Accessibility
Making teaching and learning resources accessible and inclusive
The resources below provide information on how to ensure teaching materials can be used to their full potential by students, regardless of a disability or other needs.
All resources are provided in pdf and word versions for accessibility and readability.
New SensusAccess service for creating accessible documents
SensusAccess is an automated document conversion service that allows staff and students to convert readings into alternative formats and can be accessed from the Bodleian Library website.
- Create accessible documents from inaccessible files. For example, an image-based pdf or .jpg can be converted into an accessible Word document
- Convert files into a wide range of alternative formats: including audio books (MP3 and DAISY), e-books (EPUB, EPUB3 and Mobi) and digital Braille, to meet student needs
Accessibility describes the extent to which all people are able to use, participate in or benefit from a particular resource, service or environment, regardless of any disabilities or other needs.
The following description by JISC explains what inclusivity means in a teaching and learning context:
Being inclusive is about giving equal access and opportunities to everyone wherever possible. In education this involves reducing and overcoming the barriers that might occur in:
- Digital content
- Teaching and learning activities
- Assessments
Full definitions of key terms and more information can be found in the University's Disability Handbook:
This guidance explains how to create accessible handouts and documents for use in teaching sessions and sharing electronically, so benefiting all students, not just those with identified needs.
DOWNLOAD GUIDANCE ON CREATING ACCESSIBLE HANDOUTS AND DOCUMENTS (Word Document)
This guidance explains how to create accessible PDF files for use in teaching sessions and sharing electronically, so benefiting all students, not just those with identified needs.
DOWNLOAD GUIDANCE ON CREATING ACCESSIBLE PDFs (Word Document)
This guidance explains how to create accessible PowerPoints for use in lectures and sharing electronically, so benefiting all students, not just those with identified needs.
DOWNLOAD GUIDANCE ON CREATING ACCESSIBLE POWERPOINT PRESENTATIONS (WORD DOCUMENT)
This resource covers the steps that you can take to make your videos accessible to all your students, including answers to the following questions:
- How can I improve the sound and video quality of my recordings?
- How can I improve the accuracy of the captions added to Panopto or Teams recordings?
- Am I required to manually edit the automated captions to improve their accuracy?
- What is an ‘audio description’ and how do I provide one?
- What do I have to do to provide captions for live streamed events?
- How can I provide captions if I teach in language other than English?
DOWNLOAD GUIDANCE ON CREATING ACCESSIBLE VIDEOS (WORD DOCUMENT)
This guide outlines how to ensure that Canvas courses can be accessed and used by students with disabilities.
DOWNLOAD GUIDANCE ON MAKING CANVAS COURSES ACCESSIBLE (PDF)
Download as word document.
There is some more guidance available on Accessibility in Canvas within the VLE.
This guide summarises some steps that can be taken when designing a Canvas course to ensure it is inclusive of all students.
DOWNLOAD GUIDANCE ON SETTING UP INCLUSIVE CANVAS COURSES (PDF)
Download as word document.
Paying attention to accessibility and inclusivity leads to a number of benefits for staff and students, such as
- reducing barriers to student learning and improving the learning experience for all;
- encouraging a wide range of student interactions; and
- signalling that teaching staff take a caring and thoughtful approach.
Accessible communication
Information on accessible communication more generally can be found in the online handbook for supporting disabled students [available soon].
Training
Hands-on training is available through the IT Learning Centre. Learning Technologist Dominik Lukeš (Saïd Business School) runs termly sessions on making documents more readable and accessible. These sessions are part of the Digiknow series.
- All upcoming sessions are listed on our events page.
- Videos and support material from the Digiknow sessions are available on the Digiknow blog.
Guidance on making web pages accessible
This page does not contain advice about designing accessible webpages. There is separate guidance for editors working with Mosaic. Good practice of website design also applies to building content in Canvas. In both cases, please take a look at the following guidance:
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