Information and digital literacy in education via the digital path

To address digital equity, higher education should approach technology accessibility issues from a systemic framework.

Yesterday afternoon I saw someone on Twitter ask if there is a way to evaluate the accessibility of a slide presentation. My answer was to try Grackle Slides. Grackle Slides is a Google Slides add-on that will evaluate the accessibility of your 

I’ve recently been working on a six month accessibility project at the Ministry of Justice. This has involved dealing with a lot of different things but one of the main outputs has been some accessibility testing training I’ve created.

After a lot of testing and iteration, this is now open for anyone to use! If you’d like to know more about how it was created, read the whole blog post, but if you just want to get stuck in, go straight to the ‘Try it out for yourself’ section.

I  have been very excited by the flurry of activity that has been triggered by The Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) Accessibility Regulations (2018)   across my own and other institutions. These regulations haven’t really introduced anything new, much of it is covered by existing equalities legislation, but it has shifted the focus. Previously, we could be reactive and in our laziest moments rely on those that needed adjustments to request them. Now, we are required to be proactive. To create content that is accessible by design and follows Universal Design for Learning principles around designing for POUR (i.e., so content is Perceivable, Operable, Understandable and Robust). Aligning with the social model of disability: people are disabled by barriers in society, not by their impairment or difference.

In a world of rapidly advancing technology it’s crucial to ensure companies and organizations are doing their best to make digital developments accessible to everyone.

While browsing the internet, catching up on social media, or texting on mobile devices might seem like second nature to some, accessibility-related barriers prevent millions of people with disabilities from easily using basic forms of technology and, in some cases, even discourage them from going online. 

Editor’s Note: Today is Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) 2018. The purpose of GAAD is to foster conversation, reflection, and learning about digital access and people with different disabilities in order to move towards greater inclusion in technology and its applications. We are pleased to welcome guest author Stephanie Rosen to share some thoughts about accessibility and inclusion for digital textbooks. Stephanie is Associate Librarian and Accessibility Specialist at the University of Michigan Library, where she promotes equitable access to library resources for all users, regardless of ability or background. She holds a PhD in English from the University of Texas at Austin, and brings a background in disability studies to library administration and digital education.

The scholarly communications community is very familiar with the many varied meanings of the word “free” and how those definitions help shape or derail discussions. With recent offerings of “inclusive access” textbooks, we now need to carefully distinguish between the varied meanings of the word “inclusive.”

Angel Perez and Jessica Gramp preset about the UCL Accessible Moodle project. More info at: http://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/digital-education/category/accessibility/accessible-moodle-project/

This project sought to study how much academic librarians who work with open educational resources (OERs) know about accessibility, as well as how they incorporate accessibility into the products of their work. A survey was sent out through email list services in spring 2020, and any librarian worldwide who works with OERs was invited to participate; 193 responded in full. Just under half of librarians said they always consider accessibility when working with faculty to create or adapt OERs, but fewer than a third said they consider accessibility a factor when adding OERs to their collections.

In pushing teaching and learning online at an unprecedented scale, COVID-19 is challenging higher (HE) and further education (FE) providers, but also presents opportunities - particularly when it comes to digital accessibility.

“The pandemic has brought the need for change into focus,”

comments Ben Watson, accessible information adviser at the University of Kent.

A few weeks ago I published a video about how to add alt text to pictures in Google Slides. That video was prompted by a friend's request for help. This morning a reader asked me about using alt text in PowerPoint. 

This article is part of a series on innovative teaching methods in higher education. Check back for more stories in the coming weeks.

Like many of her peers, Ann Wai-Yee Kwong struggled in statistics while working towards a bachelor's degree in psychology at UC Berkeley. But because she is legally blind, she had an added challenge of not being able to see the diagrams and notes projected in the lecture hall or assigned for homework.

Quick Take: Author, speaker and professional consultant in accessibility/Universal Design for Learning shares his thoughts on inclusive educational design practices.

October is Dyslexia Awareness Month. Perhaps you have a student with dyslexia and want to find out more about it. This post contains informational articles as well as links to different apps that have helped students with dyslexia.