Digital materials posted or linked in an online course should utilize the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and reflect a commitment to accessibility, ensuring all learners can access all course content and activities and can easily navigate and interact with course components.
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Text and images used in an online course should be accessible to all learners. The use of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) guidelines regarding text and images reduces barriers to access so all learners can interact with course content.
Note: All recommendations listed below refer to text and images in all files, documents, LMS pages, and webpages.
Whether you are creating a Word document or publishing a PDF that started in Word, it is best to ensure that the original Word document is accessible when you create it or edit the document for accessibility before publishing as a PDF.
Whether you are creating a PowerPoint presentation or publishing a PDF that started in PowerPoint, it is best to ensure that the original PowerPoint presentation is accessible when you create it or edit the presentation for accessibility before publishing as a PDF.
Whether you are creating an Excel spreadsheet or publishing a PDF that started in Excel, it is best to ensure that the original Excel file is accessible when you create it or edit the file for accessibility before publishing as a PDF.
If publishing a document as a PDF file such as a Word document or a PowerPoint presentation, it is best to ensure that the original file is accessible when you create it or edit the file for accessibility before publishing as a PDF. Additional remediation using Adobe Acrobat may be needed. PDF files must not be image scans. All text contained in PDF files should be selectable and searchable. Optical Character Recognition (OCR) in Adobe Acrobat can be used on some scanned documents.
Multimedia, such as audio and video, must be accessible to all learners. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) guidelines regarding multimedia address reducing barriers to access so all learners can interact with course content. All audio in an online course should have a transcript and all video should have closed captioning.
With advances in technology, transcripts and closed captioning can easily be automatically generated for audio and video files. The transcripts can also be easily edited for accuracy if needed.
Note: Video files should not be uploaded to D2L. Video files should be uploaded to Kaltura then linked in D2L.
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