In general, following the P.O.U.R Principles will make your instructional content more accessible.
Information and user interface components must be presentable to users in ways they can perceive.
User interface components and navigation must be operable.
Information and the operation of user interface must be understandable.
Content must be robust enough that it can be interpreted reliably by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies.
Adapted from: Indiana University Bloomington Libraries.
Source: © WebAIM 2024
Here are some guidelines, checklists, and tools you can use to evaluate the accessibility of your open access materials.
The official web accessibility guidelines published by W3C (Worldwide Web Consortium)..
Amanda Coolidge; Sue Doner; Tara Robertson; and Josie Gray, Nova Scotia Community College, BC Campus, 2018.
An updated version of BC Campus Accessibility Toolkit - 2nd Edition. It "provide[s] resources for each content creator, instructional designer, educational technologist, librarian, administrator, and teaching assistant to create a truly open textbook."
Amanda Coolidge; Sue Doner; Tara Robertson; and Josie Gray, BC Campus, 2018.
Condensed checklist version of Accessibility Toolkit - 2nd Edition.
Study of Knowledge Management (ISKME) and the Science Education Resource Center (SERC), Carleton College.
STEM-specific accessibility guidelines for open educational resources. Developed by the Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management (ISKME) and the Science Education Resource Center (SERC) at Carleton College.
Accessibility tool that easily integrates into Canvas, allowing instructors to evaluate and fix accessibility issues directly from their Canvas page. Evaluates several elements of a Canvas course:
Cerritos College is currently testing this tool with faculty. If you are interested in participating in the pilot round, contact Student Accessibility Services (SAS) at sasappt@cerritos.edu.
Easy-to-use accessibility evaluator for web pages. You can copy/paste a URL into their website, or download their browser extension when you have the page open. It will return a detailed summary of accessibility issues.
If using this to test your own OER, implement the recommendations as much as you can. If using this to test someone else's OER, either find a more accessible one, or copy the information to Canvas and use the accessibility tool in Canvas to make changes.
Use this process to determine whether your image requires alt text or not.
Check if the color contrast of your content is visible to colorblind and visually impaired people.
Check if the color contrast in your content is visible to colorblind and visually impaired people.
