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Creating Accessible Learning Materials

Getting started with creating accessible learning materials

We have created a new guide to help you get started. It contains principles to ensure materials are accessible and what this looks like in practice, current UoL expectations of minimum requirements for accessibility, best practice guidance (beyond the minimum), specific advice on creating video content, and support tools: the Blackboard Ally accessibility checker in Canvas, and the Microsoft Office 365 Accessibility Checker. The guide is designed to work in partnership with the support materials below. If possible, to save time correcting accessibility issues, we recommend you read it before you start:

Download Guide to Getting Started with Creating Accessible Learning Materials.

Designing for everyone

The UK government has provided some useful do's and don'ts for designing accessibly available as an image (below), or as text.  You can download the Posters as a PDF via accessibility-posters.pdf Download accessibility-posters.pdf 

pdf posters outlining the do's and don'ts of designing accessibly

Some accessibility tips:

  • Design without barriers - screenreaders, subtitles, specific fonts etc. support inclusive practice. Run the accessibility checker in Word and PowerPoint to identify and fix issues so all students can access your materials.
  • In Canvas, many accessibility issues are now highlighted for you by Ally - follow advice to fix them.
  • Be mindful of difference (e.g. neurodiversity) - consider cognitive load - slow down, offer bite-sized chunks of information, use a clear structure.
  • Download Consider this Digital Accessibility Quick Checklist from the University of Stirling.

How to create accessible learning materials:

Video/Screencasting: Record, Edit, Caption, Upload, Share:

Adding captions:

We have been advised that Microsoft Stream is more accurate at auto-generating captions (particularly at recognising technical terms) than Canvas Studio, but would recommend you and your colleagues try these tools for yourself and see which is most suitable for your discipline.

We've also had a go at identifying which auto-captioning option is best for what and have compared: Canvas Studio, Microsoft Stream, University of Liverpool Stream, and YouTube - with interesting results.

Below are instructions on adding captions:

Presentations:

  • Accessible presentations  (Joanna Cheetham, CIE). This video is for anyone presenting to students and other audiences. It identifies some common issues for neuro-diverse and disabled learners and explores some quick ways to create more accessible presentation slides and resources.

Online Quizzes:

Documents: