Consider: Is this question essential for a student to demonstrate their knowledge of a topic? Is there a better way to construct the question that doesn't involve an image like this? Ensure you are using the right assessment strategy first!

• Exemplary Cases
  • An anatomy instructor includes a question on an exam that asks students to label different bones of the skeleton.
  • An economics instructor includes a complex graph on an exam question and asks students to interpret the graph.

Assuming the question is pedagogically sound for your discipline and course level, there are two options:

• Keep the alt text vague (e.g., “bones in a leg”, “bar graph of projected policy impact on gross GDP”), or
• Provide a disclaimer in the alt tag that asks students to contact the instructor/TA/LA if they are unable to see the image (e.g., “If you are having trouble seeing this image, contact your instructor”).

The short answer as far as we are aware: Yes, instructors can continue to provide "as-is" images/PDFs of handwritten notes, but only under certain circumstances.

If instructors choose to provide handwritten notes or solutions for students, there's a few other questions that need to be addressed to determine whether these need to be tagged and made fully WCAG compliant:

• Is this document from an in-person class session or is this for an online course?
  • If In-Person: Proceed to next question.
  • If Online: Yes, it is required to be made fully WCAG compliant (i.e., typed text, text formatting options are used, images have alt text, etc.).
• Are students being introduced to a new topic in these notes, or is this a topic covered in other course resources?
  • If this topic is covered in other resources: Proceed to next question.
  • If a new topic is introduced in these notes: Yes, it is required to be made fully WCAG compliant.
• Do you plan to use these documents again for another class in the future, or is this just being provided as a record of what was discussed in class?
  • If you plan to use them again: Yes, it is required to be made fully WCAG compliant.
  • If these are just meant to record class activities or for study use only: These documents may qualify as archival documentation. If you do choose to share handwritten notes digitally, posting them in an announcement or a direct email message to students is preferred. This clearly denotes that the file is intended as an archival document associated with a specific time period in the course.

Pedagogically, handwritten text primarily becomes a problem when the only way material is presented is through an image (i.e., how students encounter most materials in an online course). It is not necessarily best practice to provide handwritten notes alone, just in case these notes do end up being reused or posted for an online section of the course in the future. 

These sorts of resources are very valuable to students for their learning. We do not want to discourage instructors from providing notes to students. With that, it’s equally important that we are meeting ADA demands, and formats or delivery methods may need to change. CTE is working to find further legal guidance on this question to ensure we provide the most accurate information possible.

Put your content in a .txt file. If you have further questions about any tools that you are using to code, please check with UIT to see if it is a supported tool. If so, you can direct questions to UIT. If not, direct your questions to the help desk for the company itself.

Coming soon!

Coming soon!

Instructors may have their materials transcribed by a note-taker and use those materials for the course. However, sharing transcripts completed by the note-taker do not replace the need to make your original course materials WCAG-compliant. Transcripts from an in-class note-taker are viewed as supplementary materials.

Coming soon!

Coming soon!

Coming Soon!

Coming soon!