Digital Accessibility Training Plan – Staff
This plan equips Prince George's Community College (PGCC) staff with training and resources to create accessible digital content in compliance with WCAG 2.1 AA standards and relevant regulations.
Goals
- Staff will have access to just-in-time training and resources for ensuring digital accessibility in documents and multimedia they create and share.
- Staff will have access to in-person and self-paced training options.
- Staff will have access to training and resources enabling them to create accessible documents and multimedia using:
- Microsoft 365 Apps (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, etc.)
- Adobe Acrobat Pro (PDFs)
- Panopto (Videos)
Objectives
Staff will be able to:
- Identify key laws and regulations requiring digital accessibility
- Explain PGCC’s responsibility for ensuring digital accessibility
- Apply proper document structure and remediate accessibility issues when creating content, for example:
- Provide descriptive alt-text for all images
- Use proper styles to structure content (e.g., headings, titles, table of contents, etc.)
- Create meaningful hyperlink text
- Ensure appropriate color contrast
- Format tables and data correctly
- EOCR scanned PDFs, apply appropriate tagging, and set correct reading order
- Use built-in Accessibility Checker tools to identify and fix issues
- Ensure all uploaded or embedded videos include closed captions and/or transcripts
Training Delivery Methods
- In person workshops
- Self-paced modules
- Reference resources
Training
In Person
Digital Accessibility with TTMD
This course is offered through TTMD to faculty and staff throughout the year. This hands-on workshop provides faculty and staff with a comprehensive introduction to digital accessibility. Faculty and staff will walk away from the workshop equipped to ensure all digital content and resources created are accessible to all users. Specific topics include digital accessibility principles, creating accessible user experience, and creating accessible Word documents and PDFs.
Panopto Kickstart
This course is offered through TTMD. This hands-on workshop familiarizes faculty and staff with the purpose, interface, and basic functionality of Panopto. Topics include video creation, editing and creating/edition captions.
Self-Paced Modules
(CornerStone Course) Word 365 (2024): Managing documents in Word 365 (2024)
Learn to create and save custom templates, view document statistics, remove hidden information, use the Accessibility Checker to improve readability for users with disabilities, configure page layouts, and export to alternative formats.
PGCC Digital Accessibility
This hub equips faculty and staff with the knowledge, tools, and support you need to make the digital content you create and share accessible to all members of our community. Whether you’re designing a course, developing web content, creating documents, or planning events, these resources will help you integrate digital accessibility from the start—not as an afterthought.
PGCC Digital Accessibility Concept Videos
A series short overview videos addressing the most common challenges in ensuring digital accessibility. Videos include:
- Adding Alt text to Images
- Adding Headers to Documents
- Adding Headers to Tables
- Making PDFs accessible
- Creating appropriate hyperlink text
- Accessing Panopto transcripts
Microsoft 365 Videos
Step-by-step tutorials for remediating content in Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint:
Panopto Video Tutorials
Step-by-step guides for smart captioning:
Resources
USM Remediation Sprints
The Kirwan Center at the University of Maryland developed a series of sprint workshops covering one digital accessibility concept a month that are available to all public institutions in the state of Maryland. Upcoming spring workshops are listed on the page as well as recordings for the prior sprints in the fall. Topics include:
- PDF Practices that Promote Digital Accessibility
- Images & Alt Text
- Color & Contrast
- Links & Navigation
- Headings
- Tables and Data
- Multimedia
Fact Sheet: New Rule on the Accessibility of Web Content and Mobile Apps Provided by State and Local Governments
This site provides information on DOJs (Department of Justice) final rulemaking updating its regulations for Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). It covers the specific requirements for compliance for all higher education institutions. It includes information on how to ensure that all web content and mobile applications are accessible to all people.
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1
WCAG 2.1 (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1) are internationally recognized standards from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) for making web content accessible to people with various disabilities, including low vision, blindness, hearing loss, and cognitive impairments. WCAG 2.1 AA is the minimum standard for higher education institutions for compliance.