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 Newsletter- New Hands-On Accessibility Training Initiatives...
- Training & Collaboration Opportunities
- Productivity Solutions for Faculty & Staff
- Services Available to You
- Additional Supports
- Coming Soon...
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Hands-On Accessibility Training INITIATIVES...
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Meet your new trusted testers!
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Trusted Tester for Web Fundamentals Training Cohort
During the Spring/Summer 2022 semesters, ATI staff developed and led Mason's inaugural Tester for Web (TTW) Fundamentals Cohort.The TTW pilot project leveraged DHS' Web Accessibility Certification Training course, training our participants on how to identify and fix web accessibility-related issues (e.g., color contrast, alternative text descriptions for images, inaccessible form fields, inaccessible audio/video, etc.). Participants were also educated on how individuals with disabilities in the Mason community interact with the institution's public-facing web resources.
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Your new Trusted Testers are as follows:
- Jacquelyn Krehbiel, Environmental Health & Saftey
- Audra Meckstroth, Office of University Branding
- Ashley Byrum, HR & Payroll
- Boris Gafurov, CEHD
- Jan Macario, Web Applications and Services (ITS)
- Andrew Schappert, Schar School of Policy and Government
- Terri Ann Guingab, CHHS
- Craig Zaccaro, CHSS
- Aikwan Chong, Environmental Science & Policy
- Samantha Kayla Hill, University Libraries
- Kasturi Nadella, CHSS
- Andrew Stevens, University Libraries
- Ryan Lebreton, Web Applications and Services (ITS)
Sending a huge THANK YOU and CONGRATS to all of our TTW Fundamentals participants!
Their feedback and efforts will inform how we educate future Trusted Testers. They have also laid the groudwork for creating a more inclusive and accessible web experience for all members of the Mason community!
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Interested in the Spring 2023 Cohort?
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Document Accessibility Fundamentals Training Cohort
During the Summer/Fall 2022 semesters, the ATI is piloting our Document Accessibility Fundamentals (DAF) Training Course. The DAF course provides self-paced, hands-on instruction to Mason faculty and staff 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.
There are 23 participants currently enrolled in the DAF pilot course. Those successfully completing this course will earn the ATI's Document Accessibility Fundamentals badge through Credly! We will report more details in our Spring 2023 newsletter.
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Interested in the Spring 2023 Cohort?
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Training & collaboration Opportunities
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FALL 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
- We are in the process of creating a Web Accessibility Group (WAG) on MS Teams where training and collaboration information will be posted. More details will be provided in the weeks ahead. In the interim, please contact Kristine Neuber, IT Accessibility Coordinator, if you have specific questions.
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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 October 20th, 1:00pm - 2:30pm. Check your calendar for invites. Feel free to share with others you think would be interested in attending.
Fall 2022 Session Agenda
For this year's fall session, we will be focusing on User Experience. We plan to pull together a panel of users to highlight the diverse needs and experiences within the Mason community. 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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Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence Conference
VISION AND ACTION FOR A NEW ERA
George Mason University’s Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence Initiative is proud to host this first-ever conference featuring panels, workshops, and conversation groups with researchers and changemakers from across the country.
Date and Location:
October 24, 2022
8 a.m.–6:30 p.m.
Mason Square, Arlington, Virginia
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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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create and share accessible video content with microsoft stream
Stream is Microsoft's video content hosting and sharing platform, supporting access to users with differing abilities. Think of it as Mason's internal YouTube channel.
From an accessibility standpoint, Stream does the following:
- Provides autocaptions for video uploads in a number of different languages (e.g., Spanish, Chinese, English, German, etc.). These can be edited easily.
- Includes settings that offer the end user the ability to adjust the look and size of captions for any videos they watch. This differs greatly from YouTube, which does not offer this capability.
- Supports keyboard-only access
To learn more, 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 January 2023.
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Assistive Technology Initiative
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