Recent updates
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Word: Productivity/Accessibility Tab
Updated onArticleThe Texas Governor's Committee on People with Disabilities worked with a multi-agency team of accessibility professionals to create several "modules" on how to create accessible Microsoft Office documents. They also created a Microsoft Word ribbon "Productivity/Accessibility tab" that works in Word versions 2013 and 2016 to make it easier to create accessible documents by placing all the commands in one place. The download is available along with the instructions for installation.
What kind of user are you? Staff Microsoft
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Excel: Macros
Updated onArticleA macro is a series of instructions that you, as a user, can automatically direct Excel to execute upon the push of a button.
It saves time and is very helpful if you take the same steps with various reports in Excel.
These instructions can be saved to your personal macro workbooks in Excel to use whenever needed.
Knowledge by Tool Microsoft Microsoft Excel
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Accessibility
Updated onArticleAccessibility can be an issue for course content, emails, or newsletters. Here are some tips to help make your content accessible by all.
- Images -
- Use alt tags (it's the text screen readers use to provide a description of the image) for all images.
- Try to use descriptive alt tags so that sight-impaired students or staff will know exactly what the image is displaying. For ex., a graph showing the population growth in San Antonio from 100,000 in 1910 to 1.4 million in 2013 should be titled just like; a tag that is too generic (for ex., "a graph" or "population growth") will not be helpful.
- Text on images should follow good color contrast guidelines.
- Images should be legible when enlarged.
- Audio/Video -
- If you use video and/or audio files in your content, you will need to provide synchronized captions for videos while a text transcript is needed for audio-only files.
- Check with your campus IIC/IT to caption your course videos.
- Avoid autoplay.
- Audio and video players should be keyboard accessible on the pause, stop, and mute/adjust volume functions.
- Hyperlinks -
- Use descriptive text descriptions for hyperlinks (for ex., Please watch this video of mitosis—how a cell divides (Links to an external site) before taking the quiz on mitosis).
- Link text should make sense when read out of context.
- Describe the destination of the link. Identify if the link sending the audience to an external web site or to document?
- Avoid using the full/long URL within the text.
- Color -
- Check the background to text contrast ratio for readability on all screens and computers.
- Do not use color as the sole method to convey content and navigation (for ex., all items in blue are assignments, the yellow items will need three responses instead of two,...).
- In General -
- Avoid using blinking, animated text, and images.
- Avoid using "Click here" or "click below".
- Use clear descriptions in instructions (for ex., rather than "What would you call this style of architecture?" describe the building and ask "What style of architecture would you call a large building with a rounded portico, massive columns, and turret windows?").
- If you have activities in your course that require use of a mouse, webcam, stylus, or other tool, consider how you might alter those if you have a movement-disabled student.
- Use your Concourse syllabus since it contains the updated, legal accessibility statement for your students.
- Create accessible PDFs and documents. Both Adobe and Microsoft have built-in accessibility checkers.
- Faculty has access to the UDOIT accessibility auditing tool that makes recommended corrections to make your content accessible.
- Create document structure -
- By using document styles with headers and paragraph tags.
- Do not rely on font size, bolding, indents, etc. only for layout.
- Divide large blocks of text into smaller chunks. Use white space appropriately.
- Charts and graphs -
- Include detailed descriptions for charts and data tables; use descriptive titles, a key, and x/y axis labels.
Knowledge by Tool Technology and Support Information Accessibility
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Adding External Training in AlamoTalent
Updated onArticleTrack your external professional development within AlamoTalent!
If you have attended a conference or training session outside of the Alamo Colleges District in 2018 or 2019, be sure to add it to your Employee Transcript in AlamoTalent! By keeping track of your job-specific development hours, you’ll be able to ensure you showcase valuable training you have taken.
Adding external training in AlamoTALENT is simple. Just follow the steps below, and you’ll be able to track your external development hours and upload verification.
What kind of user are you? Instructor AlamoTalent
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Start of Semester Checklist
Updated onArticleThis checklist is a starting point to ensure your course is ready for student access and engagement prior to the start of a new term. Use this tool as a starting point to ready yourself and your course.
What kind of user are you? Instructor Canvas
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Canvas Accessibility
Updated onArticleCanvas is a huge portion of our faculty, staff, and students lives. Accessibility and usability are the most important items of making our experiences with Canvas pleasant and useful. This guide is dedicated on how to make items more accessible and usable within Canvas.
What kind of user are you? Instructor Canvas
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Canvas Keyboard Shortcuts
Updated onArticleBy pressing the comma key, users can view a pop-up window with shortcuts for keyboard navigation. Keyboard shortcuts are available on the following Canvas areas:
- Assignments Index Page
- Course Settings: Navigation Tab
- Discussion Threads
- Gradebook
- Modules Index Page
- SpeedGrader
Download the Canvas Keyboard Shortcut PDF.
This information was found in the Canvas Community.
What kind of user are you? Instructor Canvas