Training – Accessibility
All digital content for MCC must be accessible by July 1, 2025.
Important Dates
- Fri, Mar 28, 2025 (10-3p) CO128 – Open lab to work on accessibility – LAST DAY
- June 1, 2025 – All non-accessible documents will be removed from the website and portal to allow time for clean up of the links
- June 15, 2025 – Publish technology accessibility statement providing 2 methods of contact to request assistance and provide evidence of making good faith progress on your plan to remove accessibility barriers
- July 1, 2025 – Must comply with Colorado State Office of Information Technology (OIT) Rules
Website & Portal Documents
A spreadsheet of the documents from the website/portal and their status (to the best of our knowledge).
To send an accessible document to be included on the website/portal, please use the document upload form.
Training Resources on Accessibility
Download the Accessibility Guide that covers a basic checklist of how to work with various software.
Document Training
Learn how to create accessible documents in Microsoft Word (works similar in Google Docs).
- Checklist: Document Accessibility
- Zoom Recording: Accessibility for Instructors (starts at Document section)
- Download example document
- Video (full overview): Creating Accessible Documents by University of Alabama
- Video Series: Basic Document Accessibility Training by MCC Marketing
- How to Create a Tagged PDF Directly from Word (if you don’t have Acrobat Pro)
Pre-Made Templates
Use the templates below that are already designed with our MCC branded colors/logo and has the proper heading styles that provide good contrast.
- Simplified Template (without Explanations)
- Template (with Explanations)
Presentation Training
Learn how to create accessible documents in Microsoft PowerPoint. Canva presentations DO NOT export as accessible. You will need to fix it completely in PowerPoint.
- Checklist: Presentation Accessibility
- Zoom Recording: Accessibility for Instructors (starts 15:40, at the Presentation section)
- Download example presentation
- Video: Making Your PowerPoint Presentations Accessible by MSFTEnable and Microsoft
- Video: Making PowerPoint Accessible Overview by MCC Marketing
Adobe PDF Training
Properly convert your documents to a PDF and make sure it is fully accessible. PDF documents are advantageous by being harder for the end-user to edit and PDFs have more accessible tools for viewers.
- Video Series: PDF Accessibility Training by MSFTEnable
- Video: Making PDFs Accessible with Word – At a Glance by MSFTEnable
- Video Series: Word to PDF by MCC Marketing
- PDF Conversion (from Word)
- Create a Tagged PDF Directly from Word (if you don’t have Acrobat Pro)
- Overview of PDF Interface
- PDF Accessibility Checker
- Fixing Reading Order
Formstack Form Builder
Convert your paper forms to digital forms using our Formstack.com account (contact [email protected] to use our login).
- Checklist: Formstack Form
- Cheat Sheet: Form Fields and When to Use Them
- Video Series: How to Create Formstack Forms by MCC Marketing
Building Fillable PDF Forms in Word
If you must create a fillable PDF form (this usually happens when more than 1 signature is required), we recommend you start in Word and convert it to a PDF after it is designed.
- Video Series: Create Fillable PDF Forms in Word by MCC Marketing
Excel Training
NOTE: Simple Excel documents can be made accessible. Go through the Excel Accessibility checker until it is error free, and then review these things that it does not check for but still need to be accessible:
- Color contrast
- Labels for charts are added to understand all pieces of the chart
- Empty sheets are removed
- Unused columns/rows aren’t showing
- Don’t have more than one column or row as a spacer between elements
- Try not to merge cells
- Cell A1 has a simple description of what the spreadsheet’s purpose is
- Video: How to Make and Excel Spreadsheet Accessible by The Accessibility Guy
- Video: Excel Accessibility Overview by MCC Marketing
Understanding Accessibility and Disability
Yuja Panorama Accessibility Checker
Checker used by faculty and staff to help fix documents. For students, this tool can convert the content in a variety of other formats.
- Accessibility for Instructors Zoom Recording
- Video: Yuja Panorama for Content OUTSIDE of D2L – starts at 27:20
- Video: Yuja Panorama for Content INSIDE of D2L – starts at 34:12
ADA Coordinator
Staff member who helps students who have a documented disability.
D2L and Yuja Panorama Help
IT Department
Help related to Adobe or Office applications.
General Questions
Can I still send fliers/images with text via email?
If you attach or embed a flier or an image with text in an email, you have to provide the text in the body of the email.
What if my document is ONLY meant for print?
There are very few exceptions – but in the instance of something like the MCC letterhead where it is ONLY meant to be printed – then that exception can be made by your supervisor and noted in the accessibility statement.
How do I make a form with a bunch of lines for answers accessible?
We HIGHLY recommend that you convert your form to a digital form through our Formstack.com account (sending an email to [email protected] to receive the login information).
However, if you are unable to then each line you add for the form will need to have alt text that says something like “Link for writing your NAME” – where NAME would represent the question for that line.
What if a document CANNOT be made accessible - like a scan?
If it cannot be made accessible (should be confirmed by your supervisor) then you can add a disclaimer that says “This document is unable to be made accessible. If you need assistance please contact (appropriate email) or (appropriate phone).”
Example – The archive of the MCC catalogs going back to 1970 are scanned images and cannot be made accessible, so in the catalog (they are housed at the bottom of the homepage) we added the following note:
“Note: all catalogs before 2024-2025 are archived versions that were not built for accessibility and may include broken links. If you require assistance with an archived catalog please contact Student Services at (970) 542-3100 or at [email protected].”
Instruction Questions
What if my document has two languages?
Documents that need two languages and cannot be made separately (such as a worksheet for a foreign language class) should have a disclaimer either on the document or in the class shell that says something to the effect of:
“This document cannot be made fully accessible because it is in two languages. If you need assistance with this document please contact (add instructor email) or (add instructor phone number).”
Do I need to add alt text to images in quiz questions in D2L?
Yes, you should describe the image WITHOUT giving away the answer. Imagine if you were describing the image to someone on the phone – that is the text you should add.
Example – The Rad Tech program has images of various x-rays and while it can’t describe the location of the break it can at least say “X-Ray image of the chest area” or something to that effect.
Do I have to describe complicated images like maps and electrical circuits?
Yes. Imagine you were describing it to someone over the phone so they could understand what they are supposed to get out of the image.
Example – A map of the Hawaiian islands that indicates the location of Pearl Harbor on the big island of Oahu.
Do I HAVE to use videos/audios with Closed Captioning?
Yes, you are responsible for finding videos that have at minimum Subtitles (text of the dialog) but it is preferred to have Closed Captioning (includes environment noises like dog barking, wind blowing, etc). Even better is to provide a transcript of the video and if possible have a described video (where someone describes what is happening in the scenes in-between dialog), though this is rare.