accessibility – Teaching & Learning https://blogs.jccc.edu Johnson County Community College Wed, 07 May 2025 17:27:57 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.6.4 91413655 Tip! Ally Alternative Text for Image Files Copy to New Semester & Other Updates https://blogs.jccc.edu/2025/05/07/tip-ally-alternative-text-for-image-files-copy-to-new-semester-other-updates/ Wed, 07 May 2025 17:27:57 +0000 https://blogs.jccc.edu/?p=7086 There are some exciting updates in the accessibility tool called Ally:

Fixed: Alternative Text for Image Files Copy to New Semester

Alternative text added to image files in Canvas Files area through Ally’s Instructor Feedback will now copy over from semester to semester. Your Ally score will stay the same in the new course. Please note that the Ally score will take some time (up to an hour) to update in the new course due to the system conducting a new review.

Updates to Student Alternative Formats

New Feature: Handwritten Content Now Supported in Scanned PDF Files

Handwritten content within a scanned PDF should be converted to text using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for students downloading the Ally Alternative Formats. The availability of this format is dependent on the quality of the image and the handwriting. This is for English only at this time (does not support math or content in other languages).

An example of handwritten content that has been converted to text using OCR.
An example of handwritten content

Math Support: Word Documents Now Available in 3 New Alternative Formats for Students

Students can download three new alternative formats for math content within Microsoft Word Documents:

  • HTML Alternative Format converts Office Math to MathML in their browser (webpage).
  • Audio Alternative Format should read content from the Math Editor in an understandable way.
  • Immersive Reader Alternative Format allows students to access additional accessibility features including the MathJax contextual menu option.
]]> 7086 Tip! Canvas Syllabus Template https://blogs.jccc.edu/2023/06/29/canvas-syllabus-template/ Thu, 29 Jun 2023 18:16:52 +0000 http://blogs.jccc.edu/?p=6129 The JCCC Ed Affairs Committee has created a new syllabus template for all credit courses. Ed Tech has created an accessible HTML version of this template for use in Canvas classes. The content can be copied from a page in the Center for Teaching and Learning community and pasted into the Syllabus tool in your course. This way, you will have an accessible Syllabus for your Canvas courses that is easy to update and import from semester to semester.

Copy and Paste into your Syllabus tool

  1. Find the template source page in the CTL community in Canvas.
  2. Select the entire body of the template source page.
  3. Copy the selection (via [Ctrl]+[C] or right-click > Copy or menu > Edit > Copy).
  4. Enter your Canvas course and open the Syllabus tool.
  5. Click the Edit button toward the top right.
  6. Paste the selection from Step 3 (via [Ctrl]+[V] or right-click > Paste or menu > Edit > Paste).
  7. Remove the instruction block at the top, replace any [[bracketed]] text with the appropriate information, and make any other additions as needed.
  8. Click the Save button to the right below the editing box.

To Import via Commons

You can also import the template source page itself from the Canvas Commons.

screenshot of Canvas Commons page with import button circled

Click the Import/Download button. A sliding menu will open – select your course and then click on Import.

This will add the template source page as a page in your course, which you can edit and present to students as you would any other page. If you want the content to appear in the body of the course Syllabus tool, you’ll still have to go through the steps above. You’ll just be performing steps 2-3 on your own copy instead of the copy in the CTL community.

 

]]> 6129 Making Word Documents (a Little Bit More) Accessible https://blogs.jccc.edu/2021/05/14/making-word-documents-more-accessible/ Fri, 14 May 2021 14:07:27 +0000 http://blogs.jccc.edu/?p=4865 If you’re seeing some low scores from Ally for your Word documents, chances are there are two things it’s looking for you didn’t do when creating your document. Here’s a short video on how to do two things to bring those scores up – add headings and picture descriptions.

]]> 4865 Tip! Request a Course Consultation with the Ed Tech Center https://blogs.jccc.edu/2020/11/05/tip-course-consultation/ Thu, 05 Nov 2020 14:41:29 +0000 http://blogs.jccc.edu/?p=4370 Request a consultation with ETC’s Design Team. We work side-by-side with faculty throughout the course development process to create an engaging learning experience for your students. Do you have a new course to develop or would you like to revise an existing one? If you’re not sure, submit a request and we will discuss the best approach for your course. After submitting the request you will be contacted by Ed Lovitt, Director Educational Technology/Distance Learning.

ETC Course Consultation Request Form

 

]]> 4370 Tip! Closed Caption Assistance https://blogs.jccc.edu/2020/10/02/tip-closed-caption-assistance/ Fri, 02 Oct 2020 13:53:07 +0000 http://blogs.jccc.edu/?p=4334 Do you have an online lecture or video that needs closed captions? Complete the Closed Caption Cleanup Request Form and the Educational Technology Center will help you with the cleanup and captioning of your videos.

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