Accessibility Workshops and Trainings
Enhance your digital accessibility skills today!
Explore a selection of accessibility workshops and trainings offered each semester by the Teaching Transformation and Design Academy (TTaDA). These sessions are designed to help you create a more inclusive learning environment for all students. Register for our live sessions through Learning Stream, or access our library of pre-recorded workshops at your convenience.
The Teaching Transformation and Development Academy offers a range of live and pre-recorded workshops designed to support your accessibility journey. Find a session today!
10 Step Accessibility Challenge
Ready to transform your digital content into an accessible experience for all learners? Join the 10 Step Accessibility Challenge, a self-paced journey that will empower you to master Blackboard Ultra's accessibility tools. Sign up today to enhance your professional portfolio, earn a digital badge, and make a lasting impact on student success by learning essential skills for accessible documents, presentations, and videos.
Note: There is no session recording. This is a self-paced challenge in Blackboard Ultra, designed to be completed over 10 weeks. Upon achieving 80% or higher on the accompanying quizzes, you will be eligible to earn a digital badge for your professional portfolio.
Accessibility Best Practices
Ensure your digital content and events reach everyone in your audience! This comprehensive workshop offers practical strategies for designing accessible meetings, documents, presentations, videos, and websites. Join this workshop to gain access to resources and checklists that will help you incorporate accessibility best practices into all your future projects.
Presenter: Beth Valentine, Equal Opportunity and Title IX Office
Accommodations in the Academic Environment
Are you looking to better support students with disabilities and understand your role in the accommodation process? Sign up to learn more about Student Disability Resources' approach to determining reasonable accommodations. This session will clarify student rights and responsibilities protected under the ADA, provide practical guidance on referring students for services, and empower you to effectively implement common accommodations in your classroom.
Presenter: Sara Kaiser, Student Disability Resources
Alternative Text (Images)
Learn the art of alternative text in this comprehensive three-part series designed to transform how you make images accessible for all users. Journey from foundational principles of alt text to advanced techniques for complex visuals, and discover how to leverage AI tools like ChatGPT to streamline your workflow.
Presenter: Kristi Embry, Instructional Designer
Making Images Usable/Accessible
This introductory workshop offers an overview of alternative text (alt-text) and its role in making images accessible to screen readers and assistive technology. Participants will learn the definition of alt-text and be introduced to best practices for creating effective alt-text, focusing on techniques for crafting clear, concise, and accurate descriptions. This session also includes a demonstration on adding alt-text to images in Blackboard Ultra and Microsoft Office.
Making Complex Images Accessible
This workshop focuses on best practices for creating alt-text for complex images, such as charts, graphs, infographics, cartoons, etc. Participants will learn techniques for crafting detailed descriptions and see demonstrations in Microsoft Word and PowerPoint on how to integrate these long descriptions into their documents.
Prerequisite: Must have attended the Making Images Usable/Accessible workshop.
Using AI to Generate Alt Text
This workshop focuses on leveraging AI, such as ChatGPT, to generate alt-text. This session will explore how AI tools can assist in generating alt text, covering both their capabilities and limitations. Participants will learn how to craft effective prompts, evaluate the accuracy of AI-generated descriptions, and refine the results for improved accessibility.
Prerequisite: Must have attended the Making Images Usable/Accessible workshop.
This workshop is offered on a limited basis and is not part of a regular schedule. Please check back for future availability or contact us for more information.
Blackboard Ultra: Ally - Course Accessibility
Are you looking to make your Blackboard Ultra course materials accessible to all learners? Join this interactive workshop to learn how to utilize Blackboard Ally in evaluating and improving the accessibility of your course content. Gain hands-on practice with image descriptions, document formatting, and content optimization. Bring your course materials and leave equipped with the skills to create an inclusive learning environment, complete with personalized assistance in making your documents accessible.
Presenter: Kristi Embry, Instructional Designer
Microsoft Office Suite
Elevate your Microsoft Office skills with comprehensive training on digital accessibility in Outlook, Word, and PowerPoint. Learn to craft inclusive emails, build structured documents, and create engaging accessible presentations using built-in tools. Join us to refine your everyday communications, improve content accessibility, and ensure your content is accessible to all members of our university community.
Presenter: Martha Grace Dettweiler, Instructional Accessibility Specialist
Accessible Email Practices in Microsoft Outlook
Discover how to make your communications more accessible with Microsoft Outlook’s built-in accessibility features. Learn practical tips to improve accessibility
in everyday email communication, benefiting both senders and recipients at the University
of North Dakota.
Word Document Accessibility 101: Identifying and Fixing Common Issues
Wondering why your Word document is receiving a low score in Blackboard Ally? This workshop will guide participants through identifying and addressing common accessibility issues in Microsoft Word documents. Issues include alt-text for images, heading structure, tables, links, and lists. A hands-on tutorial will walk you through addressing these issues in a sample document, demonstrating how to leverage Word's Accessibility Checker tool to fix accessibility errors.
PowerPoint Accessibility 101: Identifying and Fixing Common Issues
Curious why your PowerPoint presentation is receiving a low score in Blackboard Ally? This workshop guides participants through identifying and addressing common accessibility issues in Microsoft PowerPoint, such as reading order, missing alt text, and color contrast. A hands-on tutorial will walk you through a sample presentation, demonstrating how to leverage PowerPoint’s Accessibility Checker to fix accessibility errors.
Textbook Accessibility
Have you ever wondered how accessible your assigned textbooks are for students using assistive technologies? Join us in demystifying the textbook evaluation process as we explore practical testing techniques using publishers' built-in tools. Register now to gain practical skills in assessing textbook accessibility, and ensure your course materials serve all students effectively.
Presenter: Kristi Embry, Instructional Designer
Universal Design for Learning
Are you ready to create an inclusive learning environment that works for everyone from day one? Discover how Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles can help you design courses that naturally accommodate diverse learning styles, abilities, and needs, minimizing the need for extensive modifications. Sign up today to learn how these practical design strategies can both enhance the learning experience for students and save you time and effort in the long run.
Presenter: Kristi Embry, Instructional Designer