Yesterday, the Inclusive Learning Network at Lancaster University met via Teams, led by Dr Ann-Marie Houghton, Dean for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI). The Inclusive Learning network is an open network that meets regularly to hear from colleagues across the University. The network includes representatives from a range of areas including Learning Developers, the Global Experience Team, Careers, Counselling and wellbeing, LGBTQIA+ Allies, the Disability Service and many more! It provides an opportunity to share good practice to improve the experience for staff and students at Lancaster. It has a broad remit and the group is passionate about making the University a place that is open and inclusive. Stephen Owens and I (Liz Walkden) were delighted to be invited to speak alongside other speakers including Amanda Pharaoh, who spoke about the Student Money Advice Service, and Heath Boffey, who shared updates on Digital Accessibility.

Stephen and I spoke about the work of the DLT team and particularly about the Moodle upgrade and how the changes had improved accessibility. At the end of the session, Dr Ann-Marie Houghton asked Stephen and I what are top tips were that could help staff improve the accessibility of their courses for students. So, I thought I would write this blog post to spread the word a bit more and share out 10 ‘Top Tips’ for improving accessibility.

1. Use accessibility checkers

Microsoft programs, Adobe and many others have accessibility checkers. Next time you open a Word document, check the bottom of the screen and you will see an accessibility rating alongside the word count, language and page number. You can get to the checker on a Word document by clicking the ‘Review’ tab at the top and you will find the ‘Check Accessibility’ option on the banner.

 

 

Mamuna Hussain recommends opening the Accessibility Checker before you begin typing and that way you can review accessibility as you go along. This will save you time as you won’t have to address all the issues at the end.

2. Explain acronyms, jargon and key words

I am often guilty of assuming people understand the acronyms I use, VLE, VR, AR…the list goes on! For the first few hours I started working at the University, I was convinced LUSI (‘Lucy’) was a person who knew loads but only seemed to share the information at night? I was very confused about our Lancaster University Student Records System (LUSI)! To make sure everyone can fully understand the information we convey we should aim to use simple, easy to understand language where appropriate and explain what we mean. For example, I can still use the acronyms VLE, VR and AR but it is good practice to say at the start that they stand for Virtual Learning Environment, Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality.

3. Use ALLY to monitor and improve the accessibility of your resources.

Blackboard ALLY is an accessibility tool that integrates with Moodle. It provides you with guidance on how to improve the accessibility of your resources as well as giving your resources a rating using a coloured dial.

If your resources on Moodle have a low rating, you can click on the dial and this will review your document. Issues that need to be addressed will be outlined with a thick red bar and guidance on what the issues are is also provided.

4. Add alternative (ALT) text to the images.

This is one of the easiest and quickest ways to improve accessibility (and your ALLY score) on Moodle. When you include an image in a document, write a brief description of the information the picture conveys. For example, the image above has the ALT text “a PowerPoint slide with an image that is outlined in red by the Blackboard Ally tool. The Ally score and guidance is on the right hand side of the image.” If the image is purely for decoration and does not convey anything meaningful you can mark these images as ‘decorative’, and they will be ignored by software such as screen readers. Accessibility checkers will prompt you to include ALT text where appropriate.

5. Choose appropriate colours

Poor colour contrast between text and background colours can make resources difficult to read for everyone! Have you ever tried to read white text on a light blue background or yellow text on a white background? Readers should find the information you present easy to see. If you are unsure of what colours are best to choose when it comes to having the right colour contrast, Lancaster University AppsAnywhere gives staff access to the Colour Contrast Analyser (CCA) which is easy to use and shows you whether your colour contrast meets the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and even shows you whether it meets the AA or AAA criteria (resources should meet AA standard).

6. Don’t use colour alone to convey meaning

We are all familiar with the colour ‘red’ being used to convey something negative while the colour ‘green’ is often used to convey something positive. Without labelling or describing the information clearly, someone who is colour blind for instance will not have the same understanding of the material if a colour is used to identify something. Try to imagine your content is going to be printed in black and white (we all know the cost of colour printing!) and make sure that the information is just as clear as it would be if it were printed in colour.

7. Familiarise yourself with the assistive tools and technology provided by the University.

Lancaster University provide assistive tools and technologies alongside information on how to use them for students and staff. Check out AppsAnywhere and see what is available to you, there is a host of options such as the Colour Contrast Analyser, NVDA (a screen reader), EquatIO (which helps make mathematical equations more accessible) and Read & Write (a literacy support to which can do things like convert text to speech). You can use these tools yourself, use them as a ‘checker’ to ensure your resources are accessible and recommend them to your students.

8. Only use tables for data

Don’t use tables to simplify information or for cosmetic reasons, for example because the information looks better in a table rather than a bullet point list. This can make the information difficult to understand or difficult to navigate with a keyboard. Tables should be used for data and should have a clear header row to explain the content in the columns.

9. Describe website links

When website links are named things like “click here”, a user may struggle to know where the link may take them. In an age where we are all wary about internet security, this is enough to stop many users clicking on links like this and from an accessibility standpoint, people who use screen readers will find a descriptive link easier to navigate and understand. Make sure links are easy to understand for example a link to this website could be called: “Digital Digest Blog Homepage”.

10. Use appropriate heading levels

We use headings to give information a structure and to convey levels of importance. To make information clear to everyone have a main heading at the top and use the H1 heading rank. After this use headings of lower rankings (H2 through to H6) to illustrate levels of importance. Skipping heading ranks can be confusing. This helps all readers understand the structure of your resources and also helps those who use screen readers to navigate the document too.

Some of the above tips are based on Worcestershire County Council’s SCULPT principles. SCULPT is an acronym to introduce accessibility in a form that is easy to understand and easy to implement. SCULPT stands for Structure, Colour and contrast, Use of images, Links, Plain English and Table structure. There is lots of information, guidelines and even some ‘how-to’ videos on their website.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For more information on Lancaster University’s recommendations and advice on digital accessibility, you can check out the Digital Accessibility Regulations web page.

Thank you to Mamuna Hussain and Stephen Owens for their contributions to this post!