Roane State Community College

Accessibility

U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) New Accessibility Standards

  1. Overview of the Ruling:
    • The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has established new accessibility standards for digital content in educational institutions to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). New ruling covers websites and social media sites used by the college or by faculty in their courses.
    • These standards are based on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA, which must be implemented by April 2026.
      • WCAG 2.1, level AA are a set of standards developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) that ensure digital content is accessible to everyone, including people with disabilities.
  2. Purpose of the Ruling:
    • Ensure that all students, including those with disabilities, have equitable access to educational materials and technology. Eliminate barriers to learning by providing accessible course content, tools, and platforms.
  3. Institutional Responsibility:
    • As an institution, we are responsible for ensuring that all digital content, including course materials, documents, videos, software, websites, and social media meets these accessibility standards by April 2026

TBR Accessibility Training Resources

TBR Accessibility Training Resources (opens in new window)

WAVE Accessibility Apps for Download

The WAVE Accessibility Evaluation Tool is designed to help you identify and address accessibility issues on web pages. Developed by WebAIM.org (Opens in a new window), WAVE provides visual feedback on accessibility features and barriers, ensuring compliance with WCAG guidelines. Whether you’re reviewing your own content or checking the accessibility of third-party resources, WAVE’s user-friendly interface makes it easy to enhance usability, promote inclusivity, and create accessible digital content for all users.

To use the WAVE Accessibility Evaluation Tool, simply copy the URL of your web page and paste it into the WAVE checker at WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool. Click “Enter” or the “Arrow” button, and WAVE will analyze your page, providing a visual report of accessibility strengths and areas for improvement.


Accessing ADA Compliance Modules

We offer accessibility training in Momentum. This document was created to assist you in accessing the ADA Compliance Training Modules. Additionally, this handout provides an overview of each module.
Accessing ADA Modules in D2L Momentum (PDF)

RSCC Accessible Syllabus Template

This template is a Word document that has been formatted to meet ADA requirements and was adopted by the faculty senate (Revised 2023).
ADA_Compliant_Syllabus_Template

Accessibility Checklists

These documents were created to assist you with checking your course content to make sure it is ADA compliant.
Microsoft Word Accessibility Checklist (PDF)
Microsoft PowerPoint Accessibility Checklist (PDF)
Course Accessibility Check List (PDF)
RSCC Accessibility Handbook (PDF)

Word

This section will provide you with information on how to pre-set headings and list styles, provides text descriptions for images and graphs, and uses simple data tables and meaningful links.

Headings 2010/2013 (video)

 

Headings 2016 (video)

 

List Items 2010/2013 (video)

 

List Items 2016 (video)

 

Hyperlinks 2010/2013 (video)
Hyperlinks 2016 (video)
Word Tables 2010/2013 (video)
Word Tables 2016 (video)
Alt Text for images 2010/2013 (video)
Alt Text for images 2016 (video)
Microsoft Accessibility Checker for Windows (video)
Microsoft Accessibility Checker for MAC (video)

 

D2L Course Templates

This section will provide you with the information on how to implement D2L accessible templates into your course design.

 

D2L Page Templates (video)
Rubric for Course Organization and Design
This handout will assist in converting accessible HTML files into a Word Document. This process will be necessary for Department Secretaries to check syllabi for accessibility.
 

Videos

This section will provide you with information on how to caption your own YouTube videos and how to caption videos made by other users.

Why?
Caption your own YouTube Videos (video)
Caption Someone Else’s YouTube videos
Find Videos That are Already Captioned
Need help transcribing?
Easily Download YouTube Subtitles as Transcripts (video)

 

WCAG versus 508

On Side by Side WCAG vs. 508 (Opens in new Window) Jim Thatcher compares the WCAG priority one checklist with the Section 508 Web Accessibility standards.

 

NVDA

NVDA (NonVisual Desktop Access) is a free “screen reader” which enables blind and visually impaired people to use computers. It reads the text on the screen in a computerized voice. You can control what is read to you by moving the cursor to the relevant area of text with a mouse or the arrows on your keyboard.

The download for NVDA and additional training can be found on the NV Access website (opens in new window)

To get a list of command for using the program here is the NVDA Quick Guide (PDF).

 

Universal Design for Learning

This section will provide you with an overview of things to consider in designing your online courses. In the following videos, Dr. Susan Sutton discusses Universal Design for Learning as well as things to consider with eTextbooks. She also discusses captions, transcripts, and “alt text” when designing your online course and gives examples of accessible documents that can be read by Screen Readers.

Accessibility: UDL and eTextbooks (2014 video)
Accessibility: Closed Caption and Transcripts (2014 video)
Accessibility: “alt text” and Documents for Screen Readers (2014 video)