Accessibility Resources

It is important to format digital course resources including your syllabus in a way that is inclusive and accessible to all.  

The US Department of Education (US DoE) Office of Civil Rights (OCR)  put together a series of short videos that describe the importance of digital accessibility and provide recommended practices and tips. We encourage you to view these short video tutorials.

Below you will find some tips to get you started.  View the Digital Accessibility resources guide, resources on Universal Design for Learning and Accessibility features in Educational Technologies for an overview of accessibility tips and strategies.

Also check out our resources on Inclusive Teaching.

Overall Formatting Tips

To get started on formatting follow these basic tips:

• • • Avoid large blocks of text. Reduce text by eliminating unnecessary words and use bullet points to break things down.
    • Left align text as much as possible.  Avoid right alignment and justified text; minimize centered text.
    • Use a sans serif font. Use the same font throughout the document. 
    • Avoid CAPITALIZING all text as this is difficult to read and appears as if someone is ‘shouting’ or ‘yelling’
    • Avoid adding unnecessary images as this is considered extraneous information and can interfere with working memory processing.

We also recommend to review 20 Tips for Teaching an Accessible Online Course by Sheryl Burgstahler. While written for online courses, this resource provides practical tips that you can begin implementing in your course today in both face to face and online courses.

Brightspace Formatting Tip: The recommended font when creating content in the HTML editors in Brightspace is Lato and the recommended font size is 19px

 

Additional Accessibility Tips

For more in depth tips and strategies, review the Digital Acccesibility Self-Paced Resource Guide

• Colors

  Color Contrast
  Colors are a great way to categorize and add style to your courses. However, we need to keep individuals who are color blind in mind when designing instruction using color. 

  • The most readable text is black font on a white background.  
  • Be careful with colored fonts in combination with colored backgrounds as some of these combinations may not be accessible.
  • Color Contrast Checker: Brightspace has a built in color contrast check and there are other tools on the website including the Web Aim Color Contrast Checker

  Communicating Meaning
  It is important to also avoid using color as the only way of communicating information. This includes highlighting text or using a different color font to emphasize information.  

  For example, you do not want to say something like “All deadlines are in red” and only use the color red to indicate something is a deadline.  For students who can’t see red, they may not be able to distinguish what is a deadline from other dates listed in the course. 

• Headings

  Heading 1

  Heading 2

  Heading 3

  Headings and subheadings make it easier to scan a document,  allow screen readers to navigate a document and  allow you to generate a table of contents. The addition of a table of contents in word processing documents supports this ease of navigation. 

  They help to create a structure and chunk information into smaller parts making the document easier to read. 

  The CELT Syllabus Templates use a heading structure throughout the document. 

  Adding and Editing Headings
  Microsoft Word Tutorial
  Google Docs Tutorial

   

• Hyperlinks

  Use descriptive language when creating hyperlinks. This allows users to identify links easily. If using a screen reader, the user can toggle between links and identify what the link references. 

  Best Practice   
  Create links in this format:

  Visit the RSI: Regular and Substantive Interaction website to learn more. 

  The Required Syllabus Statements are indicated on the Provost Website.   

  Common Mistake
  Avoid using terms like “Click here” and then adding a link to the word “here”.  If there are many "Click here" links, it is challenging to distinguish between them.  

  ie. Click here to learn more. 

  Avoid underlining other text for emphasis as this can be mistaken for a broken link. 

• Tables

  Tables are a great way to chunk information but they need to be formatted correctly to be accessible.  Some tips for making your tables accessible:

  • Use a header row to explain content in each column.
  • Repeat the header row on each page if the table extends beyond a page.
  • Avoid letting rows break across pages.
  • Avoid merging or splitting cells
  • Test the tab order of the table to make sure the order makes sense.
• Images

  As a best practice, only include images that are needed to explain content or relate to your resources. 

  Alt Text Descriptions

  • If you do include images, each image should have alt text description in the context of the content you are presenting. 
  • Alt text should be short and concise. If a longer description is needed, consider providing a description with your content. 
  • If the image also includes text, include all relevant information in the Alt Text as screen readers can not read text in images. 

  Check out Harvard's Digital Accessibility page for tips on how to write Alt Text descriptions.

• Videos

  If you use videos in your courses, it is important to provide closed captioning and transcripts to make the content accessible to all. 

  • Many software programs such as Zoom, Echo 360 and VoiceThread provide auto generated captions and/or transcripts but these are not always accurate
  • Edit transcripts for accuracy and to make sure the correct meaning is being conveyed. 

  View Accessibility in Educational Technologies for resources on generating and editing closed captions and/or transcripts

Additional SBU Resources

Stony Brook University has a variety of resources for accessibility for website and student support. 

• Stony Brook's Accessibility Resources (OU Campus Support Site)
• Student Accessibility Support Center (SASC)
• Website Accessibility Checklist