Accessibility

In accordance with state and federal law, UMOnline is committed to ensuring barrier-free access to UM's learning management system. UMOnline provides support to faculty and staff who develop content in this system and any user who encounters a barrier is encouraged to contact our office.We work with vendors to continuously to improve the system and welcome your feedback.

The upgrade to Moodle 2 will bring substantial accessibility improvements. We hope you'll attend our Moodle 2 workshops, beginning in March, and learn more about these new features. Take advantage of the various accessibility workshops that UMOnline offers too.

By emphasizing universal design principles in the development of online, blended and face-to-face course supplements, UMOnline helps construct learning experiences that take into account varying learning preferences and accessibility issues. Seven key considerations in designing an accessible online course are:

• Make sure the course content is well structured and easy to navigate.
• Take advantage of accessibility features that are built into Moodle (tools for creating headings and lists, timed test override, etc.).
• Ensure hyperlinks make sense out of context. Phrases like "click here" are problematic.
• Caption videos and provide text transcripts for audio content.
• Provide appropriate alternative text for images.
• Do not use color alone to convey meaning.
• Ensure accessibility of non-Moodle content (Word, Powerpoint, PDF files).

For more information about these topics or to have your course reviewed for accessibility, please contact Marlene Zentz, marlene.zentz@umontana.edu, x6434. We work in conjunction with Disability Services for Students to make sure instructors are able to meet the needs of students needing accommodations.

Source : The University of Montana