E-mail List Archives

Search E-mail List Archives for

Number of posts in this thread: 5 (In chronological order)

From: Preast, Vanessa
Date: Wed, Jun 29 2016 9:12AM
Subject: Presentations: video presentation versus presentation software?
No previous message | Next message →

Greetings,

In higher education, PowerPoints and other presentation tools are plentiful. I'd like to make sure I have some good advice, especially for those instructors who are creating presentations with complex features. (I'm relatively new to the accessibility field, so I'm still learning.)

From an accessibility standpoint, which option is best for a presentation intended for distance learners in an asynchronous learning environment?

1) Make a video of the presentation with the instructor clearly explaining all relevant content on the slides, such as describing any complex animations (e.g., chemical pathways) in a step-by-step fashion. When the video is available in an accessible video player, we would also add captions and a transcript (or detailed lecture notes).

2) Provide the PowerPoint file with audio narration and the "script" in the notes field.

3) A PDF copy of option 2 with the notes as annotations

4) some other option

Some of my instructional design colleagues lean towards option 1 because they feel that it provides a much better learning experience than giving students a standalone PowerPoint file. From an accessibility standpoint, I'm also tending to lean towards option 1, since it seems like a good way for the chemistry instructors to reveal the chemical pathways in a step-by-step fashion without causing some really weird stuff happening with a screen reader due to all the objects used to create the chemical structure and flowchart.


Additional PowerPoint questions:

* Would option 1 be a reasonable way to help make Prezi presentations more accessible?

* Is there ever a time when providing a PowerPoint file is superior to saving the file as a PDF?

* Are there resources out there for making PowerPoint files accessible when they involve complex graphics or animations that benefit the instructional goals (e.g., chemical structures or flowcharts....)? I've seen plenty of basic PPT accessibility guidelines, but nothing for handling some of the things our instructors want to do.



-Vanessa

From: Jonathan Avila
Date: Wed, Jun 29 2016 9:25AM
Subject: Re: Presentations: video presentation versus presentationsoftware?
← Previous message | Next message →

> From an accessibility standpoint, which option is best for a presentation intended for distance learners in an asynchronous learning environment?

I would suggest in addition to the video also provide the materials in the format such as PPT/PDF/HTML. Different people learn differently and having the materials along with the video would allow for flexibility.

Jonathan

Jonathan Avila
Chief Accessibility Officer
SSB BART Group
= EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
703.637.8957 (Office)
Visit us online: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Linkedin | Blog
Check out our Digital Accessibility Webinars!

From: Jennifer Sutton
Date: Wed, Jun 29 2016 10:29AM
Subject: Re: Presentations: video presentation versus presentation software?
← Previous message | Next message →

Hello Vanessa and all:


While I will do my best to answer your questions in detail below,
inline, beginning with JS, I would also suggest that the ATHEN email
list might be a good place to get a focused response from colleagues in
higher ed, in case you need more information. One idea that occurs to me
is that some of your solutions may be elearning platform-dependent. If
you're not already subscribed, see:


https://mailman13.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/athen-list




On 6/29/2016 8:12 AM, Preast, Vanessa wrote:
> Greetings,
>
> In higher education, PowerPoints and other presentation tools are plentiful. I'd like to make sure I have some good advice, especially for those instructors who are creating presentations with complex features. (I'm relatively new to the accessibility field, so I'm still learning.)
>
> From an accessibility standpoint, which option is best for a presentation intended for distance learners in an asynchronous learning environment?
JS: I think this question of "best" isn't one I'd feel comfortable
guessing at. I suspect that "best" will be the approaches and tools that
faculty and other staff will use, coupled with being prepared to provide
additional options, based on student requests.


> 1) Make a video of the presentation with the instructor clearly explaining all relevant content on the slides, such as describing any complex animations (e.g., chemical pathways) in a step-by-step fashion. When the video is available in an accessible video player, we would also add captions and a transcript (or detailed lecture notes).

JS: You might want to explore this further. I'm not sure that detailed
lecture notes are an equivalent to captions and a transcript. I would
suggest you need captions and a transcript + detailed lecture notes, as
needed.


> 2) Provide the PowerPoint file with audio narration and the "script" in the notes field.
>
> 3) A PDF copy of option 2 with the notes as annotations
>
> 4) some other option

JS: Generally, options are good for all learners.

> Some of my instructional design colleagues lean towards option 1 because they feel that it provides a much better learning experience than giving students a standalone PowerPoint file. From an accessibility standpoint, I'm also tending to lean towards option 1, since it seems like a good way for the chemistry instructors to reveal the chemical pathways in a step-by-step fashion without causing some really weird stuff happening with a screen reader due to all the objects used to create the chemical structure and flowchart.
>
>
> Additional PowerPoint questions:
>
> * Would option 1 be a reasonable way to help make Prezi presentations more accessible?
>
> * Is there ever a time when providing a PowerPoint file is superior to saving the file as a PDF?

JS: I'd say that entirely depends on how either file format is created.
Both can and should be made accessible. I'd think the better way is the
way that faculty (with appropriate staff supports) will actually do,
again coupled with what students need in order to learn the material.



> * Are there resources out there for making PowerPoint files accessible when they involve complex graphics or animations that benefit the instructional goals (e.g., chemical structures or flowcharts....)? I've seen plenty of basic PPT accessibility guidelines, but nothing for handling some of the things our instructors want to do.

JS: I'll provide a few resources, below my name. I'm not sure there are
the kinds of specific "how to"s you're looking for because my hunch is
that people learn the principles and adapt them, as needed. For example,
it might be hard to include all of the information a blind person might
need from a Flowchart, within the restrictions of the PPT format (or the
PDF, for that matter), so, if I were in that situation, I might get
creative and provide a supplemental Word or text file (or something like
that).

> In my experience, flexibility and creativity are your friends, even if it might seem easier to have a set of specific hard and fast rules. I'd also note that you might look around for places to get higher ed.-specific training (or for your colleagues to do so). These are all topics/questions with which the higher ed. community has been working for many years. In my experience, solutions often come down to being less about capturing every little technique and more about setting up reasonable workflows so faculty, staff, and student expectations are managed and met.


> Best, and good luck.

Jennifer

*** PowerPoint:

Creating accessible PowerPoint presentations - Office Support
https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Creating-accessible-PowerPoint-presentations-6f7772b2-2f33-4bd2-8ca7-dae3b2b3ef25

NCDAE Cheat Sheets (including one on PPT):
http://ncdae.org/resources/cheatsheets/

*** Accessible PDFs:
I'm going to skip this, assuming you've got it covered.

*** Animations (even if not PPT-specific, perhaps concepts may prove
helpful):

Designing Safer Web Animation For Motion Sensitivity · An A List Apart
Article
http://alistapart.com/article/designing-safer-web-animation-for-motion-sensitivity

More Resources for Accessible Animations · An A List Apart Blog Post
http://alistapart.com/blog/post/more-resources-for-accessible-animations

Web Accessibility - Best Practices - Web - Animation
https://www.webaccessibility.com/best_practices.php?technology_platform_id

Animations AccessAbility
http://accessibility.psu.edu/animations

*** Flowcharts:

IBM Human Ability and Accessibility Center Accessible Analytics
http://www-03.ibm.com/able/news/accessibleanalyticsfull.html

Accessibility at Penn State Charts & Accessibility
http://accessibility.psu.edu/images/charts/

Create Accessible Infographic presentation last-child
http://www.last-child.com/accessible-infographics/csun-2013-presentation/
[Of course, infographics aren't flowcharts, but I think this
presentation offers a good overview of ways to present visual information.]

From: Tyllick,Cliff S (DADS)
Date: Wed, Jun 29 2016 12:50PM
Subject: Re: Presentations: video presentation versus presentation software?
← Previous message | Next message →

Vanessa, as a former college-level chemistry instructor, I applaud the approach your instructors have proposed and encourage you to make the other formats available, too, if you can. Including detailed lecture notes will be a big help to all students.

You've basically described a high level of conformance to WCAG 2.0's guideline 1.3: Create content that can be presented in different ways (for example simpler layout) without losing information or structure.

I guess you're not creating it so it *can* be presented in multiple ways as creating it in multiple forms of presentation, but the end effect is the same: Almost any student will find a technical means and perhaps even a conceptual means available to meet his or her needs.

I would encourage you to look into alternative physical presentations of models, too. For example, I seem to recall seeing at least one vendor, perhaps several, at the trade show at CSUN (what we call the international Annual Technology and Persons with Disabilities Conference, held in San Diego and put on by Cal State-Northridge on a week in February or March) this year who had models of organic compounds that were accessible to people who are blind.

In case it hasn't already been mentioned, you might also look into Accessing Higher Ground, a conference held in the Denver area each year in November and dedicated to accessibility in higher education. It's presented and hosted by the Association on Higher Education and Disability. I've never been, but I am always impressed by the speakers they attract and the topics covered.

Links:
CSUN conference:
http://www.csun.edu/cod/conference/

Accessing Higher Ground:
http://accessinghigherground.org/

AHEAD:
http://www.ahead.org/

Good luck!

Cliff

Cliff Tyllick
EIR Accessibility Coordinator
Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services (DADS)
512-438-2494
= EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =

From: Minnery, Bob (EDU)
Date: Thu, Jun 30 2016 12:45PM
Subject: Re: Presentations: video presentation versus presentation software?
← Previous message | No next message

It would be useful, since online presentation this is a growing medium, if international online presentation standards existed. These standards should assume accessibility will eventually be required. The vehicle PPT, Facebook, YouTube, Intranet, etc wouldn`t matter.

Go Bold'n
bob Minnery
Manager
Alternative Educational Resources  Ontario
W. Ross Macdonald School for the Visually Impaired and Deafblind
350 Brant Ave. Brantford On.,
N3T 3J9
= EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
http://alternativeresources.ca
1-519-759-2522 ext.288
519-865-2772