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Four young BIPOC smiling teenage students in front of school building and trees. They're holding bags or books and standing. Image by storyset on Freepik

In a class of 25 students, about 4 of them are most likely experiencing a disability in their everyday life. This might include your classroom.

One way to make your class more equitable for all of your students is by making sure that you create worksheets with accessibility in mind. Something seemingly small, like changing the font, can make a huge difference.

Learn to build accessible worksheets to help all of your students succeed. 🙂

Did you know?

Since 2018, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that globally, only 1 in 10 people that need assistive technologies have access to them in order to succeed in everyday life, which may include the classroom.

Step 1. Determine your class needs

Two masculine-presenting smiling people. One person is in a motor chair and other has two support elbow crutches.

Image by storyset on Freepik

Many teachers have students who use a variety of assistive supports and technologies at school or at home which may include:

  • eye glasses, magnifiers, and screen reading software

  • hearing aids, closed-captioning, and transcript copies

  • mobility controllers and fidget devices

  • large-print or braille display books

You can start small and make a high impact:

  • Think about class activities that need worksheets for next month

  • Explore Open Educational Resources that have pre-made worksheets

  • Pick one worksheet and make it more accessible for your students as you learn the basics

Did you know?

Rumie's Bytes are licensed as Open Educational Resources, which means that they can be copied and redistributed with author attribution! These Bytes can also be read with a screen reader and have images with great alternative text descriptions.

Step 2. Start building

A teacher with glasses is smiling while working on making documents on a laptop. Software screen is showing above teacher.Image by storyset on Freepik

Worksheet with a pencil icon.

For all worksheets:

Worksheet with a magnifying glass icon.

For your digital worksheets:

Quiz

Which of these links is the most accessible on a digital worksheet?

Step 3. Test your worksheets

Three individuals are choosing images, colors, and fonts for a document on a big screen. All are smiling diverse individuals.Image by storyset on Freepik

Run quick and basic accessibility tests on your worksheets with:

After you run tests on your worksheets, you can:

Did you know?

While some digital worksheets "look better" than others, it doesn't mean that they're accessibility-compliant with well-known international standards like Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

Step 4. Start preparing to use them

A young feminine-presenting teacher is showing young smiling students how to understand and make small class wind-turbines.Image by storyset on Freepik

For your learners, consider making your accessible worksheets available to everyone. Avoid anyone feeling different by giving all students:

  • The same physical worksheet for solo or group activities

  • The same digital worksheet on your course website

  • Class laptops or tablets with assistive technology, if available

Did you know?

There are free, open-access assistive technologies such as the Non-Visual Desktop Access (NVDA) screen reader and apps that can be applied to classroom technologies.

Take Action

Two young smiling students are holding a 'Thank you teacher' sign, while a happy teacher is holding their heart with a hand.Image by storyset on Freepik

Celebrate your accomplishments and grow your foundations with accessibility:

Did you know?

The information presented here is for educational purposes. It's strongly recommended to review your specific policies and regulations to ensure accessibility is met for everyone. Remember that there is usually a department or center at your educational work that can help.

License:

This Byte has been authored by

MC

Melissa Carrillo-Galaviz

Instructional Designer & Accessibility Specialist

Master of Science (MSc)

English

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