ESU Learning Technologies: December 2019

Courtesy of Lisa Dickson, Hutchinson Community College

Fonts & Typeface

Use Sans Serif typeface (eg Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, Trebuchet)
Use size 12 point or larger typeface
Left-justify text
Don't use bold or italics (many screen readers won't announce them). Instead, add the word "Important" or "note"

Color

Use sufficient color contrast

We recommend the Colour Contrast Analyzer - a free download

The color of the page can be changed using the File menu > page Setup > Page Color. Choose a typeface with sufficient color contrast
Don't use color alone to convey meaning

Links

Use descriptive links (eg visit the PBS website)

Don't spell out URLs (eg http://www.pbs.org) or use the words "click here"

Highlight the text that needs to be linked > right-click and select Link or select the link icon from the toolbar

If a URL needs to be included for printing, include it in parentheses following the descriptive link, but don't hyperlink (to avoid duplicate links)

eg, Please visit the PBS website (www.pbs.org)
Shorten long URLs using TinyURL or Bitly

Headings

Use Styles to format text as headings

Don't use large, bold font as a heading

Highlight the text that should be a heading, then use the Styles menu or the Format menu to select the appropriate heading level

To change the appearance of a Heading Style, make the formatting changes to the text, highlight that text, and then use the Styles or the Format menu to select "Update heading 'some text' to match"

Use Headings in the correct order. Don't skip Heading levels. (eg Heading 1 to Heading 3)

You can check levels using the View menu > Show Document Outline

The Title and Subtitle should only be used for a document with a title page. Normally only one Title and Subtitle per document

Use Heading Level 1 only once in a document

Headings go as far as Heading 6

Lists

Use numbered or bulleted lists from the Format menu. Don't manually type numbers, asterisks, hyphens

Columns

Use the Columns option in the Format menu

Do not use tabs or tables to format text

Images & Graphics

Always use alternative (alt) text to describe images

Alt text should be short and descriptive. Don't be overly wordy. 1-2 brief sentences is recommended
Avoid using the word "image" or "picture" in the alt text because the screen reader will already announce that it's a picture or image

Select the image > right-click > select Alt text. Enter the alternative text in the Description box

If an image contains text, that text should be included in the Alt text
For complex images that cannot be easily described, link to a separate document that descries the image or describe the image using text that appears above or below the image

Not all screen readers can read Google Docs Alt text, so consider adding a caption in the page as well.
Image positioning should be set to In-Line
Color alone should not be used to convey meaning

If you print the image in B&W, will it be understandable? If not, it is not accessible

Text within an image should have sufficient color contrast against the image background

Tables

Tables should be used for data relationships only, not for layout and formatting

Insert menu > Table > select the table size

Keep tables small and basic so that they are understandable without Header Rows

Google Docs does not allow you designate Column and Header Rows which are used to announce table elements

Still include a Header Row (don't start with data in the first row). Screen readers automatically read the first row as a Header Row
Table cells should not be empty, including the top-left cell
Avoid split, merged, or nested cells as they can change the reading order of the table

Test the reading order of the table

Click your cursor in the top-left cell and repeatedly press the Tab key. The cursor should move from left to right and top to bottom through the table

Navigation Landmarks

Landmarks such as headers, footers, and page numbers help readers navigate a document, which is especially helpful for long documents

Insert menu > Header and Page Number

Table of Contents

A Table of Contents is recommended for longer documents to improve navigation for assistive technologies.

If you do this after creating the document and if Heading Styles have been applied, a ToC with clickable links will automatically generate
Place your cursor where you want to insert the ToC. From the Insert menu > select Table of Contents and select the format

Comments & Suggestions

Use the Comments & Suggestions tools. Screen readers can jump to them

Don't write comments or notes within the document itself.

Comments

Highlight the text or object on which you want to comment > click the Comment button on the toolbar. Or Insert > Comment

Suggestions

From the top-right corner, use the drop-down to select Suggesting. If you don't see that option, ask the file owner to enable the permission

When you edit document text using Suggestions, you will see your changes in a new color. Anything you delete will appear as a strike-through. Notes of your edits are made in the right margin

Downloading a Google Doc

Google Docs can be downloaded in multiple other formats

File menu > Download as...

Don't save as PDF or Print to PDF as the tagging will be stripped

Instead, download as Word and then convert to PDF

Check the downloaded document for accessibility

Even if the Google Doc is accessible, the converted file might not be

Math & Science

Use EquatIO or Mathtype to create accessible math equations.
Equations cannot be written in an accessible format using the Google Docs Equation Editor

Forms

Use Google Forms, not Google Docs

Checking your Google Doc Accessibility

Use Grackle Chrome Extension

Over the 2019-2020 holiday break, ESU will change the Vericite plagiarism detection software to SimCheck (Similarity Check) - created by the parent company Turnitin. Below we've listed a few common questions we anticipate with respect to this change.

Why is it changing? Vericite was acquired by Turnitin roughly two years ago. As part of that acquisition, the Vericite product has been discontinued and is being replaced with a completely new product developed by the Turnitin company called SimCheck.

Why does ESU need to change now? The Vericite product is no longer updated and support is limited. It is scheduled for end-of-life (EOL) in a few months. Technically, we could wait until summer to convert, but that delay will likely disrupt courses. We've determined that the transition will be less disruptive if completed over the holiday shutdown when courses are not actively running. The actual change will occur on December 17th.

Does it integrate into Canvas? Yes. It will work very similar to Vericite. (See video links below.) There will be a checkbox in the Assignment area that allows faculty to add plagiarism detection to student submissions. And just like Vericite, faculty can see similarity reports from within the Speedgrader and the gradebook.

Can faculty 'direct submit' an assignment? Yes. Unlike Vericite which did not support Direct Submissions (eg submitting papers without creating a Canvas assignment), SimCheck allows submission outside of Canvas. Moreover, faculty can submit multiple files at once.

How quickly are similarity reports created? That is up to the instructor. Reports can be immediate, after the assignment is graded, after a certain date, or never.

Where are the papers stored? Similar to Vericite, SimCheck can index student submissions in a university (private) repository that is not shared with other institutions. That was a primary reason ESU switched from the original Turnitin product several years ago. This important feature provides intellectual property protection for student work. Faculty also have the option of storing papers in a "standard" repository which is shared with other universities. Faculty can define institutional repository or a standard repository when creating the assignment. A feature called Submission Indexing gives faculty the option to compare papers to other student papers within the institution.

What happens to the Vericite Data when we change? Turnitin will make an institutional 'copy' of our data when they convert us to SimCheck. That means we can see historical information related to any assignments dating back to when ESU first licensed the product. This data will be available, but will not carry forward into SimCheck.

Is SimCheck accessible? Yes. SimCheck conforms to WCAG 2.0 AA accessibility standards.

How do I use it with Canvas? This USER GUIDE provides step-by-step information regarding using SimCheck within Canvas. Or, you can refer to the videos below.

How does SimCheck color indexing differ from Vericite? SimCheck Colors are actually easier to interpret than Vericite. They range from light blue (0% match) to dark blue (1-24% match), yellow (25-49%), orange (50-74%), and red (75-100%).