Oct. 26 WCAG in a Nutshell workshop cancelled

• October 26th, 2018
• in Training, UA11y News

Today’s WCAG in a Nutshell workshop has been cancelled. For web accessibility information or assistance, please contact accessibility@ua.edu.

Oct. 17 Introduction to Read&Write sessions cancelled

• October 16th, 2018
• in Training, UA11y News

The Introduction to Read&Write for Google Chrome and Introduction to Read&Write for Windows sessions scheduled for Wednesday, October 17 have been cancelled due to presenter travel issues.

The sessions will be rescheduled. In the meantime, contact accessibility@ua.edu if you wish to learn more about Read&Write and/or the other Texthelp tools, EquatIO and Snapverter. We are also happy to offer individual or small group training on these tools upon request.

Oct. 1 Accessibility Management Platform (AMP) Office Hours cancelled

• October 1st, 2018
• in Training, UA11y News

Today’s Accessibility Management Platform (AMP) open help session has been cancelled. For AMP assistance, please contact accessibility@ua.edu.

Texthelp expert-led EquatIO and Read&Write training for UA users—you’re invited!

• September 6th, 2018
• in Training, UA11y News

The Faculty Resource Center’s Emerging Technology and Accessibility team invites you to participate in upcoming opportunities to learn more about Texthelp tools for reading, writing, language learning and STEM subjects. These tools are free to all UA students, faculty, and staff. They are particularly beneficial for English language learners, students with learning disabilities, and students who can benefit from writing supports, but are useful to all. Please consider joining us for these events and sharing this post with others who may wish to attend.

Mid- 2018 Accessibility Initiative Update

• August 14th, 2018
• in UA11y News

The Emerging Technology and Accessibility team, now part of UA’s Faculty Resource Center (FRC), housed in the Office of Information Technology (OIT), continues to lead the initiative to provide our technology users, including those with disabilities, a functional and accessible technology experience with our web presence and our instructional and emerging technologies. An annual audit of campus college and division web sites reflects that many campus areas continue to improve in their accessibility status.

2017-2018 efforts include:

• Working with campus stakeholders to develop a Web Resources Accessibility Policy that would adopt WCAG 2.0 AA to address the accessibility of public-facing web resources, campus-wide web resources, and web resources needed to conduct core University administrative and academic functions, including third-party tools and equal access and non-compliance plans.
• Establishing technology accessibility liaisons for each college, school, and division. Appointed by campus deans and vice presidents, these liaisons serve as the area contact to address technology needs related to accessibility.
• Compiling and distributing to liaisons the most complete and accurate list of UA web sites to date.
• Acquiring and rolling out campus wide the Texthelp suite of literacy support tools. Texthelp tools freely available to all UA students, faculty and staff on campus and personal machines include Read&Write, a literacy support solution with tools for reading, writing, research and studying; EquatIO, an application you can use to type, handwrite or speak to create equations, formulas, and other math and chemistry expressions; and Snapverter, an easy to use add-on for Read&Write for Google Chrome and iOS app that transforms papers and files into readable PDF documents.
• Assuming management of campus licensing for ZoomText, a screen magnification and reading program that enables users with low vision to see, hear, and use everything on the computer screen
• Captioning and/or transcribing over 4000 minutes of media through UA captioning grants. Captioning grants may be used to caption and/or transcribe UA-owned video and audio that will be shared on public or campus-wide websites.
• Offering new workshops covering accessibility best practices for various media as well as diversity in learners and learning style and how accessibility barriers affect users with diversity of ability.
• Adding staff member Melissa Green. Melissa is a Technology Accessibility Specialist dedicated to technology accessibility training needs.
• Resolving 255 tickets in the Helpspot customer service/support ticket system.
• Running 3246 Accessibility Management Platform reports. Accessibility Management Platform (AMP) is a comprehensive accessibility and reporting tool freely available to members of the UA community.

Technology Accessibility Training Interest Survey: What would you like to learn?

• May 7th, 2018
• in Training, UA11y News

The Emerging Technology and Accessibility team is making plans for Summer 2018 training offerings and would like to know: what would you like to learn next? Please let us know by completing this brief, anonymous Technology Accessibility Training Interest Survey or sending us an email at accessibility@ua.edu.

The Emerging Technology and Accessibility team regularly hosts workshops and webinars on web accessibility guidelines; best practices for creating accessible documents, presentations, and spreadsheets; Universal Design for Learning; and other accessibility-related topics. University community members can also request individual or group accessibility training for University employees and campus areas. Please email accessibility@ua.edu

Spring 2018 Technology Accessibility Workshops

• March 20th, 2018
• in Training, UA11y News

Emerging Technology and Accessibility invites you to enhance your technology accessibility skills by participating in these workshops during the latter half of the Spring 2018 term:

• Texthelp Tools for Reading, Writing, Language Learning, and STEM
  This hands-on workshop offers an introduction to the Texthelp tools freely available to all UA students, faculty, and staff: Read&Write, a literacy support solution with tools for reading, writing, research, and studying; EquatIO, an application that lets everyone create mathematical equations, formulas, Desmos graphs, and more on their computer or Chromebook; and Snapverter, a Google Chrome app that converts printed documents and inaccessible digital files into readable PDF files for easy sharing and reading aloud.
  Wednesday, March 28, 2:00-3:00 p.m. in Gordon Palmer Room A232
• Introduction to Accessibility Management Platform (AMP)
  For all UA users, learn about UA’s Accessibility Management Platform and how it can help evaluate web sites for accessibility.
  Friday, March 30, 2:00-3:00 p.m. in Gordon Palmer Room A232
• Accessible Content and Inclusive Learning with Microsoft Office
  This demonstration session introduces general principles for creating accessible content with Microsoft Office products and free Microsoft Learning Tools that provide support for reading and writing Office documents.
  Tuesday, April 3, 11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. in Gordon Palmer Room A232
• Accessibility Management Platform (AMP) Office Hours
  This open help session is an opportunity to get assistance with your Accessibility Management Platform (AMP) questions.
  Friday, April 6, 10:00-11 a.m. in Gordon Palmer Room A232
• 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 hands-on workshop will cover how to create accessible emails: composing messages, improving image accessibility, and adding accessible tables and lists. Participants will use Microsoft Outlook to create accessible messages, learning practices they can also apply to other email programs and marketing tools such as MailChimp.
  Tuesday, April 10, 2:00-3:00 p.m. in Gordon Palmer Room A232
• How People with Disabilities Access Digital Content
  Participants in this session will gain a fuller appreciation of technology accessibility by exploring the user perspective: technologies and methods people with disabilities use to access websites, documents, audio, video, and other digital content, and barriers created by inaccessible design. This session includes demonstrations of assistive technology such as screen readers and magnifiers, alternate input devices, and the accessibility features built into the Mac and Windows operating systems.
  Friday, April 13, 10:00-11:00 a.m. in Gordon Palmer Room A232
• Introduction to Web 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 will provide an introduction to web accessibility: laws and standards regarding accessibility in higher education, the University’s web accessibility guidelines, common accessibility challenges and solutions, and resources and strategies for creating accessible documents, images, audio, video, and web content.
  Wednesday, April 18, 2:00-3:00 p.m. in Gordon Palmer Room A232
• Accessibility Management Platform (AMP) Office Hours
  This open help session is an opportunity to get assistance with your Accessibility Management Platform (AMP) questions.
  Friday, April 20, 2:00-3:00 p.m. in Gordon Palmer Room A232
• Creating Accessible Digital Stories with Microsoft Sway
  Microsoft Sway is a digital storytelling app that helps you quickly create professional, interactive designs for your images, text, videos and other media; it is also a more accessible alternative than Adobe Spark. This hands-on workshop offers an introduction to Sway with a focus on accessibility. Participants will learn best practices to make their Sways accessible; use the Accessibility Checker to identify and fix potential accessibility issues; and play their finished creations in Accessibility view.
  Tuesday, April 24, 11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. in Gordon Palmer Room A232

Registration is requested but not required.

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.