Document Formatting

The Lab Rubric specifies that the assignment documents are properly formatted for maximum compatibility with screen reader software.

This standard applies to learning resources in general. An excellent collection of resources on making learning resources accessible is available on PCC's Instructional Support Resources on Accessibility for Online Course Content. Rather than repeating all of that information here, some of the important themes include:

• Choose fonts that are readable using assistive technology, or use the standard template pages provided in your course development shell in Desire2Learn.
• Use properly formatted headings to structure your documents (<h1>, <h2>, <h3>, etc. for web pages; Heading 1, Heading 2, Heading 3, etc. for Word documents).
• Provide alternative text for images and graphics.
• Write meaningful link text that indicates a link's destination. For example:
  • Good: A rubric for evaluating whether programming labs are accessible
  • Poor: Click here for a rubric on evaluating whether programming labs are accessible
  • Poor: A page on evaluating whether programming labs are accessible is available at [http://www.pcc.edu/access/studies/cs_cis_cas/rubric.php].
• Use column headers on data tables.
• Use properly formatted bulleted and numbered lists rather than blocks of text with line breaks.
• Avoid using color alone to convey meaning (for example, don't use red text as the sole method for marking that an instruction is important).

As mentioned above, for more information on creating accessible web pages, Word documents, Powerpoint presentations, PDFs, and other learning resources, please visit PCC's Instructional Support Resources on Accessibility for Online Course Content. It is also worth noting that Karen Sorensen, PCC's Accessibility Advocate, offers frequent online training sessions on document accessibility. For example, here is a recording of one of Karen's sessions on making Microsoft Word 2010 documents accessible.

You might also find these videos helpful. They were developed for use in the Online Instructor Orientation in Spring, 2014. In the first video, we look at some resources for creating accessible documents, and talk about some general guidelines:

Here, we create an accessible document based on the Lecture template in Desire2Learn, using the HTML templates provided as part of all development shells (if you don't already have a copy, contact dlhelp@pcc.edu and ask for a copy of the standard course development shell.