Accessibility Training Opportunities

• Date Offered: October 1, 10:00 - 11:00 AM
• Facilitator: Nancy Hightower
• Contact: Marc Thompson (thompso1@illinois.edu)
• Registration: Registration is required.

Register for the October 1 Workshop, Make Your MS Word Documents Accessible

Workshop Description:

Get up to speed quickly on making your Microsoft Word documents accessible for everyone while meeting state and federal accessibility standards. In this hands-on workshop, we'll start with a brief overview of common accessibility challenges in Word and then jump right into practice.

You'll learn how to:

• Use the Styles tool to create a clean, navigable document structure
• Write effective alt text for images and charts, ensure readable color contrast and design accessible tables and links
• Use the MS Word Accessibility Checker to find and fix common issues

By the end of this session, you'll be ready to create inclusive documents for all.

• Dates Offered: October 2, 2:00 - 3:00 PM
• Facilitator: Lori Lane
• Contact: Lori Lane (lorilane@illinois.edu)
• Registration: Registration is required.

Register for the October 2 Workshop, Make Your Excel Spreadsheets Accessible, Part 2

Workshop Description:

Get up to speed quickly on making your Microsoft Excel spreadsheets accessible for everyone! In this hands-on workshop, we’ll start with a brief overview of common accessibility challenges in Excel and then jump right into practice. You’ll learn how to: 

• Name a Table
• Label the empty header cell
• Increase the column width and row height
• Label the workbook title and sheet names
• Create space between tables
• Create accessible links
• Work with colors and color testing tools

By the end of this workshop, you’ll be well on your way to creating inclusive spreadsheets that meet State and Federal accessibility standards.  

• Date Offered: October 7, 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
• Facilitator: Lindsey Sharp
• Contact: Marc Thompson (thompso1@illinois.edu)
• Registration: Registration is required:

Register for the October 7 Workshop, Make Your Canvas Courses Accessible

Workshop Description:

Canvas websites must be accessible for all students, but don't panic! This hands-on workshop will cover what to look for and several tools to help you find and fix issues.

In this training session, you'll learn how to:

• Use the text editor to create a navigable page structure
• Write effective alt text for images and charts
• Ensure readable color contrast
• Design accessible tables and links.
• Use Canvas accessibility tools, including checkers to find and fix common issues
• Use tools in Illinois Media Space caption videos. We'll also cover how to use a number of accessibility checkers to find and fix common issues.

By the end of this session, you'll have the confidence you need to create Canvas course sites that meet State and Federal accessibility standards

• Dates Offered: October 9, 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
• Facilitator: Lindsey Sharp
• Contact: Marc Thompson (thompso1@illinois.edu)
• Registration: Registration is required.

Register for the October 9 Workshop, Using the Pope Tech Canvas Accessibility Tool

Workshop Description:

Get up to speed on using the Pope Tech Canvas Accessibility Guide to make Canvas pages more accessible for everyone! In this hands-on workshop, we'll start with an overview of the Pope Tech Canvas Accessibility Guide, how it functions, what the various errors, alerts, structural elements, and features mean, and how to fix these issues on a Canvas page. Then we'll jump into some hands-on practice using the Canvas Accessibility Guide to evaluate the accessibility of Canvas pages and remediate basic accessibility issues. We'll discuss the limitations of the tool and what still needs to be checked manually using basic digital accessibility principles.

By the end of this workshop, you'll understand how to fix Canvas pages using the Pope Tech Canvas Accessibility Guide tool and be well on the way to creating inclusive Canvas pages that meet State and Federal accessibility standards.

• Dates Offered: October 14, 3:00 - 4:00 PM
• Facilitator: Ky Merkley
• Contact: Marc Thompson (thompso1@illinois.edu)
• Registration: Registration is required.

Register for the October 14 Workshop, Make Your PDF Documents Accessible, Part 1

Workshop Description:

Get up to speed quickly on the basics of making your PDF documents accessible for everyone while meeting state and federal accessibility standards. In this hands-on workshop, we'll begin with a brief overview of common accessibility challenges in PDF and then dive straight into practical solutions.

You'll learn how to:

• Create a PDF from an accessible Word document
• Use Acrobat Pro to identify the basic architecture of that PDF, such as adjusting the reading order and tab order, using the table editor and adding alternative text description to images

By the end of this workshop, you'll be on your way to creating PDF documents that are more inclusive.

Important: To participate actively in this workshop, you will need to have Adobe Acrobat Pro installed (not Acrobat Reader). U of I, UIS, and UIC faculty and staff can obtain Acrobat Pro free from the U of I Webstore.

• Date Offered: October 15, 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
• Facilitator: Ky Merkley
• Contact: Marc Thompson (thompso1@illinois.edu)
• Registration: Registration is required.

Register for the October 15 Workshop, Checking Documents for Accessibility

Workshop Description:

Documents must be proactively accessible for all students. This hands-on workshop will cover what to look for and several tools to help you find and fix issues. You'll learn how to scan multiple document types for accessibility issues and remediate them.

• Dates Offered: October 16, 2:00 - 3:00 PM
• Facilitator: Lori Lane
• Contact: Marc Thompson (thompso1@illinois.edu)
• Registration: Registration is required.

Register for the October 16 Workshop, Make Your Excel Spreadsheets Accessible, Part 3

Workshop Description:

Get up to speed quickly on making your Microsoft Excel spreadsheets accessible for everyone!

In this hands-on workshop, we’ll start with a brief overview of common accessibility challenges in Excel and then jump right into practice. You’ll learn how to:

• Prevent reading and navigating order culprits
• Freeze columns and rows
• Hide unused columns and rows
• Delete empty rows between elements
• Create accessible links
• Use the Accessibility Assistant

By the end of this workshop, you’ll be well on your way to creating inclusive spreadsheets that meet State and Federal accessibility standards.

• Dates Offered: October 21, 3:00 - 4:30 PM
• Facilitator: Marc Thompson
• Registration: Registration is required.
• Contact: Marc Thompson (thompso1@illinois.edu)

Register for the October 21 Workshop, Make Your PDF Documents Accessible, Part 2

Workshop Description:

Get up to speed quickly on making your PDF documents accessible for everyone on campus. We'll cover common accessibility challenges in PDF and use practical solutions. You'll learn how to:

• Use Acrobat Accessibility Checker to identify issues
• Repair the PDF and make it accessible
• Determine when to send complex PDFs to a remediation specialist

You'll be on your way to creating inclusive and accessible PDF documents and meeting State and Federal accessibility standards.

Important: To participate actively in this workshop, you will need to have Adobe Acrobat Pro installed (not Acrobat Reader). U of I, UIS, and UIC faculty and staff can obtain Acrobat Pro free from the U of I Webstore.

• Dates Offered: October 30, 2:00 - 3:00 PM
• Facilitator: Lori Lane
• Contact: Marc Thompson (thompso1@illinois.edu)
• Registration: Registration is required.

Register for the October 30 Workshop, Make Your Excel Spreadsheets Accessible

Workshop Description:

Get up to speed quickly on making your Microsoft Excel spreadsheets accessible for everyone! In this hands-on workshop, we’ll start with a brief overview of common accessibility challenges and solutions in Excel.

You’ll learn how to:

• Create consistent heading levels for sighted users
• Create tables with column or row headers and avoid other pitfallsM/li>
• Work with colors and color testing tools
• Implement images in an accessible way for screen reader users
• Use the Excel Accessibility Assistant to find and fix common issues.

By the end of this workshop, you’ll be well on your way to creating inclusive spreadsheets that meet State and Federal accessibility standards.

• Date Offered: November 4, 10:00 - 11:00 AM
• Facilitator: Dan Hahn
• Contact: Marc Thompson (thompso1@illinois.edu)
• Registration: Registration is required.

Register for the November 4 Workshop, Make Your MS Word Documents Accessible

Workshop Description:

Get up to speed quickly on making your Microsoft Word documents accessible for everyone while meeting state and federal accessibility standards. In this hands-on workshop, we'll start with a brief overview of common accessibility challenges in Word and then jump right into practice.

You'll learn how to:

• Use the Styles tool to create a clean, navigable document structure
• Write effective alt text for images and charts, ensure readable color contrast and design accessible tables and links
• Use the MS Word Accessibility Checker to find and fix common issues

By the end of this session, you'll be ready to create inclusive documents for all.

• Dates Offered: November 4, 1:00 - 2:00 PM
• Facilitator: Bob Dignan
• Contact: thompso1@illinois.edu (thompso1@illinois.edu)
• Registration: Registration is required.

Register for the November 4 Workshop, Integrating Audio Description into Presentations and Videos

Workshop Description:

This hands-on workshop will help you integrate Audio Description (AD) into your workflow, making visual content accessible from the start rather than as a post-production fix. You'll learn to replace vague cues like “As you can see here” with rich, meaningful descriptions that enhance accessibility and reduce technical hurdles.

By the end of this workshop, attendees will be able to:

• Identify the fundamentals of audio description practice
• Write and voice visual aid descriptions in your discipline
• Optimize presentation preparation and workflows to reduce and eliminate audio description

IMPORTANT:

• If you present visuals during teaching/presenting (most often a PowerPoint with images), please bring a sample presentation. We’ll leverage small groups to apply concepts and offer feedback.
• If your context is more video/media production, bring a representative sample of that work.
• If you do not have a sample presentation, we’ll guide you in our workshop on alternatives to facilitate your participation.

Full Workshop Description

Audio Description (AD) is a practice of using words that are succinct, vivid, and imaginative to convey visuals; benefitting people who are blind or have low vision. The visual is made verbal. Producing descriptions after presentations are recorded, or after videos are finalized, incurs many technical hurdles and educational limitations. Conversely, if material is presented with AD included (a variation known as “integrated description”), several post-production and video dissemination steps are assuaged alongside additional benefits! In this workshop, we’ll build skills in writing and integrating description into your existing workflows; turning your inadvertently inaccessible “As you can see here,” into a description rich with context and significance.

• Dates Offered: November 5, 2:00 - 3:15 PM
• Facilitators: Kathy Adams and Chrissi Guarnieri
• Contact: Marc Thompson (thompso1@illinois.edu)
• Registration: Registration is required.

Register for the November 5 Workshop, Make Your MS PowerPoint Documents Accessible

Workshop Description:

Get up to speed quickly on making your PowerPoint presentations accessible for everyone while meeting state and federal accessibility standards. In this hands-on workshop, we'll begin with a brief overview of common accessibility challenges in PowerPoint and then dive straight into practical solutions.

You'll learn how to:

• Create clear, accessible slide content
• Utilize accessible visuals
• Structure slides for logical navigation, making sure your multimedia content is inclusive
• Use PowerPoint's built-in Accessibility Assistant to find and fix common issues

By the end of this workshop, you'll be crafting inclusive presentations that captivate your audience.

• Date Offered: November 10, 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
• Facilitator: Lindsey Sharp
• Contact: Marc Thompson (thompso1@illinois.edu)
• Registration: Registration is required:

Register for the November 10 Workshop, Make Your Canvas Courses Accessible

Workshop Description:

Canvas websites must be accessible for all students, but don't panic! This hands-on workshop will cover what to look for and several tools to help you find and fix issues.

In this training session, you'll learn how to:

• Use the text editor to create a navigable page structure
• Write effective alt text for images and charts
• Ensure readable color contrast
• Design accessible tables and links.
• Use Canvas accessibility tools, including checkers to find and fix common issues
• Use tools in Illinois Media Space caption videos. We'll also cover how to use a number of accessibility checkers to find and fix common issues.

By the end of this session, you'll have the confidence you need to create Canvas course sites that meet State and Federal accessibility standards

• Dates Offered: November 11, 3:00 - 4:00 PM
• Faciliator: Marc Thompson
• Contact: Marc Thompson (thompso1@illinois.edu)
• Registration: Registration is required.

Register for the November 11 Workshop, Make Your PDF Documents Accessible, Part 1

Workshop Description:

Get up to speed quickly on the basics of making your PDF documents accessible for everyone while meeting state and federal accessibility standards. In this hands-on workshop, we'll begin with a brief overview of common accessibility challenges in PDF and then dive straight into practical solutions.

You'll learn how to:

• Create a PDF from an accessible Word document
• Use Acrobat Pro to identify the basic architecture of that PDF, such as adjusting the reading order and tab order, using the table editor and adding alternative text description to images

By the end of this workshop, you'll be on your way to creating PDF documents that are more inclusive.

Important: To participate actively in this workshop, you will need to have Adobe Acrobat Pro installed (not Acrobat Reader). U of I, UIS, and UIC faculty and staff can obtain Acrobat Pro free from the U of I Webstore.

• Dates Offered: November 12, 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
• Facilitator: Lindsey Sharp
• Contact: Marc Thompson (thompso1@illinois.edu)
• Registration: Registration is required.

Register for the November 12 Workshop, Using the Pope Tech Canvas Accessibility Tool

Workshop Description:

Get up to speed on using the Pope Tech Canvas Accessibility Guide to make Canvas pages more accessible for everyone! In this hands-on workshop, we'll start with an overview of the Pope Tech Canvas Accessibility Guide, how it functions, what the various errors, alerts, structural elements, and features mean, and how to fix these issues on a Canvas page. Then we'll jump into some hands-on practice using the Canvas Accessibility Guide to evaluate the accessibility of Canvas pages and remediate basic accessibility issues. We'll discuss the limitations of the tool and what still needs to be checked manually using basic digital accessibility principles.

By the end of this workshop, you'll understand how to fix Canvas pages using the Pope Tech Canvas Accessibility Guide tool and be well on the way to creating inclusive Canvas pages that meet State and Federal accessibility standards.

• Dates Offered: November 13, 2:00 - 3:00 PM
• Facilitator: Lori Lane
• Contact: Marc Thompson (thompso1@illinois.edu)
• Registration: Registration is required.

Register for the November 13 Workshop, Make Your Excel Spreadsheets Accessible, Part 2

Workshop Description:

Get up to speed quickly on making your Microsoft Excel spreadsheets accessible for everyone! In this hands-on workshop, we’ll start with a brief overview of common accessibility challenges in Excel and then jump right into practice. You’ll learn how to: 

• Name a Table
• Label the empty header cell
• Increase the column width and row height
• Label the workbook title and sheet names
• Create space between tables
• Create accessible links
• Work with colors and color testing tools

By the end of this workshop, you’ll be well on your way to creating inclusive spreadsheets that meet State and Federal accessibility standards.

• Dates Offered: November 18, 3:00 - 4:30 PM
• Faciliator: Ky Merkley
• Registration: Registration is required.
• Contact: Marc Thompson (thompso1@illinois.edu)

Register for the November 18 Workshop, Make Your PDF Documents Accessible, Part 2

Workshop Description:

Get up to speed quickly on making your PDF documents accessible for everyone on campus. We'll cover common accessibility challenges in PDF and use practical solutions. You'll learn how to:

• Use Acrobat Accessibility Checker to identify issues
• Repair the PDF and make it accessible
• Determine when to send complex PDFs to a remediation specialist

You'll be on your way to creating inclusive and accessible PDF documents and meeting State and Federal accessibility standards.

Important: To participate actively in this workshop, you will need to have Adobe Acrobat Pro installed (not Acrobat Reader). U of I, UIS, and UIC faculty and staff can obtain Acrobat Pro free from the U of I Webstore.

• Dates Offered: November 20, 2:00 - 3:00 PM
• Facilitator: Lori Lane
• Contact: Marc Thompson (thompso1@illinois.edu)
• Registration: Registration is required.

Register for the November 20 Workshop, Make Your Excel Spreadsheets Accessible, Part 3

Workshop Description:

Get up to speed quickly on making your Microsoft Excel spreadsheets accessible for everyone!

In this hands-on workshop, we’ll start with a brief overview of common accessibility challenges in Excel and then jump right into practice. You’ll learn how to:

• Prevent reading and navigating order culprits
• Freeze columns and rows
• Hide unused columns and rows
• Delete empty rows between elements
• Create accessible links
• Use the Accessibility Assistant

By the end of this workshop, you’ll be well on your way to creating inclusive spreadsheets that meet State and Federal accessibility standards.

• Date Offered: December 8, 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
• Facilitator: Lindsey Sharp
• Contact: Marc Thompson (thompso1@illinois.edu)
• Registration: Registration is required:

Register for the December 8 Workshop, Make Your Canvas Courses Accessible

Workshop Description:

Canvas websites must be accessible for all students, but don't panic! This hands-on workshop will cover what to look for and several tools to help you find and fix issues.

In this training session, you'll learn how to:

• Use the text editor to create a navigable page structure
• Write effective alt text for images and charts
• Ensure readable color contrast
• Design accessible tables and links.
• Use Canvas accessibility tools, including checkers to find and fix common issues
• Use tools in Illinois Media Space caption videos. We'll also cover how to use a number of accessibility checkers to find and fix common issues.

By the end of this session, you'll have the confidence you need to create Canvas course sites that meet State and Federal accessibility standards

• Dates Offered: December 10, 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
• Facilitator: Lindsey Sharp
• Contact: Marc Thompson (thompso1@illinois.edu)
• Registration: Registration is required.

Register for the December 10 Workshop, Using the Pope Tech Canvas Accessibility Tool

Workshop Description:

Get up to speed on using the Pope Tech Canvas Accessibility Guide to make Canvas pages more accessible for everyone! In this hands-on workshop, we'll start with an overview of the Pope Tech Canvas Accessibility Guide, how it functions, what the various errors, alerts, structural elements, and features mean, and how to fix these issues on a Canvas page. Then we'll jump into some hands-on practice using the Canvas Accessibility Guide to evaluate the accessibility of Canvas pages and remediate basic accessibility issues. We'll discuss the limitations of the tool and what still needs to be checked manually using basic digital accessibility principles.

By the end of this workshop, you'll understand how to fix Canvas pages using the Pope Tech Canvas Accessibility Guide tool and be well on the way to creating inclusive Canvas pages that meet State and Federal accessibility standards.

• Date Offered: December 11, 1:00 - 2:00 PM
• Facilitator: Dan Hahn
• Contact: Marc Thompson (thompso1@illinois.edu)
• Registration: Registration is required.

Register for the December 11 Workshop, Make Your MS Word Documents Accessible

Workshop Description:

Get up to speed quickly on making your Microsoft Word documents accessible for everyone while meeting state and federal accessibility standards. In this hands-on workshop, we'll start with a brief overview of common accessibility challenges in Word and then jump right into practice.

You'll learn how to:

• Use the Styles tool to create a clean, navigable document structure
• Write effective alt text for images and charts, ensure readable color contrast and design accessible tables and links
• Use the MS Word Accessibility Checker to find and fix common issues

By the end of this session, you'll be ready to create inclusive documents for all.

• Date Offered: December 16, 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
• Facilitator: Priyanka Pradeep
• Contact: Marc Thompson (thompso1@illinois.edu)
• Registration: Registration is required.

Register for the December 16 Workshop, Checking Documents for Accessibility

Workshop Description:

Documents must be proactively accessible for all students. This hands-on workshop will cover what to look for and several tools to help you find and fix issues. You'll learn how to scan multiple document types for accessibility issues and remediate them.

• Dates Offered: December 18, 2:00 - 3:15 PM
• Facilitators: Kathy Adams and Chrissi Guarnieri
• Contact: Marc Thompson (thompso1@illinois.edu)
• Registration: Registration is required.

Register for the December 18 Workshop, Make Your MS PowerPoint Documents Accessible

Workshop Description:

Get up to speed quickly on making your PowerPoint presentations accessible for everyone while meeting state and federal accessibility standards. In this hands-on workshop, we'll begin with a brief overview of common accessibility challenges in PowerPoint and then dive straight into practical solutions.

You'll learn how to:

• Create clear, accessible slide content
• Utilize accessible visuals
• Structure slides for logical navigation, making sure your multimedia content is inclusive
• Use PowerPoint's built-in Accessibility Assistant to find and fix common issues

By the end of this workshop, you'll be crafting inclusive presentations that captivate your audience.