Presentations

Accessibility Presentations

Demystifying alternative text for complex images
My presentation during a Future Teacher session, "Future Teacher Reflection: Rich Media Images".
Making accessibility simpler in Higher Education and beyond!
A lunch and learn at TechShare Pro 2022.
Making accessibility easier
A short presentation to the European Ally User Group explaining recent work attempting to make accessibility easier.
Better content, made easy: using the accessibility inspector in Word, PowerPoint, and Excel
In this session we introduce the accessibility inspector in Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. The accessibility inspector identifies possible improvements you can make to the accessibility of your documents, runs whilst you’re working, will show you how to make your document more accessible.
Two steps forward? Making accessibility easier
The UCISA-UX team asked whether we "made something easier for everyone to use"? In this five-minute slot I will share two topics on that theme: 'brand colour contrast made easy', and 'accessibility inspector for everyone'.
What is alternative text? How do I write it for images, charts, and graphs?
What do we mean by alternative text? Who is it useful for? What strategies can we use for writing it? How might we write alternative text for more complex images like graphs, flow charts, and venn diagrams? I attempt to explain in this video. It was recorded live as a webinar for the University of Southampton's Office 365 Community. I've included the questions and answers from the session.
Sustaining accessibility efforts through accessibility-related appraisal objectives
How can IT departments sustain their accessibility efforts? While there are vital procedural and technical answers we should also consider the importance of cultural change. In this presentation, Tamsyn Smith and Matthew Deeprose will discuss early work on embedding accessibility within appraisal objectives.
Power BI: Accessibility Tips
What can we do to make our PowerBI reports more accessible? In this 20 minute presentation I explain the four principles of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and how they relate to the creation of Power BI reports.
The impact that high quality mark-up can have on accessibility, performance, and discoverability
Going beyond accessibility checklists, you may quickly get bogged down with technical details and acronyms that you feel you may never understand. In this fast-paced 30-minute presentation I use worked examples, with screen reader demonstrations to explain...
Making IT accessible for all!
University Information Technology departments know they must commit to accessibility; indeed, they have a legal obligation to do so, but how can they take this ambition and embed accessibility within their policies and processes?
Accessibility Allies at the University of Southampton
How 5 student interns improved digital accessibility for more than 6000 students.
Worldwide Digital Accessibility - 001 - Just sit down and do it!
Cam Beaudoin invited Peter J. Jonas and I to take part in the first Worldwide Digital Accessibility vodcast.
Toward amazing accessibility!
IT departments in the Higher Education sector and elsewhere know they must commit to accessibility, but how can we take this ambition and embed it within our operations?
Why should we care about Digital Accessibility?
This is a presentation I gave to our IT department using a variety of techniques to try to persuade reluctant colleagues to care about Digital Accessibility.
Introduction to Alternative Text
A presentation, lesson plan, video, and breakout materials created for running an interactive webinar on alternative text. Created with my fantastic colleague, Tamsyn Smith.
Introduction to Keyboard Navigation and Accessibility
A presentation, lesson plan, video, and breakout materials created for running an interactive webinar on keyboard navigation and introducing accessibility in general.
Making it simple to ensure the use of colour is both on brand and accessible
Presented as part of the "Using technology to develop inclusive learning experiences" webinar at the University of Kent.
How to ensure accessible use of color in learning resources and materials aligned to your institution’s brand
A Lightning Talk at UDLHE Digicon 2021, together with Tamsyn Smith.

Presentations about the Blackboard Learning Management System

Introduction to Blackboard Ally
Webinar introducing the Blackboard Ally tool, what it does, how it can be used, and why it matters.
Color Me Impressed?
Sharing a new approach for consistent and accessible Blackboard course menu colour schemes specific to faculties, departments, or subject areas. Presented at the inaugural meeting of the Blackboard European Usergroup.
The Practical “Bluffer’s Guide” to Blackboard Theme Accessibility
Presented at Blackboard World 2020.
The Bluffer’s Guide to Blackboard Theme Accessibility
Presented at Blackboard European Teaching and Learning Conference 2020. With the rapid move to online teaching, ensuring equitable access to our learning environment has never been more important. Recent legislation has brought an accessibility requirement for public sector organisations such as Universities. How can we ensure that our Blackboard environment reflects our institutional brand whilst following accessibility guidelines?
Better Blackboard Help: Where your users need it, when they want it.
IT departments in the Higher Education sector and elsewhere know they must commit to accessibility, but how can we take this ambition and embed it within our operations?
Introduction to Blackboard Collaborate for University of Southampton Staff.
I was asked to put on a webinar about Collaborate. This was in the middle of April 2020 when we had just implemented it and were in the middle of our SaaS migration project. I recorded this video instead early on a Sunday morning. Since then it has had more than 3000 views. As Collaborate has been updated many times since then, much of the content is now out of date.
Blackboard accessibility beyond Ally
Presented at the Blackboard Mobile and Collaborate Usergroup during the Durham Blackboard Users Conference 2020.
A Bluffer's Guide to Customising the 2016 Blackboard Theme
Presented at Blackboard European Teaching and Learning Conference 2019, alongside Sam Cole and Ester Muñoz.
Upgrade Club
Delivered at Blackboard European Teaching and Learning Conference 2018. About upgrading Blackboard back when we hosted the application ourselves.

Presentations on other topics

Digital diligence: guidance on using ‘unsupported’ tools
My presentation during a Future Teacher webinar on how Universities can cope with the wide range of 'unsupported tools' that staff may wish to use.