Spring 2020 Technology Accessibility Workshops

February 2nd, 2020
in Training, UA11y News

The Technology Accessibility team invites you to enhance your technology accessibility skills by participating in these workshops and webinars. We are proud to partner with HR Learning and Development to offer workshop/webinar registration via UA LMS, the online learning system for faculty and staff. Register for workshops/webinars via the links here, or view the entire Accessibility instructor-led training catalog in UA LMS: UA LMS Instructor-Led Training: Accessibility Students unable to register via UA LMS are also welcome to attend and may register by emailing accessibility@ua.edu.

We are also happy to offer private training sessions on these and other accessibility-related topics to members of the University community. Please contact us if we can help with your technology accessibility needs.

Accessibility Testing for Content Creators

You’ve learned the basics of web accessibility and are ready to evaluate the accessibility of your own web content. This session covers basic web accessibility evaluation techniques: using the WAVE accessibility evaluation tool, testing keyboard accessibility and content scaling, and manual checks for other common accessibility issues. This session is designed for those who author web content, such as text and images on sites and blogs; we provide more in-depth, advanced guidance in our AMP and other accessibility testing sessions.

Advanced PDF Accessibility with Adobe Acrobat Pro DC: Forms

This session covers how to use Adobe Acrobat Pro DC to create accessible interactive PDF forms: adding fillable form fields and field descriptions, tagging, setting the tab order, and other PDF form accessibility tasks.

Creating Accessible PDFs with Adobe Acrobat Pro DC

This session covers how to use Adobe Acrobat Pro DC to create PDFs that are accessible to people with disabilities: what it means for a PDF to be accessible; generating accessible PDFs from Microsoft Office and other applications; and using Acrobat’s Accessibility Checker and Make Accessible Action Wizard to evaluate the accessibility of a PDF and make basic accessibility fixes.

Creating Accessible Emails

Whether you’re sending a note to just a few contacts or crafting a campaign for broad distribution, it’s important to make sure your email messages are accessible to people with disabilities. This session covers how to use Microsoft Outlook to create accessible emails: composing messages, improving image accessibility, and adding accessible tables and lists. This session emphasizes practices that apply across email programs and marketing tools such as MailChimp.

Creating Accessible PowerPoint Presentations

This session covers how to create Microsoft PowerPoint presentations that are accessible to people with disabilities: finding and using accessible PowerPoint templates; using the Accessibility Checker to identify and fix potential accessibility issues; accessible design and layout of text, images, tables, and other content; embedding captioned video; and saving presentations as accessible PDF documents.

Creating Accessible Word Documents

This session covers how to create Microsoft Word documents that are accessible to people with disabilities: finding and using accessible Word templates; using the Accessibility Checker to identify and fix potential accessibility issues; using built-in headings and styles to make documents easier to navigate; adding alt text to visuals and tables; accessible hyperlinks, text, and tables; and saving files as accessible PDF documents.

Designing for Accessibility

The University of Alabama is committed to providing our technology users, including those with disabilities, a functional and accessible technology experience with our web presence and our instructional and emerging technologies. This session provides a brief introduction to designing for accessibility: the importance of accessible design and high-impact practices digital content creators can apply to create accessible documents, images, audio, video, and web content.

Interpreting AMP Tests and Reports

Learn how to navigate and understand accessibility testing results documented in an Accessibility Management Platform (AMP) Report.

Workshop: Thurs. Feb. 20, 2:00-3:30 p.m.. Register online through UA LMS.

Introducing Blackboard Ally

Blackboard Ally for LMS helps make digital course content more accessible by automatically providing alternative formats (such as semantic HTML, audio, ePub, and electronic Braille) and providing instructor feedback and guidance on fixing accessibility issues in a course.

Introduction to Accessibility Management Platform

Learn about UA’s Accessibility Management Platform (AMP), a comprehensive accessibility and reporting tool freely available to members of the UA community.

Workshop: Thurs. Feb. 6, 2:00–3:30 p.m.. CANCELLED

Manual Testing in AMP

Learn how to use Access Assistant, a browser toolbar integrated with Accessibility Management Platform (AMP), to perform guided manual accessibility testing.

Workshop: Thurs. Mar. 12, 2:00-3:30 p.m.. Register online through UA LMS.

PDF Remediation Basics

Learn how to use Adobe Acrobat Pro DC to correct basic tagging issues in a PDF, preparing Adobe Acrobat Pro DC for accessibility work and solving tagging problems related to logical reading order, lists, artifacts, tables, and figures.