Check It Off Your List!

The following course accessibility checklist is designed to help you make your course meet WCAG 2.2 level AA standards. The items listed below do not cover all WCAG 2.2 elements—some of these are met by settings and formatting within the software platforms we use or by our own website policies, etc. However, for course content and settings which are within the control of faculty, checking off these items will ensure that your course meets all of the WCAG 2.2 elements over which you have control.

Also included in this checklist are items intended to incorporate elements from the accessibility section of the Quality Matters (QM) Rubric.

Printable Version

If you would like to print the checklist and mark items off as you go, download the Printable Version of the checklist.

Printable checklist

How to Use the Checklist

The checklist is divided into five sections: Learning Management System (LMS), Policy (POL), Media (MED), Files (FILE), and Web (WEB). Each section begins with a description of the content and includes a table. In some sections, the table will simply describe items that need to be included in the course. In others, the table will describe items that will need to be checked and possibly revised for formatting in order to make the source accessible.

  • The first section of the Course Accessibility Rubric is concerned with the use of KSU’s LMS, D2L Brightspace. Because D2L is especially designed for online distribution of course content and assessments, and because it has a powerful accessibility checker integrated within it (Blackboard Ally), all official course content should be placed in D2L so that students have digital access.

    ELEMENT IDENTIFIER DESCRIPTION
    LMS 1 All official course content and online assessments—any documents, files, videos, links, or resources necessary for the class -- are stored and available within D2L.
    LMS2 Course layout (navbar, navigation, homepage, content organization) is readable and easy to use.

  • This section refers to accessibility documentation identified in the accessibility category of the QM Rubric, specifically regarding institutional policies and technology statements.

    ELEMENT IDENTIFIER DESCRIPTION
    POL 1 Syllabus contains KSU accessibility policy and contact information for Student Disability Services.
    POL 2 Accessibility statements for all technologies in the course are provided.

  • In this section, the term “media” refers to multi-media sources, such as video and audio files.

    ELEMENT IDENTIFIER TYPE OF MEDIA DESCRIPTION
    MED 1 Audio files containing NO synchronized video or images For any pre-recorded audio files (such as an MP3), text alternative (captions or transcript) is provided. Text alternative is 95% accurate or higher. For music files, a text description of the music is included. 
    MED 2 Video files containing NO synchronized dialogue or audio For any pre-recorded video files that do not include audio, an audio alternative (i.e. audio description) with equivalent information is provided.
    MED 3 Video files containing synchronized audio content

    For any pre-recorded video files that include audio: 

    Synchronized text (captions) that are 95% accurate or higher are provided for the audio portion of the video.
    MED 4 Synchronous (live) video with audio Captions are available for all live audio content in synchronized (synchronous) video (e.g. Teams or Zoom meetings).
    MED 5 Standalone images (images not in a document) Standalone images include appropriate alternative text unless they are decorative or described in the text.

  • In this section, the term "files" refers to any type of document file, including word processing documents (e.g. Microsoft Word), HTML pages (e.g. D2L pages, Softchalk modules, lessons created with articulate products), presentations (e.g. Microsoft PowerPoint), spreadsheets, and PDFs. To learn more about the descriptions, click the linked resources.

    ELEMENT IDENTIFIER TYPE OF FILE DESCRIPTION
    FILE 1 All Images of text are not used (scans of text, pictures of text in documents, etc.) unless image is decorative; text can be customized to user's requirements; or a particular presentation of text is essential to information conveyed (a photograph of text is the subject).
    FILE 2 All Images in documents include appropriate alternative text unless decorative or described in the text.
    FILE 3 All All documents include properly-nested semantic structure when appropriate.
    FILE 4 All Tables have appropriate header rows or columns. 
    FILE 5 All Tables are only used to share data and are not used for formatting purposes alone.
    FILE 6 All Text is sufficient contrast 4.5:1, unless text is not intended to be visible. Color is not used to convey meaning.
    FILE 7 All Hyperlinks are written as descriptive links, not as long links or with non-descriptive language such as "click here."
    FILE 8 All Appropriate list styles are used for lists (bullets or numbered lists).
    FILE 9 Presentations All slides include properly formatted title.
    FILE 10 Presentations Reading order of slides is checked by instructor to ensure they are read correctly.

  • The web section of the rubric refers to any third-party resources (e.g. publisher resources, etc.) or websites that the course uses, whether mandatory or not.

    ELEMENT IDENTIFIER DESCRIPTION
    WEB 1 Third-party websites used are checked using WAVE and contain minimal accessibility issues.
    WEB 2 The instructor has reviewed Voluntary Product Accessibility Templates (VPATs) for all third-party technologies (e.g. publisher ancillaries, etexts, etc.) in the course and has a plan to address any accessibility gaps for that technology.