Creating Accessible Instructional Content Basics

Below is introductory information on ways that faculty, instructional staff, and others who are engaged in the creation and delivery of digital content may adopt inclusive course design, including principles of Universal Design for Learning. Adopting these principles in academic courses, professional development trainings, webinars, and events can help create a more inclusive, accessible, and equitable learning environment.

 

Creating Inclusive Content 

In accordance with the Harvard University Digital Accessibility Policy, newly purchased, licensed, or internally developed content is expected to conform to the WCAG 2.1AA Standards to the fullest extent possible at the point of rollout or implementation. In addition, third party content/tools/technologies, included as part of digital instructional content, should also meet the WCAG 2.1 AA standards. 

 

Harvard’s Digital Accessibility Services provides extensive resources and training for faculty and staff (and other Harvard affiliates) on how to create documents and websites that are accessible to screen readers and other assistive technologies. The Digital Accessibility Services team is also available for consultation during their office hours. In addition to the valuable information you can learn from these resources and trainings, immediately below you will find a high-level few concepts that may be applied to a variety of document formats, including presentation slides, handouts, email, etc. to create more accessible content.

 

Color Contrast

  • Use high contrast - a dark-colored font on a light-colored background is most effective
  • Avoid red-green or yellow-blue combinations as contrasting colors
  • Avoid using color or fonts, without more, to convey meaning
  • The contrast of icons and graphic objects is just as important as that of text; use sufficient contrast for all elements on the screen

Formatting

  • Use simple fonts that are easy to read
  • Use built-in layouts and styles to create headings and document structure
  • Only underline text that is hyperlinked
  • Use large, bold fonts on uncluttered pages with plain backgrounds
  • Ensure that text is searchable for words and phrases

Tables

  • Identify column headers and labels
  • Use clear, consistent layouts and organization schemes for presenting content
  • Keep tables simple and avoid merging and splitting cells
  • Utilize the color contrast concepts as outlined above
  • Support tables with descriptive text
  • Learn more about How to Create Accessible Tables in Microsoft Word

Bullets and Numbering

  • Use the built-in bullet and numbering tools
  • Select the closed bullet symbol (i.e. a filled in circle) for a bulleted list; it will be read as “bullet” by a screen reader before the text to indicate that it is a list entry (other symbols, including Roman numerals, may not be read correctly)

Links

Alternate Text

 

Delivering Inclusive Content 

The following concepts regarding content delivery may also be applied to help create a more inclusive learning environment.

 

Lecture Recordings and Videos

If you are recording your lectures or trainings, consider making a variety of other formats available in addition to the recording (e.g., PPT slides, separate audio files, transcripts, and/or lecture notes). This provides learners with flexibility to access content asynchronously and synchronously.

There are a variety of options available for recording your presentations, such as Panopto; your school or unit may also have guidelines for supported presentation formats.

 

Harvard’s captioning resources webpage provides detailed guidance for creating captions (and transcripts) for recorded lectures, trainings, and videos. If you decide to outsource your captioning, information on exploring and hiring captioning vendors can be found on the Digital Accessibility Service's Multimedia Accessibility website.

Note that videos automatically captioned by YouTube, Kaltura, Panopto, or AI-assisted apps like Otter may need to be edited for accuracy. Learn more about how to edit auto-captions in Kaltura or Panopto and create accessible narrated PPT presentations for online content delivery.

 

Websites

Harvard University is committed to making its public-facing websites and web-based applications accessible. Read the Harvard University Digital Accessibility Policy, adopted on April 30, 2019.

Digital accessibility resources and guidance are available on the Digital Accessibility site,

and for content creators, specifically. Harvard also has requirements that relate to Accessible Technology Procurement to guide the purchase and development of accessible technology applications and products.

Additional Harvard Resources to Explore

 

Center for Workplace Development offers various courses. Use search terms: accessibility, disability, inclusion, diversity, teaching

 

The Harvard Initiative for Teaching and Learning (HILT) offers a variety of resources regarding inclusive content creation and delivery. 

 

Harvard Graduate School of Education resources: