Document Accessibility for Student Employees
New for 2023-2024! Emphasis on course materials and academic papers.
In 2021-22, the Universal Design Center (UDC) conducted a pilot with select departments to train their student employees in making documents accessible. The pilot was a success, so for 2022-23 we are pleased to offer this program to all CSUN departments.
Goals for this program include:
- Increase the availability of accessible documents at CSUN.
- Provide a cost-effective, scalable option for departments to get assistance with inaccessible document files.
- Introduce student employees to accessibility as an aspect of diversity, equity and inclusion.
- Train student employees in the skills of both evaluating and remediating multiple file formats.
Upon completion, student employees will be able to create, evaluate and, if needed, fix Word, PowerPoint and PDF documents.
The Fall training will be held from September to October 2023 and takes 20 hours (maximum) to complete. An important component will be WebAIM's Accessible Document Training, offered courtesy of Information Technology. This on-demand (asynchronous) component of the training should take less than 12 hours. In parallel, the cohort will meet — in person — with the UDC team for five Friday afternoons, for a total of 7.5 hours.
24 seats remaining. Minimum cohort size: 10 student employees.
Supervisors' Orientation - June 2023
| Week | Meet-up | Topic | Module | Assessment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | July 12, 10am to 11:30am | Introduction | 1. Document Content | None |
| 2 | July 19, 10am to 11:30am | Descriptive Text | 2. Document Structure | None |
| 3 | July 26, 10am to 11:30am | Evaluating documents (Word) | 3. Evaluating Accessibility & Creating PDFs | Evaluating a document |
| 4 | Aug. 2, 10am to 11:30am | Evaluating documents (PDF) | 4. Optimizing PDFs in Acrobat | Evaluating a document OR Fixing a document |
| 5 | Aug. 9, 10am to 11:30am | Conclusion | None | Fixing a document |
Required
Available for Windows and Mac
- Microsoft Office: Word and PowerPoint
- Adobe Creative Cloud: Adobe Acrobat Professional DC
- Colour Contrast Analyser
- Browser plug-ins (Chrome preferred):
Screen Readers
Recommended
Windows only
Available for Windows and Mac
- Browser plug-ins (Chrome preferred):
For more information about joining a future cohort, please contact the Universal Design Center at udc@csun.edu.
Universal Design Center Offers
Want to learn more? Have questions? Need advice? email udc@csun.edu or call us at 818.677.5898
Universal Design Center
University Library 34
Mail Drop: 8235
Phone: (818) 677-5898
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