Accessibility in teaching

Source: https://www.tuwien.at/en/studies/teaching-at-tu-wien/digitally-supported-teaching/barrierefreiheit-in-der-lehre Parent: https://www.tuwien.at/en/studies/teaching-at-tu-wien

General information

The TU Wien is committed to equality and inclusion of people with impairments and/or chronic illnesses and has set itself the goal of creating framework conditions for the equal participation of people with disabilities and/or chronic illnesses in all teaching, research and administrative activities (see TU Wien policy published in the Mittelungsblatt No. 15/2014).

Accessibility enables all people – with and without impairments – to make unrestricted use of services, facilities and objects in daily life. This topic therefore concerns not only the infrastructure and classroom teaching at TU Wien, but also scenarios created by the digitalisation of teaching.

Information on how teaching can be designed in such a way that people with disabilities also benefit from it can be found on the pages of TUW barrierefrei.

Another important service in terms of accessibility is provided by GESTU. This is a competence and service centre that supports deaf and hard of hearing students in their studies with a wide range of services to enable them equal access to their studies. Teachers can also get support here if they have questions or concerns.

Seminars on the topic of barrier-free teaching are held regularly. You can find the current offerings in theinternen Veranstaltungen in TISS. New since the winter semester 2021 is that teachers can have TUWEL course content checked for accessibility. You can find instructions on how to do this cheat sheet.

Accessibility of teaching and learning materials

According to the principle "essential for some, useful for all" (WAI), accessible documents are not only made for a certain group of people, but are more usable for all. When creating digital teaching content, care must be taken to ensure that it is as accessible as possible. A course is barrier-free if it is accessible and usable for people with disabilities in the generally usual way, without particular difficulty and basically without outside help. (see BGStG §5). The TU Wien is committed to the equality and inclusion of people with disabilities and/or chronic illnesses and has set itself the goal of creating framework conditions for the equal participation of people with disabilities and/or chronic illnesses in all teaching, research and administrative activities (see TU Wien Guideline published in the Mitteilungsblatt No. 15/2014).

Summary of (accessible) principles for the creation of learning materials

1. Perceptibility

Text alternatives for non-text contents
Captions and alternatives for audio and video content
Content adaptable and available for assistive technologies
sufficient contrasts to make things easier to see and hear

2. Functionality:

Functions must also be operable with the keyboard
Give students enough time to read and use content

3. Comprehensibility:

Make texts readable and understandable
The display and usability of content must be predictable
Support users in avoiding or correcting errors.

4. Compatibility

Maximise compatibility with current and future technologies

Formats for the delivery of learning content

When creating digital teaching content, care must also be taken to ensure that it is as barrier-free as possible. A course is barrier-free if it is accessible and usable for people with disabilities in the generally usual way, without particular difficulty and basically without outside help. Accessibility is also anchored in law in the form of the principle of equal rights in the Federal Constitutional Law Art. 7 Para. 1. The TU Wien is committed to equality and inclusion of people with impairments and/or chronic illnesses and has set itself the goal of creating framework conditions for the equal participation of people with disabilities and/or chronic illnesses in all teaching, research and administrative activities (see TU Wien policy published in the Mittelungsblatt No. 15/2014). There is a wide range of possibilities to convey learning content to students. An equally large selection of different tools and learning materials makes it possible to adapt digital teaching individually to the requirements of the respective course. The most important formats for learning content are listed below:

Lecture recordings (recommended tool: LectureTube): These can be recorded in the current semester, but can also be made available from an older semester, as long as the content has remained the same. It is also recommended to make the recordings available over a longer period of time so that students can take another look at them before exams. A new feature is the integral upload option for videos in LectureTube via TUWEL.
Live Streams(recommended tools: LectureTube Live and ZOOM): As already noted under the item lecture recordings, it is recommended to record the live streams and make them available to the students later, for example via TUWEL. The integration of LectureTube Live in TUWEL has been revised and significantly simplified. A separate activity "LectureTube Live" is available.
Recorded presentations (recommended tool: Camtasia Studio): This format is very similar to the lecture recordings, however, much shorter presentations can be recorded here that relate to a specific topic in addition to the lecture recording and deal with in-depth content. These videos can be uploaded directly to LectureTube using the "LectureTube Upload" service via the TUWEL course and are available to students in the corresponding TUWEL course. In addition, with LectureTube Studio short videos can be recorded via the web browser without additional hardware and uploaded to LectureTube. In this way, the videos are directly integrated into the corresponding TUWEL course and are available to the students.
Scripts: On TUWEL, these can be provided collectively together with supplementary formats.

Designing (accessible) text documents

Since text documents (usually in PDF format) make up the majority of course documents, this is dealt with in particular here. With the Office licences for employees, the TU Wien also provides format templates that can be used as a basis for own documents. In addition, each Office licence includes the plugin axesWord, which can be used to convert Word documents into PDF files. The human resources development department also offers, for example, introductory seminars on the topic of "creating accessible documents". In order to make the planned learning materials as barrier-free as possible, the necessary aspects should already be taken into account during the conception phase by considering the following points:

Correct use of format templates (see TU CD templates: headings, lists structuring the text, ...)
Using automatically generated tables of contents for longer documents
Provide text alternatives for graphics whose content is relevant to text comprehension. Diagrams and complex illustrations should be described with the help of labels or in continuous text
Use of lists and numbering for listings
Use of links and text marks for easier navigation
Avoiding fancy fonts
Correct insertion of tables
Sufficient contrast between foreground and background colour
Information must not be conveyed by colour alone
Entering metadata (title and language) for the document
Correct conversion of Word documents into a "tagged" PDF

Designing (barrier-free) presentation slides

The same applies to the design of presentation slides as to text documents in general; in addition, attention should be paid to:

Use of slide layouts. (Slide masters are the "format templates" for presentation slides).
checking the reading order of the objects on each slide
Grouping of complex objects consisting of individual parts; inserting as a single object

Good practice for creating accessible educational videos

When creating digital teaching content, care must also be taken to ensure that it is barrier-free. A course is barrier-free if it is accessible and usable for people with disabilities in the generally usual way, without particular difficulty and basically without outside help. Accessibility is also anchored in law in the form of the principle of equal rights in the Federal Constitutional Law Art. 7 Para. 1. The TU Wien is committed to the equality and inclusion of people with disabilities and/or chronic illnesses and has set itself the goal of creating framework conditions for the equal participation of people with disabilities and/or chronic illnesses in all teaching, research and administrative activities (see TU Wien policy published in the Mittelungsblatt No. 15/2014).

In order to create awareness of the importance of the topic of accessibility, this subitem lists the individual forms of impairments that may be relevant in the context of university operations: Disability in mobility, fine motor difficulties, visual impairment, hearing impairments, cognitive impairments or reading difficulties and concentration disorders, psychological impairments, international students with limited language skills and/or flight history, students with caring responsibilities.

This section aims to provide educators with an overview of the process of creating accessible educational videos - from planning and recording to post-production and subtitling - in order to make educational videos accessible and inclusive through proper subtitling and thus provide all students with a digital educational experience that they can potentially take advantage of, thereby meeting the intended culture of participation and fulfilling equal opportunities as enshrined in law.

At this point it should be pointed out that due to the current technical equipment at the TU Wien, there are limits to accessibility in the creation of teaching videos and this excerpt deals with teaching videos that are created in the context of a course with the destination of a TUWEL course. The creation of accessible teaching videos with the current technical conditions is shown. This essentially involves the creation of a subtitle for the course recording, which is subtitled via Adobe Premiere and made available in a TUWEL course. The subtitling will not only reach students with hearing impairments, but also other students who may have a need for subtitling, such as foreign language users and mobile users.

Remember: Part of the accessibility of a course is also that presentations and course content are made available in accessible form in the TUWEL course before the start of the course. Further information on how teaching can be designed in such a way that people with disabilities also benefit can be found on the TUW barrierefrei. Seminars on the topic of barrier-free teaching are held regularly. You can find the current offer in the list of internen Veranstaltungen in TISS. New since the winter semester 2021 is that teachers can have TUWEL check course content for accessibility. You can find instructions on how to do this in this cheat sheet.

Checking a homepage for accessibility is possible free of charge on the Servicepage Siteimprove

To be considered before recording

In order to make the planned video production accessible, we recommend that accessibility is already taken into account when designing a course recording by considering the following points:

creating a script/storyboard
paying particular attention to the description of visual content such as diagrams and pictures in the lecture
making sure that the learning content shown is large enough in the picture and legible
Ensure optimal lighting conditions so that the blackboard, the presentation and the speaker's face are clearly visible when speaking.
Pay attention to room acoustics: choose quiet surroundings without background noise, reduce sound reflections.
Eliminate potential sources of noise: e.g. switch mobile phone to silent mode, switch off browser/OS notifications, pop-up notifications.
Make sure that the lecturer or the board picture/presentation/learning content can be seen in the centre of the picture.
Make sure that subtitles do not obscure important learning content.
Choose a neutral, clear background
Set sufficient contrast for pictures and graphics - especially between foreground and background.
When selecting colours, avoid red and green tones.
Use an external microphone - lecture hall microphone or headset.
Adjust or check the recording volume
Warm up the voice before recording
If possible, split the learning content into several, shorter videos. This is user friendly and increases attention.

\ For using LectureTube in the lecture hall:

The prerequisite for recording videos via LectureTube in the lecture hall is a confirmed lecture hall booking for the respective LectureTube lecture hall and the planning of the recording via TISS. Scheduled recordings start and stop automatically. Detailed instructions for planning recordings as well as starting up and operating the lecture theatre equipment can be found in the TUWEL Tutorials.

Während der Aufnahme zu beachten

Folgende Maßnahmen und Empfehlungen sollen nach Möglichkeit während der Aufnahme im Fokus des/der Vortragenden stehen, um die Barrierefreiheit des Lehrvideos zu gewährleisten:

deutlich und in mäßigem Tempo sprechen – erhöht die Verständlichkeit, ermöglicht das Lippenlesen, gewährleistet die Effizienz des Transkriptionstools
Pausen einlegen beim Sprechen, vor allem zwischen verschiedenen Themenblöcken
auf Wortwahl achten: Metaphern, Sprichwörter, Dialekt vermeiden
Einsatz von Mimik und Gestik
Erläuterung von Abkürzungen und Fachausdrücken
visuelle Inhalte so erklären, dass automatische Untertitelung Sinn macht und funktionieren kann
nie mit dem Rücken zur Kamera sprechen
keine Bildinhalte, die im Zeitraum von einer Sekunde häufiger als dreimal aufblitzen (kann Stress hervorrufen)
wichtige Inhalte während und am Ende des Vortrages nochmals zusammenfassen
Fragen aus dem Auditorium wiederholen, bevor diese beantwortet werden

Anweisungen für Übungen und Aktivitäten laut vorlesen

To be considered after the recording

The video recorded in the lecture hall or produced in other ways is edited (cut, mixed, etc.) and subsequently subtitled.

The most renowned applications for editing video material are Adobe Premiere (included in the Adobe Creative Suite) and Final Cut Pro (only for macOS). Both applications are available as "Campus Software" of the TU Wien. If you need a licence, you can apply for it via tu.it. This also applies to Cam-tasia, by TechSmith, which is recommended because it is easier to use.

Adobe Premiere is currently recommended for subtitling, as it has very good speech recognition and has been clarified in terms of data protection. A detailed description can be found in the appendix of the guide as well as comprehensive video instructions for the simple subtitling of educational videos in Adobe Premiere can be found here.

The following EU standards for subtitling generally apply:

Insertion at the same time as the sound and as lip-synchronous as possible.
Divide lines according to sensory units
Position at the bottom centre
High-contrast, easy-to-read font on background
Sans serif font
Minimum duration: 2 seconds
Reading time: 13 - 15 characters per second
Number of lines: 2 lines
New German spelling
Display number as number, high number with dot after thousands digit
Screen reader readable

Data protection in educational videos

The processing of personal data is generally prohibited and only permitted in the cases of Art. 6 (1) DSGVO. Processing is permissible if

consent has been given
the purpose is the fulfilment of a contract or pre-contractual measures
there is a legal obligation
the data is processed for the purpose of protecting vital interests
it is for the exercise of public interests/exercise of official authority
it is carried out to protect the legitimate interests of the controller.

\ As a general rule:\ Recording in the course of a course via TUWEL is also permitted without consent.\ However, data protection information must be provided.\ If a recording or streaming is to be loaded at a location other than TUWEL or used for a longer period than the specific course, the following applies: If a person other than the course instructor can be seen or clearly heard in a recording, consent must also be obtained in addition to the data protection information.\ Consent can be revoked at any time!\ If consent has not been obtained or has been refused, this part must be deleted from the recording.\ Recording of back of the head or indistinct, unidentifiable voices (as is often the case with questions and comments without a microphone) does not require consent.\ A question asked by a student may be repeated over the microphone without naming the person.

\ Details and "best practice" examples can be found in the handbook on data protection and copyright in teaching.

Copyright in teaching

Basically, copyright protects intellectual property from being used by third parties. Intellectual property includes works such as texts, music, photos, videos etc. As long as there is no permission, only the author has the right to copy, distribute etc.

When you may use other people's works:

When there is permission: This is usually the easiest and safest way
Use in scientific works and for lectures of an educational nature (§ 42f UrhG)
Third-party works may also be incorporated into one's own academic works or lectures without permission and thus may also be reproduced, distributed and made available (i.e. online), but the following conditions must be met:
The own work must be scientific
The third-party work must have been published
No confidential documents
Availability on the internet is sufficient
The extent to which the foreign work can be used must be necessary for its understanding
It must be cited correctly (citation of source)
Online publication is only permitted if it does not include works from teaching materials (textbooks, lecture notes, etc.) (permission must be obtained for this)
Use for teaching or instruction at schools and universities:
The works used must be related to the course.
Reproduction is free to the extent necessary for the participants in the course.
Access to learning platforms must be restricted to the respective participants.

What must be observed in the case of guest lecturers:

In the case of contributions of a part, which can be separated from as a whole, or of the whole lecture, the guest lecturer acquires the copyright for his part
The guest lecturer must agree to a recording or streaming.
If the parts cannot be separated, the lecturer and the guest lecturer become co-authors of the whole work.

Details and "best practice" examples can be found in the handbook on data protection and copyright in teaching.