Digital Accessibility UpdatesNews you can use to make your digital resources, classrooms, and events more inclusive and accessible to the Mason community!
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In This spring 2023 Newsletter
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New Interim ADA Coordinator
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Rachel Elliott, Interim ADA Coordinator
Rachel Elliott is an attorney barred in the District of Columbia with experience in multiple fields of Higher Education Nondiscrimination Compliance. Rachel, originally from Indiana, received her BA in Psychology and Human Rights at Ohio State University and her Juris Doctorate from George Mason University's Law School with a concentration in Public Interest Litigation.
In law school, Rachel co-founded the Mason Law Disability Initiative and was the Vice President of Equality Alliance. Rachel found her passion for a career in higher education after working and learning within multiple disability communities experiencing systemic education deprivation. Since then, Rachel has worked with the ACLU of Indiana, Marymount University's Title IX Office, and George Mason's Title IX, EO, and ADA Offices.
In her free time Rachel enjoys roller skating, exploring nature trails, and trying out new coffee houses and bakeries.
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MEET YOU FALL 2022
DOCUMENT ACCESSIBILITY PROS!
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During the Fall 2022 semester, we have had 16 participants successfully complete the pilot course; earning an HR Impact Award and GMU's
Document Accessibility Fundamentals badge.
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They are as follows:
- Jamilah Anderson, Disability Services
- Lisa Coats, Disability Services
- Bryan Fede, Stearns Center
- Ibrahim Kargbo, College of Public Health
- Mariya Khan, Stearns Center
- Tammy Knight, SEERM
- Jacquelyn Krehbiel, SEERM
- Naomi Martinez-Jones, Disability Services
- Pamela Muirhead, University Branding
- Tiffany O'Neal, AIM-VA (CEHD)
- Kerianne Plunkett, University Branding
- David Schell, Stearns Center
- Jacqueline Servello, ATI (DEI)
- Clare Talbert, TTAC (CEHD)
- Tori Unterberger, Hylton Center
- Aoi Yamanaka, CHSS
Sending a huge THANK YOU and CONGRATS to all of our Fall 2022 DAF Badge Recipients!
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Margaret C. Howard Award!
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Nominations due by February 24th!
Just sharing a reminder that DEI co-sponsors the Margaret C. Howell Outstanding Achievement Award for Diversity along with HR, an award for which the recipient will receive $2,000. Visit the website for how to qualify. Please take some time to consider nominating colleagues at the University with whom you may have worked, or those whom you believe deserve to be recognized for their contributions in the areas of diversity, inclusion, and belonging.
Nominations are due to HR by February 24, 2023. The ceremony will be held on campus on April 25 in Dewberry Hall.
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Have questions?
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Hands-On Accessibility Training Opportunities
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Join OUR Spring 2023 Cohorts!
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Become a Mason Trusted Tester!
The Trusted Tester for Web Fundamentals Cohort will be offered again this Spring beginning in March. The TTW Cohort leverages DHS' Trusted Tester for Web Accessibility Certification Training course, training participants on how to identify and report web accessibility-related issues (e.g., color contrast, alternative text descriptions for images, inaccessible form fields, inaccessible audio/video, etc.). Participants will also be educated on how individuals with disabilities in the Mason community interact with the institution's public-facing web resources.
- Cohort Length: Approximately 12 weeks. Length varies.
- Compensation: In addition to earning the micro-credential, participants will also receive up to $250 for completing the training course.
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Interested in joining the Spring 2023 TTW Cohort?
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Become a Mason Document Accessibility Pro!
The Document Accessibility Fundamentals Cohort will be offered again this Spring beginning in March. The DAF course provides self-paced, hands-on instruction to Mason faculty and staff on how to create accessible Word, PowerPoint, and PDF documents. These are the most commonly used document formats in Mason classrooms. Educating faculty and staff on how to create accessible documents ensures our students are provided with equivalent access to instructional resources.
- Cohort Length: Approximately 8 weeks. Length varies.
- Compensation: In addition to earning the micro-credential, participants will also receive up to $250 for completing the training course.
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Interested in joining the Spring 2023 Cohort?
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Training & collaboration Opportunities
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ATI Open Houses, January 24th - Jan 27th
The ATI is hosting open-house, drop-in sessions from Jan. 24th - Jan. 27th to answer any questions you may have about the digital accessibility resources available to those in the Mason community.
See below for the schedule (Select the link to attend the MS Teams session -- no registration required):
- Tuesday, Jan 24 - 11:00am - 12:00pm
- Wednesday, Jan 25 - 11:00am - 12:00pm
- Thursday, Jan 26 - 11:00am - 12:00pm
- Friday, Jan. 27 - 11:00am-12:00pm
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Assistive Technology Quick Talks with Jackie!
Starting January 31st, the ATI's Assistive Technology Specialist, Jackie Servello, will be hosting 30-minute quick talk sessions highlighting useful assistive technology features/tools to assist you with accessing your information technology resources.
Select the link(s) below to register for the session:
- How to take Quick Notes using Glean - Jan. 31, Register
- All About Smartpens - Feb. 7, Register
- Text-to-Speech Resources - Feb. 14, Register
- Getting Started with Voice Recognition - Feb. 21, Register
- How to take Quick Notes using Glean - Feb. 28, Register
- All About Smartpens - Mar. 7, Register
- Text-to-Speech Resources - Mar. 14, Register
- Getting Started with Voice Recognition - Mar. 21, Register
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Blind/Low Vision Faculty Workshops
This semester, Disability Services c/o the ATI will be hosting drop-in workshops for faculty members teaching courses that have students with visual impairments enrolled in them. Faculty would have received an email from Lisa Coats (Disability Services) within the past couple of weeks.
Feel free to reach to her directly or attend one of the drop-in sessions listed below (Select the link to attend the Zoom session -- no registration required):
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Contact Lisa Coats (lcoats@gmu.edu), Disability Services, if you have any questions or concerns.
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Spring Lunch & Learn Workshops
This fall, ATI staff will be hosting the following Lunch & Learn workshops. Select a link below to register:
Creating Accessible Documents Workshops
Accessible Web Design Workshops
- Identifying and Fixing Color Contrast Issues - Feb. 10th (12:00pm - 1:00pm)
- Creating Accessible Links and Buttons - Feb. 24th (12:00pm - 1:00pm)
PLEASE NOTE: All trainings will focus on accessibility issues related to that specific topic, how to address those issues, and highlight instances where these issues could be addressed on Mason websites.
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Join DEI's
Digital Accessibility and Inclusion Community
Group
DEI's Digital Accessibility and Inclusion Community Group will hold it's next meeting on March 29th, 1:00pm - 2:30pm. Check your calendar for invites. Feel free to share with others you think would be interested in attending.
Spring 2023 Session Agenda
For this year's spring session, we will highlight faculty efforts to be more inclusive and accessible. More details coming in the week's ahead. We hope to see you all there!
DAIC Mission:
The DAIC's mission is to bring together community partners to share and learn about the digital accessibility solutions already in place to support access and inclusion at Mason. Sessions are open to all members of the Mason community.
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Disability Services' needs volunteers for theDisability Access, Equity, and Inclusion Improvement Plan
Disability Services (DS) is working on a long-term plan to improve access, equity, and inclusion for people with disabilities in our campus community. Key to those efforts will be the support of GMU students, faculty, and staff with disabilities and disability allies.
DS is seeking participants for two opportunities to help guide their work (select each link below to learn more and/or indicate your interest):
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productivity solutions for Faculty/staff
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Need Scheduling Help? Try Bookings!
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Microsoft Bookings
Bookings lets you track, manage, and organize your appointments and calendar all in one place. You can create a Bookings calendar, add team members, build new appointment types, and create and manage in-person and virtual visits for you, your staff, and students.
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ATI Use Case: I exchange multiple emails with colleagues and students to find a time that works for both of our schedules. Bookings now allows me to block off time on my schedule when I am available. Those seeking a meeting can simply select a time and the appointment is automatically scheduled. Reminders are sent out prior to the meetings to keep everyone on schedule.
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Try using Bookings to manage your schedule! This will make scheduling meeting times much easier.
To view a short video (1:23) on how Bookings works, select the link below.
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Use microsoft's built-in accessibility check tool
Microsoft 365 apps (Outlook, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, OneNote, and Visio) include a tool that allows you to check the accessibility of your email messages, syllabi, PPT presentations, etc. This features help you to identify issues (e.g., images without alternative text descriptions, illegible hyperlink text, etc.) that could present accessibility challenges for many members of the Mason community.
Try adding this one step to your editing and proofreading workflow. This will greatly improve access to the digital content you create.
To view a short video (1:04) on how this feature works, select the link below.
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Blackboard ally is automatically enabled in your online course
This is just a reminder that the Accessibility Score Icons you see in this image are a part of the Blackboard Ally tool in your online course.
Ally empowers students by enabling them to select the alternate formats (e.g., electronic braille, PDFs, audio/MP3, etc.) that best support their specific learning needs. In the 2020-2021 academic year, there were over 61,000 unique alternative format downloads. This tells us, our students like having alternative learning options!
To learn more about what Ally can do for faculty and students, select the link below.
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Services available to you
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Need captions in a pinch?!
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Professional Captioning Support Available!Whether you are providing post-production captions and transcripts for an individual with a disability or simply to create more inclusive digital media, Mason supports your captioning, transcription, and audio description needs.
Mason offers two options for post-production captioning and transcription support: professional (human-transcribed) captions and AI-generated captions:
- Professional, human-transcribed captions - This service offers ~99% accuracy with a average turnaround time of 3-4 business days. Available at no cost to faculty and staff in the Mason community.
PLEASE NOTE: Videos hosted in courses with students with sensory impairments (i.e., blind, low vision, deaf, and/or hard of hearing) and videos hosted on public-facing websites are prioritized first. This may impact turnaround times for all other requests. If you need a more immediate solution, see Need Captions in a Pinch?! below for more details.
To learn more, select the link below.
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Captions in a Pinch with Kaltura (Machine-Generated)Mason offers AI-generated, machine transcription for instructional videos that are uploaded to your Kaltura MyMedia folder:
- Transcriptions can be ordered directly through Kaltura MyMedia.
- Turnaround times mirror length of uploaded video content (i.e., longer video, longer processing time)
While machine captions are AI-generated and not as accurate (varies based upon speaker and quality of audio) as human-transcribed, professional captions (99% accurate), Kaltura MyMedia does offer you the option for correcting the machine captions. This is a good alternative when you are limited on time and resources.
To learn more about requesting machine captions for your Kaltura MyMedia videos, select the link below.
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Live captioning options
Mason offers 2 options for live captioning support for your events and/or classrooms:
- Live Remote Captions (Human Transcription) - Live remote captioning support with human transcribers is available by request through Disability Services. Submit a Live Remote Captioning Request through the DS website to get started.
Please note: Accommodation requests for this service are approved and funded at the discretion of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services Manager (for student-related accommodations) or the ADA Coordinator (for employee or visitor-related accommodations). All other requests must be paid by the unit or party making the request.
- Live Transcription (AI-generated) - Live AI-generated transcription is available through the Zoom Meetings platform. This service is available at no cost. The host must click on Live Transcript and then Enable Live Transcription for session attendees to have access. See Enabling and managing closed captioning and live transcription in Zoom for more details.
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Request ADA Accommodations
The university provides accommodations to individuals with disabilities in order to ensure equal access and opportunity to Mason employees. The employee accommodations process starts when an employee or a supervisor contacts the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Coordinator to discuss or request an accommodation.
Want to learn more? Visit...
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Having trouble? Report a barrier
Mason is committed to ensuring individuals with disabilities are afforded equivalent access to all of the university's programs and services. Any member of the Mason community encountering digital (e.g., websites that do not work with your assistive technology) and/or physical accessibility barriers (e.g., automatic doors not working, block walkways/doorways, etc.) can report the issue to the ATI.
To report an Access Barrier, select the link below.
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The Digital Accessibility Updates newsletter will be published at the beginning and end of the fall and spring semesters. The next issue will be distributed in August 2023.
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Assistive Technology Initiative
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