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A consistent, predictable layout helps all students find their assignments. Neurodivergent students and students with cognitive disabilities in particular benefit from thoughtful course page design.

• Most faculty at Reed use a weekly course format. If you choose to use the custom sections format, we recommend organizing material chronologically within the sections so students can easily locate assignments for each class session.
• It is generally easier for students and more accessible if you add assignments directly to Moodle, rather than share them only in a separate syllabus.
  • If you think your course schedule may change, use text and media areas or subsections in Moodle to provide more information about daily assignments. These can easily be dragged and dropped to another week or section if necessary.
  • Be sure to add titles to text and media areas. These titles will show up in the course index and make it easier for students to locate information.
  • Follow accessibility recommendations when using the Moodle text editor.

Inaccessible scanned PDFs are one of the most common accessibility issues in course content. Students who use text-to-speech software or screen readers cannot access some scanned PDFs.

• Whenever possible, use e-reserves for assigned course readings. Disability and Accessibility Resources, the Library, and Instructional Technology Services collaborate to ensure that materials shared via e-reserves are accessible.
• If you must post a PDF on your course page, use SensusAccess to make it more accessible. We recommend the Tagged PDF (text over image) option.
• If you are creating your own content to share, Moodle Pages, Microsoft Word documents, and Google Docs are all generally more accessible than PDFs.

Videos must be captioned so that students with hearing impairments can understand them. Many students prefer watching captioned videos as well.

• Use Panopto to share videos you or your students create. Instructional Technology Services will ensure that these videos are captioned.
• We recommend against using the text editor options to add short audio or videos content, as media added in this way will not have important accessibility features like captions or transcripts.

Students who use screen readers need properly formatted text and images to be able to access your course page.

• Break up longer text using headings and lists.
• Make sure linked text is meaningful.
• Add alternative text to images.

The Moodle assignments activity has options to make assignments more accessible.

• Make sure you assign a due date for your assignment in Moodle. Students will see this due date in your course page and also in the upcoming events area of their dashboard.
• Include assignment instructions in text in Moodle, even if you also attach a document with assignment instructions.
• It is possible to provide a student with an override so that they can turn their assignment in late without a penalty.

Many students with disabilities benefit from having tests and quizzes offered online, through Moodle. The Moodle quiz activity has options to make quizzes more accessible.

• Certain question types are more accessible than others. We recommend that you avoid the drag-and-drop and ordering Moodle question types. If you have questions about which question types will work best for you, please contact us.
• If your quiz is timed, you can create overrides for students with accommodations for extra time. If necessary, you can also create overrides for individual students to take a quiz again or to take a quiz after it has closed.