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Q&A Week 3: Questions Answered

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ReFocus Online Q&A Week 3 - Round 1 (7-1-20)

Below are the synthesized questions and answers from the ReFocus Online Q&A that happened July 1st, 2020.

Accessibility

What should we do when we need to make an accessible version of a scanned chapter, etc.?

We recommend that you reach out to our friendly Simpson Library staff for assistance with securing accessible scanned materials.  

At one point, it seemed like someone indicated a screen reader was an actual person (in response to a question someone indicated you sometimes need to know the background/training of the screen reader). Can you elaborate on this?

A screen reader is a machine, but its set-up is managed by a person. The point made during the presentation was referencing that the machine is only as effective as its set-up.

I understand the desire to have captioning on videos, but if I do not have anyone in a class that needs the captioning (accommodation through ODR) then do I have to do the captioning?

All videos and recordings uploaded for a class must be captioned. Captioning is not only an accommodation for students who receive support through ODR. Captioning provides access to information that may suddenly not be available due to technical difficulties (e.g. audio issues while recording is running) and environmental conditions (e.g. the ability to read information if a room or setting is too noisy or audio cannot be played at certain volumes). Also, some people process information more effectively and efficiently when it is provided via text or print (or in multiple modalities). 

I *thought* I heard the presenter on Monday say that you needed to go into the selection panel in order to put the *slide deck as a whole* into order, and after playing around with my ppt for a while, this still makes no sense to me. Surely the screen reader will just read the slides in the order in which they appear in the deck.

Yes, a screen reader will read a slide deck in order (i.e. from slide 1 to slide 10 in chronological order). However, you will need to pay attention to how information is ordered on individual slides to make sure a screen reader follows the correct ‘pathway’. 

I place a "tag line" at the bottom of all my powerpoints. It consists of the course title and school and, in the corner, a school logo. Will this create a problem for a "reader app" when reading the slides? Should I get rid of it?

You can create alt-text to describe the school logo (e.g. The University of Mary Washington school logo is in the right corner.). Because the school logo is more of a ‘decorative’ element and not integral to the content, you do not need to provide a full description of the actual school logo. 

Video

Someone mentioned that if you have a Gmail address you have an account on YouTube, correct?

Yes, that is correct. Google owns YouTube and it is one of the applications you have access to through that account. 

Last semester I created separate Channels in SOM for each course and then used one link for each course to get to all of the SOM videos for that course. Can I do the same in Youtube or should I transfer things back to SOM after doing captioning.

YouTube also allows for the creation of playlists so that would be an option if you wanted to use YouTube.  

 

We do not recommend streaming a Netflix documentary during a synchronous Zoom class meeting. There are copyright considerations as well as a diminished viewing experience for students. Better options include: 

  • Checking to see if the documentary is available for streaming via Simpson Library. Again, our friendly library staff can help you if the documentary is currently not available. By using a legally obtained and streamed documentary, you can insert a link into your Canvas site for easy access to all students. 
  • If all of your students already have Netflix accounts, you could do a ‘synchronous viewing party’ where the class watches the documentary together on their own screens, but using chat or another messaging platform (like Twitter) to share thoughts and ideas. 

 

Zoom recordings are data intensive. As we increase our use of these will there be enough storage to maintain the information?

If you plan on recording Zoom meetings to make them available you’ll have to find a workflow that includes uploading and storing those in a place that is accessible for students. Right now we recommend OneDrive or YouTube. If you haven’t used either one of these services you can see our getting started guide for OneDrive or getting started guide for YouTube.  

 

Canvas

I've always used Canvas for tracking grades, accepting at least some assignments, and sharing files. I've also been fairly comfortable changing the link bar on the left to hide stuff that's not needed from students. Using pages and/or modules to organize a class that's fully online makes me think that there's likely more I need to hide this way to keep students working through things in the way I intend rather than just clicking through to all aspects of the course. Can we get some advice about what to keep/hide and/or some different examples of what faculty do and why?

To keep your Canvas site manageable and accessible, we recommend only having items on the navigation menu that are necessary for moving through the course. Each course is different, so there are no standard ‘keep these, remove those’ recommendations. Do consider, however, how you are pacing through students a course and whether access to a navigation menu item impacts that pathway. For example, if you only want students to access specific content after completing prerequisites, be aware that by using Files students may be able to obtain the content early unless specific settings are set when material is uploaded to Canvas. Reach out to the Center for Teaching or DLS if you need help imagining course pathways and access. 

 

I'd like to have my students to build a website or blog. One way that I am thinking of is creating pages within the course Canvas and give students permission to change the content of the page. What are some other options out there for assignments like this?

Canvas pages, while useful for co-creating content in a shared space, is not the same as building a website or using a blog. If you are interested in building a public facing website or exploring blogging we recommend you reach out to DLS to talk about Domain of One’s Own and UMWBlogs. 

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