Innovative
Multimedia Design for
Curriculum
Accessibility
Intr
oduct
ions
Beth Jamison
Shanna Wise
The GCU story
Changing the institutional
mindset
Activity!
We asked attendees to simulate the experience of a blind user by following or by giving directions to submit a response via text. We
hope participation in this activity provided perspective and appreciation for the importance of clear direction and simplified
navigation. We used Poll Everywhere to perform the activity.
Academic Web
ServicesW
e m
ake co
ol stu
ff!
Our
Develo
pm
ent
Pro
cess
“A little added to a little is a lot” “Accessibility is not an after treatment. It needs
to be built into the structure of every element at
the beginning.”“Now that I’m creating [more] accessible pieces,
I want to go back and grab my old products and
bring up the quality. Now when I make my stuff
[accessible] I can be proud of the quality of my
work.”
“Incremental development is key, because you
learn something new about developing for
universal design with every new component you
create.”
“As we’re planning larger projects we know we
need to re-evaluate websites, development
platforms, and reforecast regularly in order to
keep up.”
Nobody
is
perf
ect
Example: GCU Accessibility Standards Grand Canyon University is committed to providing accessible website content and functionality. “Accessible” means that regardless of any visual impairment, an individual is able to independently access and utilize GCU’s websites to obtain information and services offered by the University. It is GCU’s goal that all students, faculty and staff are able to use the same web services with equivalent ease of use.
In order to achieve this goal, GCU has adopted the following standards for new web development:
1. GCU websites will be designed and developed to be compatible with screen reader software. 2. All website functionality will be accessible through keyboard commands. 3. Site navigation will be arranged so that a user can progress logically from start to finish through the site content. 4. Web sites will be designed to permit screen readers to skip repetitive navigation menus. 5. Frames will be titled with text to allow navigation and identification. 6. Data tables will include identified row and column headers. 7. Multimedia elements will have text alternatives provided. 8. Descriptive text elements will be included for all non-text elements of the page that relate to the page content and functions. 9. Alt tags will be included for pages that contain images. 10. All videos will be closed-captioned and a descriptive text transcript will be made available for blind users. 11. All audio content will include transcripts. 12. All form controls must be labeled. 13. Elements that expand / collapse must be labeled to announce change to the screen reader. 14. If a timed response is required, the user must be alerted and given a method to request more time. 15. All elements must be visible in high contrast mode (Windows). 16. Any information conveyed by color will also be available without the use of color. 17. All pages will be understandable without their associated style sheet. 18. All elements will be designed to avoid causing a screen flicker in the frequency range of 2Hz to 55Hz, inclusive. If a video is unable to meet these standards due to content, a warning label will be included. 19. GCU will use tools provided by W3C to scan new websites and attempt to resolve accessibility suggestions before the website is made available. In addition to the above standards, GCU offers Technical Support for individuals to work in a one-on-one basis to assist with navigation of a GCU website. Individuals requiring assistance can contact Technical Support or the University’s Disability Services Department for assistance.
Example: Universal design considerations used for AWS business requirements docs
Thank you for joining us!
Based on our interaction with you during the Q&A portion of the presentation, we encourage you to check out these resources:
- The Writing Process website
- gcumedia.com contains some of our other academic multimedia.
- A great TED Talk by the creators of NVDA.
- If you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to email us. We look forward to it!