certain features within Word to ensure the document is formatted in a way that can be presented in different ways using assistive technologies. Using Styles and other features within Word provides structure that helps screen readers make sense of your document and provide a better experience for your students. Because most Adobe PDF files originate from Microsoft Word, knowing how to structure a Word document is the first step to creating an accessible PDF. Adobe has created a tool called “tags” which contain information about the structure of the document facilitating the effective use of assistive technologies (screen readers). While PDFs are known to be in a static document form, a tagged PDF makes it more accessible. 

Wednesday, June 11, 2014. 10:00 am to Noon. Jackie Hughes, Instructional Technology Coordinator. Closed-Captioning Videos: What are your responsibilities? What tools are available? 

Creating closed captioning and providing transcripts for video and audio may seem like a daunting task, but there are options and it saves you time to be proactive when building out your course with accessibility in mind. Closed captioning and scripting offers alternative modes of learning for students who do not hear well, who has a native language other than English or who may not be an auditory learner. Being proactive in accessibility saves time, money and it develops a culture of diversity and inclusion. 

Thursday, June 12, 2014. 10:00 am to Noon. Jackie Hughes, Instructional Technology Coordinator & Dale Hobart, Web Developer. Creating Accessible Websites. 

Whether you are building a web page in Omni or developing your course in Blackboard, there are easy tips for ensuring accessibility and creating a culture of inclusion. In this session, attendees will learn how to make text, images, tables, forms, etc. accessible. Attendees will also be shown how to test a web page for accessibility. 

To register for this training contact the Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning at fctl@ferris.edu or call 231-591-3826.

Anyone with a disability who needs special accommodations to attend this event should call 231.591.5615 at least 72 hours in advance.

Web and Media Accessibility Training in Grand Rapids

Join the Technology Assistance Center, Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning, and the Disabilities Services Office on June 4, 2014 to learn more about web and media accessibility; what it is and how to create accessible media such as PDF files, Word documents, videos, and websites.

June 4, 2014 

Grand Rapids, Federal Building, WNF 014 (Capacity: 12). 

9:30 to 10:15 am, Julie Rudolph, Educational Counselor. Accessibility in Web and Media: What is accessibility? What is your role? 

Students come to the University with diverse learning challenges. Law requires making educational material accessible to all learners. This brief session gives an overview of laws regarding accommodations and accessibility in higher education. 

10:30 to Noon, Jody Gardei, Technology Services Coordinator. Creating Accessible Documents: How to create accessible newsletters, meeting minutes, and other documents. 

It is important to use certain features within Word to ensure the document is formatted in a way that can be presented in different ways using assistive technologies. Using Styles and other features within Word provides structure that helps screen readers make sense of your document and provide a better experience for your students. Because most Adobe PDF files originate from Microsoft Word, knowing how to structure a Word document is the first step to creating an accessible PDF. Adobe has created a tool called “tags” which contain information about the structure of the document facilitating the effective use of assistive technologies (screen readers). While PDFs are known to be in a static document form, a tagged PDF makes it more accessible. 

1:15 to 2:00 pm, Jackie Hughes, Instructional Technology Coordinator. Closed-Captioning Videos: What are your responsibilities? What tools are available? 

Creating closed captioning and providing transcripts for video and audio may seem like a daunting task, but there are options and it saves you time to be proactive when building out your course with accessibility in mind. Closed captioning and scripting offers alternative modes of learning for students who do not hear well, who has a native language other than English or who may not be an auditory learner. Being proactive in accessibility saves time, money and it develops a culture of diversity and inclusion.

2:10 to 3:00 pm, Jackie Hughes, Instructional Technology Coordinator. Creating Accessible Websites.

Whether you are building a web page in Omni or developing your course in Blackboard, there are easy tips for ensuring accessibility and creating a culture of inclusion. In this session, attendees will learn how to make text, images, tables, forms, etc. accessible. Attendees will also be shown how to test a web page for accessibility.

To register for this training contact the Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning at fctl@ferris.edu or call 231-591-3826.

Anyone with a disability who needs special accommodations to attend this event should call 231.591.5615 at least 72 hours in advance.

Accessibility Training Now Available Via Atomic Learning

Imagine you have been directed to fill out a form on a website. You notice that the cursor is not in the first box, so you use your mouse to relocate your cursor to the first box and fill in the information. You hit the tab key expecting the cursor to go to the next box, but it goes to a box further down the page. Once again you use your mouse to relocate the cursor to the next

box, enter your information, and hit tab. The cursor does not go to the next box. How frustrating! Now imagine you are blind and can’t use your mouse to move to the correct box. How do you know what field you are in and what information to provide? If someone had taken the time to create this website so the tab order followed the proper order of the text boxes and each text box could be identified by a screen reader, this frustration could have been avoided. 

Web and media accessibility is a hot topic here at Ferris. Everybody benefits when time is taken to properly create a website, make a document, or caption a video using best practices. Atomic Learning now has accessibility training videos available to help you create accessible documents, forms, and videos in addition to how to use assistive technologies such as Dragon Naturally Speaking, Jaws, and Kurzweil. 

You will need to log in to Atomic Learning to access these videos. More information on how to access Atomic Learning and the Assistive Technology videos is available on the FerrisConnect support website.

Written by Jody Gardei

Creating Accessible Word Documents Made Easy!

Creating accessible Word documents is easier than you may think when you use the Accessibility Checker tool available within Microsoft Word. 

First, open the document you wish to check for accessibility. Then, click on File, Info, Check for Issues, Check for Accessibility. The Accessibility Checker task pane will
appear on the right side of the document with the inspection results. The results will change as you fix the issues until all the issues have been fixed.

Click here to go to the article “Creating accessible Word documents.” This articles explains the ins and outs of creating an accessible Word document. 

Written by Jody Gardei