Accessible Documents: Word, PowerPoint, & Acrobat

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Course Overview

This independent-study online training covers principles and processes for:

Creating accessible document content and structure in Word & PowerPoint.
Evaluating the accessibility of well-structured Word & PowerPoint documents.
Optimizing the accessibility of PDFs exported from well-structured Word & PowerPoint documents with Acrobat.

This course is designed for adult learners that have experience creating Word & PowerPoint documents. Web development or design experience is not required.

New cohorts start on the first Monday of each month unless there is a U.S. holiday that week. For details, visit WebAIM's Online Course page.

On-site Document Accessibility Training

If you have a team that needs training, we can come to your location and provide a 1/2 or full-day document accessibility training customized to your needs. Learn more about our on-site training options.

Course Format

This video-based training is delivered through the Canvas Catalog learning management system. The course features 33 Learning Activities with an average video length of five minutes. The course is structured into four Modules:

Module 1: Document Content

Objective: Review basic principles and processes for creating accessible document content in Microsoft Word and PowerPoint documents.

Section 1: Overview of Document Accessibility
Section 2: Images
Section 3: Hyperlinks
Section 4: Contrast & Color Reliance
Section 5: Simple and Clear Writing, Readability, & Legibility

Module Two: Document Structure

Objective: Review basic principles and processes for creating accessible document structure in Microsoft Word and PowerPoint documents.

Section 1: Headings in Word
Section 2: Layouts, Reading Order, & Principles of Accessibility in PowerPoint
Section 3: Lists & Columns
Section 4: Tables

Module Three: Evaluating Accessibility & Creating PDFs

Objective: Review processes for utilizing built-in accessibility checkers and an evaluation checklist, installing Adobe PDF Maker, and exporting PDF documents.

Section 1: Evaluating Accessibility
Section 2: Practicing Evaluation & Repair
Section 3: Creating PDFs

Module Four: Optimizing PDFs in Acrobat

Objective: Review how to configure Adobe Acrobat Professional, and how to use it to optimize a PDF exported from a well-structured Microsoft Word or PowerPoint document.

Section 1: Introduction to Optimizing PDFs
Section 2: Check Accessibility
Section 3: Reading Order Tool
Section 4: Content and Tags Reading Order

One new Module is opened each week, and participants have 60 business days (excluding weekends & US holidays) to complete the course.

Course Assessments

Participants demonstrate their mastery of the course materials through multiple-choice assessments. Each Section of the course has a Quiz with between four and eight questions based on its objectives. Each Module has a ten-question Exam that randomly selects questions from each of the Module's Section Quizzes.

Certificate of Completion

Participants can earn a Certificate of Completion by meeting the following requirements:

All Section Quiz scores are 100% (with unlimited retakes).
All Module Exam scores are 80% or better (with one retake per Exam).

These certificates allow individuals and/or organizations to document training and proficiency in creating accessible web documents in common formats.

I liked the organization of the course, particularly the practice handouts.
November 2019 Training Participant

Course Enrollment and Pricing

The course fee is $125. The Canvas Catalog system allows individual participants to self-enroll in the next available cohort.

Group Training Options

Group Enrollments

Organizations qualify for a discount when they purchase enrollments for groups of 100 or more participants. WebAIM provides these groups with pre-paid enrollment codes, allowing individual participants to self-enroll in a public cohort over a twelve-month period. WebAIM will also directly enroll a group of 20 more participants in a private cohort.

Group Pricing

Group Size	Enrollment Fee	Discount
100 to 250	$100 each	20%
251 to 500	$75 each	40%
501 to 1000^*	$50 each	60%

^*Clients that purchase over 500 enrollments receive additional support services:

Enrollment period extended from twelve to eighteen months.
Direct enrollment of participants into public and/or private cohorts.
Reporting on participant outcomes available online.

Ready to Enroll?

Visit WebAIM's Online Course page.

Contact WebAIM with questions about this course