UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The IT Accessibility Group and the Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence have collaborated to produce an accessible syllabi template repository for instructors.
The accessible syllabus templates use best practices for accessible Microsoft Word documents, such as properly formatted headings and tables, helpful alt text and contrasting text that is easy to read for users with low sight or color blindness and for those who use screen readers. These documents can also be adapted to other materials in a course.
The Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence and IT Accessibility Group will host a virtual workshop covering the accessible syllabi repository and other basic accessibility techniques at 12:05 p.m. on Oct. 24. Register for the workshop in advance at least two hours before the event starts.
Instructors can proactively help students by making materials accessible
Making documents accessible from the beginning anticipates the needs of those with disabilities. A request to remediate an inaccessible document can take time to fulfill, and inaccessible course materials can put up unnecessary barriers for students who are already putting forth energy and effort to be successful in class.
“It’s about doing the right thing,” said Philip Voorhees, manager of the Penn State IT Accessibility Group. “It’s about being able to provide access to persons with disabilities. Past that, it's our obligation under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Vocational Rehabilitation Act Section 504.”
Penn State’s accessibility experts also say accessible documents are easily usable by everyone, not just people with disabilities. Easy-to-read fonts help those who use small screens, like smartphones. Using proper heading styles in Microsoft Word creates a navigable table of contents that also benefits sighted users.
Elizabeth Pyatt, IT accessibility consultant at Penn State, led the effort to create the accessible syllabi repository and designed several of the examples. She said many instructors have caught on to other aspects of accessibility, like video captioning. But Microsoft Word has been more of a challenge, she said. The syllabi she and her team created can help instructors take the guesswork out of accessibility. They also provide some room to play.
“We created some syllabi, for example, with blue bars to show you don’t have to give up all of your creativity,” Pyatt said. “If other instructors are anything like me, the syllabus is a chance for me to express my design skills because I don’t normally get to do that.”
The accessible syllabi project has been part of a larger effort by the Penn State IT Accessibility Group to help students and educators think about accessibility when designing documents and websites and communicating publicly. It will take time to shift the culture, Voorhees said.
“There’s a saying in the world of accessibility: ‘Not everybody needs to be an accessibility expert, but everybody does need to know something about accessibility,’” Voorhees said.
Mary Ann Tobin, assistant research professor with the Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence, said the creation and promotion of the repository is part of the Institute’s diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility initiative.
“Beyond the law, it is also of great benefit for everyone, no matter what your teaching and learning context is,” she said. “Accessibility creates flexibility that saves time, energy and frustration for everyone.”
To learn more about accessibility at Penn State, including resources, training and consultation, visit accessibility.psu.edu.
The Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence is part of Penn State Undergraduate Education.