Top 3 Accessibility Features for Digital Activities

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by Tracey Brown, Instructional Technology Teacher Specialist

Digital activities often involve multiple modes of information delivery, or mixed media, including text, images, and videos. In order to cover each in this post, we will provide one suggestion for making each more accessible for students; we’ll call it the MOST IMPORTANT consideration for each when we think about ensuring every student has equal access to our digital materials.

Text


The most important way to ensure that students have equal access to text is to ensure they know how to use speech-to-text tools. Many learners comprehend better by listening, or combining listening with reading. In AACPS, the web-based tool we have to read text aloud to students is the Read&Write extension. But because accessibility is such a big deal, many applications have their own dedicated speech-to-text tools, like Wixie, for example. Microsoft
applications, like Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Minecraft Education also include Immersive Reader. This popular tool is also available in Nearpod, Lumio by SMART and Discovery Education.

Having the tools available is not enough though! It is rare that an application’s icon sufficiently explains what it can do. No one would look at a purple puzzle piece and immediately think, Aha! My reading tools! It is the role of the teacher to make sure that students know what the tool is, how to access it, and what it can do to help students better comprehend text.


Images


All images included in digital lessons should include Alt Text whenever possible. Alt Text allows a screen reader to describe an image to a person if they cannot see it, if the image is missing, or fails to load. While you may not be familiar with the term Alt Text, you have probably seen it before. It is the text box that pops up when you hover over an image on a website, for example. 

Using Instructional Resources Created by Others


Before you use a resource created by someone else, look to see if images include Alt Text. If they do not, can you make your own copy of the resource so you can add them? If you cannot edit it, like in the case of a website, can you find an alternative resource that better meets accessibility needs of your students?


Creating Your Own Instructional Resources


Google applications, Brightspace, and Wixie support Alt Text:

Google - Right-click on the image and choose Alt Text.

Brightspace - when images are uploaded you are prompted to add Alt Text or choose that the image is decorative.

Wixie - Select the image, then choose Edit, then Edit Alt Text. NOTE: if the image was brought in from the Wixie library, it will already include Alt Text but you can edit it if needed using the same steps above.


What Should Alt Text Say?


One of the biggest questions people have when they are new to accessibility is WHAT should Alt Text even say? The purpose of Alt Text is to describe an image to a person who cannot see it. I often tell people to imagine you are describing a picture to a person over the phone, but there are other things to consider as well.

Good Alt Text:

  • Keep it short and descriptive.
  • Don’t include “image/photo/picture of”.
  • Leave it blank if the image is decorative.
  • Consider the context - if the image is a button that says, Click here to download, the Alt Text should say exactly that.

Videos



Closed Captions should be included with all instructional videos. Closed Captions not only benefit those with hearing impairments, but they also increase engagement, retention, and comprehension for emerging readers, ELL students, students with Autism, and those with ADHD, as well as students with no diagnosed disability. Just as with the text-to-speech tools, students may need to be shown how to turn captions on and off. Many video applications include CC, but it is up to the individual user to choose to turn them on, like in Discovery Education, Google Meet and YouTube. Other applications, like the videos included in Nearpod’s library, have captions on with no option to turn them off.

When Creating Your Own Videos



Some applications will automatically caption videos, like YouTube. Others will caption, but only if you check the box to have captions generated, like Brightspace. WeVideo does not support Closed Captions at this time, but does allow users to add their own subtitles to videos which can serve the same purpose. Or, an alternative would be to upload those videos to YouTube or Brightspace after recording. Other applications allow users to upload a manually-generated text file that includes their captions. These can be time-consuming and complicated for the average user to consider managing, especially if you plan to make videos a regular component of your lessons, and we would recommend avoiding them in favor of applications that can auto-generate the captions.

One Final Thought on Accessibility



Teachers shouldn’t need to edit their instructional resources each year based on the needs of the students on this year’s roster. If resources are made accessible, they benefit everyone in your class regardless of ability or learning style. Some adults couldn’t specifically answer the question How do you learn best? So why would we expect our youngest learners to be able to advocate for their learning needs?

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