Universal Design for Learning is one of the design approaches that this project uses to meet our equity goals. This approach embraces students with disabilities not as exceptions, but as welcome and integral members of the learning community. Universal Design for Learning validates the diverse ways that students with disabilities learn. However, as the name suggests, Universal Design for Learning benefits all learners – this is why it’s “universal.” To learn more about this approach, optionally explore The UDL Guidelines [Website].

While Universal Design for Learning embraces learner variability as the norm, it does not always recognize how learners with intersecting social identities experience social problems differently. Antiracism and Universal Design for Learning expert Andratesha Fritzgerald challenges educators to couple Universal Design for Learning with anti-racism, “a protective action” [Website] for those on the fringes of traditional academic spaces, specifically focusing on students of color.

If you would like to optionally review the relevant guidance on media development that this project gives to textbook authors, you can read about multimedia figures in Year 1, Unit 8.

Images

Improving the accessibility of course materials is a collaborative process. There are some accessibility standards that depend on the subject matter expertise of the author, such as writing figure captions, alt text, and image descriptions. However, the Media Developer can set the author up for success by following accessibility standards when creating images.

Standard practices

Images that Media Developers create must anticipate learners with full, partial, or no access to visual information. Please follow the standard practices below:

• Images do not rely on color alone to convey information.
  • All data is readable in black and white.
  • Any use of color is supplemented with text labels.
  • Color contrast for foreground and background color is sufficient according to WebAIM’s Color Contrast checker [Website] and/or The Contrast Finder [Website].
• Charts use styles and spacing to make information clear.
  • For line charts with multiple lines, each line has a distinct style or pattern to help distinguish data sources.
  • For line charts with multiple lines, a key is provided and placed outside the bounds of the x and y axis. For example, the key appears near the title or along the right hand side of the chart.
  • For line charts with multiple lines, each line includes a label.
    • The label includes approximately 10px padding from other labels or chart elements, making it easy to read and easy to associate with the appropriate line.
    • Labels are placed predictably and consistently for all lines in the chart: either near the origin of a line, at the end of the line, at a zenith of a line, or nadir of a line to ensure predictable wayfinding.
• Images are created in high resolution so that they are not blurry at full size.
  • Images in our textbooks will be either the full width of an online book column, or 75 percent width.
  • The width is determined by the end user’s device.

Alt text

Alt text, or alternative text, is the short text substitute for visual information conveyed by an image, chart, or graph. Typically, alt text is only read by users who use screen reader software. It isn’t visible on the page. Alt text is not necessarily a literal description of the image. Instead, alt text aims to capture any visual information that relates to the purpose of the image.

The Media Developer can draft alt text based on the information in the Statement of Work. Please include the alt text with your deliverable via email.

Long image descriptions

Image descriptions accompany alt text when more than 10 words are necessary to communicate the relevant visual information. This is often the case for infographics, charts, and graphs, or what we call complex images. Image descriptions include rich detail and convey numbers, trends, and patterns that alt text and figure captions don’t have space to describe. Image descriptions are for not only people who use screen reader software, but also people who benefit from additional orientation to visual information, and they can be accessed by all users.

For complex images such as charts or graphs, a numeric table of the data from the chart or graph is available in addition to the text summary. The table should include a title and a header row.

The Media Developer can draft long descriptions based on the information you used to create the complex image. Write your image description in a separate Google Doc. The file name is: {Image Title} Image Description. You don’t need a title or headers in this doc, just the text of the image description in normal text. Please include the link to your long description doc with your deliverable via email and set permissions so that other project team members can edit.

Audio and Video

Audio captions and transcripts are typically auto-generated for streaming media like videos and podcasts. Auto-generation often includes inaccuracies, especially when spelling the names for people, cities, and places, or when rendering English words spoken with an accent. If audio doesn’t have accurate captions and transcripts, students who are Deaf or hard of hearing won’t be able to access this content. English language learners will miss key information. Students who are studying with sound off won’t be able to accurately follow along.

This is why human editing is a basic accessibility standard for this project to ensure that all students have an equitable opportunity to engage. Along the lines of our approach to images, Media Developers must anticipate learners with full, partial, or no access to auditory information.

Audio captions

Audio captions provide a running transcription of audio content that is synched up to an audio or video file. Audio captions appear within the media player.

As 3PlayMedia [Website] notes, machine-generated automatic media captions are often about 80 percent accurate. This means that they need manual review and editing by a person in order to provide equitable access.

All original audio and video that Media Developers create for this project must have captions that are human-reviewed.

Transcripts

Transcripts provide the full transcription of audio content in a text file. They are keyword searchable and offer an alternative to watching a video in order to receive content. Transcripts are useful for students who can read more efficiently than they process auditory information. Transcripts are also important for students who want to accurately cite or quote something they learned from engaging with the multimedia.

All original audio and video that Media Developers create for this project must have transcripts that are human-reviewed.

Audio descriptions

Audio descriptions provide a spoken description of content that would otherwise be conveyed only visually. People who can’t see the video can access visual information this way. (Example: you’re playing a cooking video while preparing a meal. During a pause in the dialog, a new voice narrates, “Amy and Veronica pour the ingredients into the bowl and stir.”)

All original audio and video that Media Developers create for this project must have audio descriptions.

Licenses and Attributions for Accessible Multimedia

Open content, original

“Accessible Multimedia” by Open Oregon Educational Resources is licensed under CC BY 4.0.

Open content, shared previously

“Accessible Multimedia” is adapted from Universal Design for Learning (UDL) by Veronica Vold, licensed under CC BY 4.0.