In an effort to keep our community informed on what ISKME and our collaborators are doing to support accessibility, we have compiled some helpful information on the various accessibility supports available throughout the OER Commons platform. Below is a list of ISKME’s accessibility policies and supports, as well as platform improvements and outreach efforts to strengthen accessibility efforts across our Open Education community.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Statement & Policy
- Tools, Checklists, Resources
- Partner Support & Outreach
- Recent Accessibility Improvements to our OER Commons platform
Statement & Policy
ISKME Statement on Accessibility on the OER Commons Platform: ISKME has issued a statement on our ongoing work to ensure that our evolving OER Commons platform remains accessible to all learners.
OER Commons Accessibility Policy: ISKME’s OER Commons Accessibility Policy follows the best practices based on federal requirements and the World Wide Web Consortium.
Tools, Checklists, Resources
Accessibility in OER Hub: ISKME developed the Accessibility in OER Hub to support our community in the development and evaluation of resources for accessibility. In the Hub you will find openly licensed materials for professional learning that provide guidance on the remediation of OER for accessibility.
Open Author Accessibility Best Practices Support: ISKME’s OER Commons Help Article on Open Author accessibility best practices highlights the features built into our OER authoring tool, Open Author, that can support authors in creating accessible OER.
Tools and Checklists for Resource and Hub Review & Remediation:
- Characteristics of Accessibility Tool: ISKME’s Characteristics of Accessibility Tool was developed for our community to evaluate OER for key features related to accessibility, to identify the strengths and areas of improvement of a resource.
- Hub Accessibility Manual Checklist: ISKME’s created a Hub Accessibility Checklist to help Hub Administrators identify any accessibility errors in the various sections of their Hubs on OER Commons.
Resource Providers’ Accessibility Statements & Collection:
- Find a Provider Accessibility Statement: ISKME has identified resource providers who have made accessibility statements for the materials they host.
- "Provider Accessibility Statement Available" collection: ISKME has curated a collection of resources by providers that have made an accessibility statement.
Partner Support & Outreach
- Accessibility Remediation Strategy for Hub and Microsite Admins: ISKME-created a guide for our community to get started with your accessibility review, including an email template for partners to remix for their accessibility outreach efforts
- Peer-to-Peer Support: ISKME facilitates Communities of Practice for our Hub and Microsite partners. Contact ISKME at info@oercommons.org if you are interested in becoming a partner.
- How to identify Open Author resources: Use this help article to help you filter your search to identify Open Author resources (for users and administrators).
- How to export author contact information (Administrators Only): For Hub and Microsite administrators, ISKME has updated Open Author .csv data exports with relevant contact information. The help article outlines the process.
Recent Accessibility Improvements to our OER Commons platform
- Open Author software updates:
- Alt text: Images added to Open Author resources require alt text. We added a checkbox to indicate that an image is decorative.
- Author acknowledgement: checkbox requiring authors review and select prior to submission and publishing of resources to OER Commons.
- Clear-formatting: a clear-formatting button is available on the content toolbar, allowing users to remove the formatting from content copied and pasted from another site.
- Header Settings: Open author titles are now labeled as H1 headings, section titles are H2 headings, and the heading level options in the Main Content windows start as H3 headings to provide correct structure information to screen readers.
- Support widget:
- We've added a new dropdown for "accessibility issues" in the dropdown menu of the support widget.
- You can also use the "report a resource" option to flag a resource for accessibility review.
If you have any questions or suggestions about our accessibility efforts:
- contact our support desk by emailing info@oercommons.org, or
- submit an accessibility request via the support menu