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Syllabus and Schedule Accessibility Checklist

Topics Covered

  1. Use Accessibility Checkers When Possible
  2. Check for Basic Readability
  3. Color
  4. Tables
  5. Create Meaningful Hyperlinks
  6. Converting to PDF

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Important Notes

For an accessible syllabus and schedule, aim to include all indicators.

The following checklist assumes you are using the UTSA Syllabus templates and that none of the template style has been altered. Be sure to remove all pink text from the syllabus template.

Use Accessibility Checkers When Possible

  • When creating documents, remove all errors, warnings, and tips from the MS accessibility checker. We highly recommend watching and implementing MS Office accessibility tutorials as you will develop a better understanding of the accessibility checker errors and warnings

Resources

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Check for Basic Readability

  • Organize content using ordered headings
  • Review all content to make sure it intuitively reads left to right, top to bottom
  • Ensure content does not rely on color, highlighting, font styles, or other sensory characteristics to convey meaning
  • Review content to ensure there are no more than two consecutive blank characters or spaces created using the space bar, tab, or enter (return) key
  • Keep all text at a minimum font size of 10
  • Limited your fonts to a maximum of three and use sans serif fonts
    Example: Arial, Calibri, Tahoma, Trebuchet MS, and Verdana
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Color

  • When adding color check to make sure to meet color contrast requirements
  • Review your content and make sure color use only serves an instructional purpose

Resources

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Tables

  • Review your tables to ensure they solely convey data or information – tables are not for laying out content
  • Avoid any scanned tables or table images – these are considered images not actual tables
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Create Meaningful Hyperlinks

  • Unlink and put brackets [ ] around URLs that are not hyperlinked to text
  • Avoid using the phrase "click here"
  • Check your links every semester to make sure they open properly
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Converting to PDF

  • Convert your Word document(s) to PDFs using the Microsoft Office Create Accessible PDFs steps
  • When you have PDFs, keep the original accessible format in case a student requests it

Resources

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Need Additional Assistance?

If you have questions about your syllabus and schedule or if you would like a printable copy of this checklist, please reach out to the Digital Accessibility team.

Email the UTSA Digital Accessibility Team