Faculty Resources at the De Anza Distance Learning Center

How to Reach All of Your Students Online:

Section 508 Compliance and What This Means To You

Objectives

To promote awareness of the accessibility needs of students and engender how meeting these needs will enhance the overall content and meet the learning styles across populations of students.
To create and post accessible content in compliance with our College, State, and Federal standards.
To provide instructors with the tools and knowledge necessary to meet this challenge.

"The current De Anza College Web standards state that all Web pages should conform to the Priority 1 guidelines as set forth in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0. The district is currently in the process of developing a more comprehensive policy based upon the Section 508 Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) which will be referenced here when completed." - De Anza's Web Publishing Guide*.

Beyond the legal obligations we have to make content accessible, we have moral obligations as educators, as well, to meet the learning needs of our students. It is well documented that the steps taken to make content accessible to as many students as possible actually has the potential to enhance ALL students' learning as the process tends to reach multiple learning styles and intelligences. Making your content comply with accessibility standards is just the first step. Actually TESTING what you've created to "see" it from your students' point-of-view is the next best practice.

Below you'll find links to some very useful resources to assist you in your quest to make your online content more accessible to your students.

Resources

*De Anza's Web Publishing Guide - Standards for Accessibility : http://tinyurl.com/e6qpw

Resource De Anza's Accessibility by Design Site : http://www.deanza.edu/access/

Resource FHDA's Technology Accessibiity / Section 508 Compliance Site : http://ets.fhda.edu/508/

Resource FHDA's Section 508 Policy Available as 5-page MS Word document download : http://tinyurl.com/hkwnb

Resource High Tech Center Training Unit of CA Community Colleges : http://www.htctu.fhda.edu/

Resource Wave 3.0 Accessibility Tool : http://tinyurl.com/jkhey

Resource Federal Government's Section 508 Website - Academic Community : http://tinyurl.com/ffouj

Resource Section 508 Training Universe : Links to courses. http://tinyurl.com/p2sve

US Naval Academy's Webmaster's Users Group Section 508 Info and Resources : http://tinyurl.com/hxfmh

Resource WebAIM's Article Archives for Evaluating All Media Sources for Accessibility w/Tips and Tutorials : http://tinyurl.com/ewba4

PowerPoint

Resource NCDAE Tips and Tools: Microsoft PowerPoint - Making them Accessible : http://tinyurl.com/kt499

Resource How to Create Accessible PowerPoint Presentations from Scratch - w/Quiz : http://tinyurl.com/ktu75

Resource Download PowerPoint Viewer 2003 - PC : http://tinyurl.com/6b6g5

Resource Download PowerPoint 98 Viewer (Mac) : http://tinyurl.com/rawja

Adobe Acrobat .pdf

Resource Making PDF Files Accessible : http://tinyurl.com/gyzhj

Resource ONLINE CONVERSION TOOLS for EXISTING ADOBE PDF Documents - LOOK HERE! : http://tinyurl.com/2fema

Resource Download Adobe Acrobat Reader (choose your OS) : http://tinyurl.com/6ip

Activity(s)

Accessibility Resources, Tools, References, Questions - Online discussion forum in the Catalyst Up-And-Running for Faculty at De Anza College Course in Catalyst. (Contact Mary Parke at parkemary@deanza.edu if you wish to be enrolled in this online course.)

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