Accessible Instructional Materials Guide – March 2010

The CSU system has mandated that all instructional material be equally accessible to students with disabilities as it is to students without disabilities.

This document provides you the details of what needs to be done and explains how you can convert the material yourself. Mike Splane is available to help you through the process. He can answer questions, provide you with training, and have his assistant convert your materials for you.

What are disabilities?

The University is focusing on vision and hearing impaired students. You should also consider what to do for students with dyslexia or color blindness

Timelines

Any new material must be made accessible as it is created. Existing material must be converted by the end of the 2011/2012 academic year.

The suggested schedule for getting all of your material converted by the deadline is

· Semester 1 Fall 2008 – Make all websites accessible.

· Semester 2 Spring 2009 –Convert printed instructional material (handouts) into digital format.

· Semester 3 Fall 2009 – Make all Syllabi accessible.

· Semester 4 Spring 2010 – Convert all Word documents into accessible format.

· Semester 5 Fall 2010 – Convert all PDF Files into accessible format.

· Semester 6 Spring 2011 Convert all PowerPoint slides into accessible format.

· Semester 7 Fall 2011 – Create transcripts for A/V Material

· Semester 8 Spring 2012 – Handle any remaining problems

If you need more help, go to the Center for Faculty Development’s Accessibility website www.sjsu.edu/cfd/accessibility/accessible_instructional_materials/ or contact the Faculty in Residence for your college.

Converting to Digital Format – Requirements

Material	Conversion Method	Who Does it	Notes & Requirements
Course Readers	Scanned	Spartan Bookstore Contact Christopher.Stroth@sjsu.edu or call 924-1824.	Place orders eight weeks before the class starts.
Hard Copy Materials	Retyped or scanned using OCR software.	Faculty or Student Assistants	Scanners are available in the CFD Lab.
Lectures	Don’t need to be digitized		Undue hardship exception.
Links to Media	Don’t need to be digitized		Undue hardship exception.
Notes on Board	Don’t need to be digitized		Undue hardship exception.
Overhead projector slides	Don’t need to be digitized		Undue hardship exception.
PDF Files saved as images instead of text	Scanned using OCR software.	Faculty or Student Assistants	Scanners are available in the Center for Faculty Development.
Podcasts / AV material	Already digital.
PowerPoint	Already digitized.
Syllabi	Already required in digital format	Sample accessible syllabi are available from www.sjsu.edu/cfd/docs/accessible_syllabustemplate.doc.
Text books	Scanned	Bookstore handles when student requests it.	Place orders eight weeks before the class starts.
Web Pages	Already digitized.
Word Documents	Already digitized.

How to Convert Digitized Material to Accessible Format

Material	Conversion Requirements
Course Readers	Handled through DRC and bookstore.
Lectures	None.
Links to Media	None.
Math Formulas in Word	May meet undue hardship exception but we are searching for a solution.
Notes on Board Overhead Slides	None.
PDF Files	· If the original document was accessible, the PDF should be accessible. · Check accessibility using Adobe Professional software.
Podcasts / AV material	· Add captioning or provide transcripts. · Limited resources are available to do this · Check with the Faculty in Residence.
PowerPoint	· Convert blank slide layouts to slides formatted with placeholders · Add labels to graphics. · Avoid certain color combinations. · Check outline view to make sure that all content is showing.
Syllabi	· Add labels to graphics. · Use headings. · Don’t use the enter key for spacing. · Add labels across the top row of tables. · Provide descriptive web links.
Text books	Handled through DRC and bookstore.
Web Pages	· Add labels to graphics and charts. · Use headings. · Don’t use the enter key for spacing. · Add labels across the top row of tables. · Provide descriptive web links.
Word Documents	· Add labels to graphics and charts. · Use headings. · Don’t use the enter key for spacing. · Add labels across the top row of tables. · Provide descriptive web links.

Converting Instructional Material to Accessible Format

Word

Add Descriptions to Graphics in Word

Why are descriptions important? The text to speech reading software can not handle graphics, it skips over them. A description is needed if the graphic is part of the instructional material. Descriptions are not needed for decorative graphics.

Types of descriptions. Textboxes won’t work, the software can’t read those either. You can either add a label or a caption. Captions will appear in the document, labels will not. Don’t add both a caption and a description, the text reader will read them both. If captions are easier for you, you can hide the caption by changing the font color to match the background.

Screen shot of the Format Autoshape dialog box How to add labels.

Office 2003

Right-click on the graphic

Choose Format

Click on the Web tab

Type in the description.

Click OK

Office 2007

Right-click on the graphic

Choose Size and Position

Click on the Alt Text tab

Type in the description.

Click Close

Screen shot of the Caption dialog box How to add captions.

Office 2003

Select the graphic.

From the Insert menu, select Reference, and then select Caption.

Type the description into the first textbox.

Office 2007

Select the graphic.

From the Reference tab select Insert Caption.

Type the description into the first textbox.

How to hide captions.

If you don’t want the caption to appear in the document or PowerPoint slide, give it the same font color as the background. The font color icon appears on the formatting toolbar in Office 2003 and on the Home tab in office 2007. The icon is a capital A.

Math Formulas

Math formulas will need a description or a caption. There may be some software solutions available. Check with the Faculty in Residence at your college for help.

Use Heading Styles

What is a heading style?

Styles are predefined format settings - bold, italic, centered, Arial font, font size, etc. Headings are a type of style used to create an outline or to describe each section of the document. Heading 1 style is for the main points, Heading 2 for secondary points and Heading 3 for details. You can use the Document Map feature to see if heading are already included in the document

Why are Headings important? The text to speech software uses headings to create a table of contents. The blind reader can then select a heading and jump to a section without having to sit and listen to everything that precedes the section they want to hear.

Additional benefits of using Headings: You can use headings to create links within a document if you save it as a web page. You can use headings to generate a table of contents. Clicking on a heading in the table of contents moves the cursor to that section of the document. Headings can be exported to PowerPoint to automatically create slides.

How to apply Heading styles.

Office 2003

Select the text.

Click in the styles box on the formatting toolbar.

Click on the pull-down arrow and select Heading 1, Heading 2, or Heading 3.

Office 2007

Select the text.

Click on the Home tab.

Find the Styles group

Click on the pull-down arrow and select Heading 1, Heading 2 or Heading 3.

*Note: Heading 3 is not available until after you have used the Heading 2 style. If you would like to use Heading 3, apply Heading 2 and then go back and change it.

To modify a style:

In Office 2203, Click on the AA icon on the formatting toolbar. Right click on the style and select Modify.

In Office 2007. Click on the icon in the lower right corner of the Styles group. Right click on the pull-down arrow next to a style and select Modify.

Keyboard shortcuts to apply Heading styles:

Click anywhere in the text that you want to convert into a heading

To apply Heading 1 press Ctrl + Alt + 1

To apply Heading 2 press Ctrl + Alt + 2

To apply Heading 3 press Ctrl + Alt + 3

Check Spacing

Using the ENTER key to create spacing causes problems for older versions of JAWS text to speech software. The spaces are read as “Blank.” This problem has been fixed in newer version of JAWS. The key combination SHIFT + ENTER creates spacing that is acceptable in all versions of JAWS.

To detect those extra spacing characteristics click on the pilcrow icon ¶ to show the formatting characters in the document. In Office 2003 the pilcrow is found on the Standard toolbar. In Office 2007 it is found on the Home tab in the Paragraph group. A keyboard shortcut is Ctrl + the * symbol (Ctrl +Shift + 8.) The pilcrow icon is a toggle switch; click on it again to hide the formatting marks.

If you see a pilcrow symbol ¶ on a blank line, click on it and remove it. An alternative method is to use find and replace (CTRL + H). Type ^p^p in the find box. Type ^p into the replace box.

Then either format your paragraphs with “before” and “after” spacing as described in the next section, or use the SHIFT + ENTER key combination to put spacing back into the document.

Add spacing between paragraphs.

Select one or more paragraphs, or the entire document. You can select the entire document with Ctrl + A or by triple clicking in the left margin

To select a paragraph double click in the left margin or triple click in the paragraph

In Office 2003 - From the format menu choose Paragraph.

In Office 2007 – From the Home tab, click on the icon in the lower right corner of the Paragraph group

On the Indents and Spacing Tab you’ll see a section for spacing. A spacing of 12 points equals one line. Setting the spacing to 6 points before and 6 points after should line everything up correctly. Use larger numbers if you want wider spacing.

Before

You can use headings to create links within a document if you save it as a web page. ¶

You can use headings to generate a table of contents. Clicking on a heading in the table of contents moves the cursor to that section of the document. ¶

After

You can use headings to create links within a document if you save it as a web page.¶

You can use headings to generate a table of contents. Clicking on a heading in the table of contents moves the cursor to that section of the document. ¶

Tables

For a blind person, making sense of tables can be difficult. To help make them easier to understand, the first row of each table should contain labels describing the contents of each column. Recommended: The labels should repeat if the table spans two or more pages.

How to set up the table so the descriptive row labels repeat.

Office 2003

Click on the table

From the Tables menu select Table Properties

Click on the Row tab in the dialog box.

Put a check next to “Repeat as header row at the top of the page.”

Office 2007

Click on the table.

Click on the Table Tools Layout tab.

Click on Repeat Header Rows.

Aligning text in tables

In tables, you can highlight cells, right-click, and choose “cell alignment” to position text in the cell without having to use the ENTER key to position your text.

Splitting cells into rows creates problems for the text to speech software; causing it to read the cells in the wrong sequence.

Links in Word

The text to speech software generates a list of hyperlinks for the blind student. If the hyperlinks do not contain descriptions, for example if they all say “click here”, they will not be accessible. Links should also include the full web address so they are accessible to students who only have a hard copy of the material.

You can create or edit a hyperlink by using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + K. Right click on a hyperlink to edit it. Entering both the INS and F7 keys will cause JAWS to display all web-links in a window.

Abbreviations and Dates

Text to speech software has problems with reading dates and abbreviations. For example 10/9 would be read as “ten divided by nine.” Adding the year seems to fix this problem – for example 10/9/2009.

You can add common abbreviations to the autocorrect feature in Word so they will be spelled out in full when you enter the abbreviation. For example you may want to convert “pp.” into “pages” or “Ed.” into “edition.”

In Word 2003: From the Tools menu, select Autocorrect Options. On the Autocorrect tab find the Replace and With boxes. Enter the abbreviation into the Replace box. Enter the word or words that you want to use in place of the abbreviation into the With box.

In Word 2007 – Click the Office Button. At the bottom of the dialog box click on Word Options. Click on Proofing. Click on Autocorrect Options. On the Autocorrect tab find the Replace and With boxes. Enter the abbreviation into the Replace box. Enter the word or words that you want to use in place of the abbreviation into the With box.

PowerPoint

Use Outline View to Check for Accessible Text

In the normal view, click on the Outline tab. This is what the text to speech software will see. If the text is missing, you need to revise the slide.

Avoid Blank Slide Layouts in PowerPoint

Content in blank slide layouts or in textboxes can be invisible to text to speech software. Text and content slide layouts contain placeholders that the text to speech software can see. If you don’t see your content in Outline View, transfer it to a Text and Content slide.

In Office 2003

Insert a new slide. Ctrl + M is the keyboard shortcut.

Right click on the slide and choose Slide Layout.

Select Title and Content.

Copy and paste your old content into the new slide.

In Office 2007.

Insert a new slide. Ctrl + M is the keyboard shortcut.

Right click on the slide and choose Layout.

Select Title and Content.

Copy and paste your old content into the new slide.

Add Descriptions to Graphics in PowerPoint

Slides in PowerPoint often contain multiple graphics. It is not necessary or desirable to label every graphic.

Method One: Group all of the graphics to create a single large graphic and add a description. I don’t recommend this.

Method Two: Because one descriptive label per slide should normally be adequate to describe the entire group of graphics, add just one label to a single graphic.

Method Three: If you are using a title and content slide layout put the description in the title area. Hide the description by changing the font color to match the slide background.

Method Four: Press the Alt and Print Screen keys to take a picture of the slide. Paste the picture into a new Title and Content slide. Add the description to the Title area. Delete the old slide.

Links in PowerPoint

Links in slides should include the full web address and a description. The URL should be part of the link; the description can be separate

You can create or edit a hyperlink by using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + K. Right click on a hyperlink to edit it.

PDF

Five things must be present to make a .PDF file accessible:

Tags or document structure – Tags function like headings in Word.
A specified language – Set it to English.
Alternative descriptions added to images – The same as in Word or PowerPoint.
Descriptions for form fields – Add text the same as you would for images.
A logical tab order for Form field elements consistent with structure order.

If you are not using form fields you can ignore the latter two.

Determine Whether or not your PDF File is in a Readable Format.

Existing PDF files may have been saved in a non-readable image format. This is easy to check using the newer versions of Acrobat reader. From the View Menu choose “Read Out Loud” and then select “Activate Read Out Loud.” Go back into the View Menu. Select “Read Out Loud” and then select “This Page Only.” If the file is in a readable format Adobe will begin reading it out loud. If the file fails this test it will have to be recreated from the original source file.

Convert an Existing Readable PDF File into an Accessible File.

Existing .PDF files that are in a readable format can easily be made accessible using Adobe Acrobat Professional, version 9. It has a built-in accessibility feature that checks the file and then generates a report showing the problems and explaining how to fix them.

Step 1. Specify a Document Language

If your .PDF file was created in Word, you may need to add a language specification.

From the File menu, select Properties. Click on the Advanced tab.

Find the reading options section and select English from the drop-down menu.

Step 2. Check For and Add Tags

From the File menu, select Properties. Click on the Description tab.

Find the Advanced section. If it says YES next to Tags you are ok.

If it says NO, then you need to add tags

From the Advanced Menu, Select Accessibility and then select “Add Tags to Document”.

Step 3. Create an Accessibility Report to Locate Problems

From the Advanced menu, select the Accessibility submenu, then select Full Check.

In the dialog box, check “Create Accessibility Report.” And select Adobe PDF. Click on the bottom of the dialog box to run the report. The report will be displayed in a task pane on the left. The report identifies problems and explains in clear language how to fix them

Fix the Problems. Rerun the Accessibility Report. If all problems are fixed save the file.

To Save a Word Document in Accessible .PDF Format

If you have Adobe installed as an add-on to Office 2007 - go to the Acrobat Tab.

Select Enable Accessibility – the last check box.

On the Acrobat Tab select Create PDF.

Other Types of Instructional Materials

Color Issues

Avoid low contrast – dark on dark, light on light.

Avoid using textures or patterns as backgrounds to text

Colors to avoid: red and green

Color combinations to avoid: red with black red with green

blue with orange green with magenta yellow with cyan

Audio/Video Transcripts

A transcript will be required. Check with the library for captioned videos. You can also add captions through this freeYouTubes feature. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTvHIDKLFqc

“You tube has the "beta" version of English transcription. It is almost 80% correct. However if you want to make it 100%, then you need to download the text document and fix the document and upload the document to the you tube site. you need to create an account for uploading your videos. You can just check the box which says "machine transcription" and the video will play with subtitles. It does have the time codes and the text will be placed exactly at the same place where the audio is playing. This way you don't get to see the text later (like in TV News).

“When you upload your new transcription text document and check the box that says your file name (for eg. If you keep the file name as cobvision.txt) your viewers will get a chance to select the regular "English Transcription" and also the customized transcription file name "cobvision.txt)”

Source: Prabha Chandrasekhar. 4/28/2010 email.

Test Materials

The Disability Resource Center will convert your test materials into an accessible format if they are administering a test for one of your students. They need to have the exam at least five days before the test date

Websites

Basics:

Provide a description for graphics.

Avoid bad color combinations as described above.

Avoid flashing text as this could trigger epileptic seizures.

Direct any questions to Prabha Chandrasekhar.

Testing Your Web Pages

This web site generates accessibility checks, one URL at a time. http://www.contentquality.com/

Another site is http://wave.webaim.org/

Syllabi

A template to use in creating accessible syllabi is available here:

www.sjsu.edu/cfd/docs/accessible_syllabustemplate.doc

Elluminate

Elluminate sessions can be made accessible by recording the session, creating a transcript, and reposting the session with the transcript included..

Getting Help

Mike Splane is the Faculty in Residence at the College of Business. He and his student assistant Kevin Kyu can both assist you.
Mike is in BT260.

924-3533

Splane_M@cob.sjsu.edu