Visual Impairment Accessible Media Production
Faculty Roles, Procedures, & FAQs
James Madison University Office of Disability Services
The Accessible Media program (AcMe) in JMU’s Office of Disability Services (ODS) produces accessible course materials for students with accessible media accommodations. For visual impairments, formats may include braille, large print, tactile graphics, screen reader-accessible documents, 3D models, audio described videos, etc. as applicable.
Note that not all visually-impaired students will require all of these formats.
This document explains procedures and processing times, as well as the responsibilities of students, faculty, and ODS staff to ensure equal access to these materials for students with visual impairments. A Frequently Asked Questions section provides added detail.
For background information regarding higher education’s obligations under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), please reference the U.S. Department of Education document and JMU Policy 1331.
Roles & Responsibilities
Student’s Responsibilities
- Meet with AcMe staff to discuss details of accommodations.
- Notify AcMe of need for accessible content each semester.
- Notify AcMe if supplemental research materials need to be converted (e.g. library books or library articles for a research paper).
- Student and faculty member should meet to discuss content accessibility and logistics of accommodation implementation in the classroom.
- Contact AcMe if accessible media needs change or if any problems arise.
Faculty Responsibilities
- When needed, meet with AcMe staff to review course structure and materials.
- Provide course materials to AcMe for conversion via agreed upon methods (for example, Sharepoint, Canvas, email, etc.).
- Follow AcMe processing times and proactively communicate about problems.
- Alert AcMe in advance when adding new materials to ensure compliance with AcMe processing times (see below).
- Collaborate with ODS to ensure that accessible materials are available to the visually impaired student at the same time materials are available to other students.
Note: Under certain circumstances, we may need you to review converted materials for accuracy and clarity prior to when it is provided to the student.
Accessible Media’s Responsibilities:
- When needed, meet with faculty member to review course structure and materials.
- Receive and process applicable course materials into the student’s required alterative format.
- Deliver materials to the proper recipient in the agreed upon manner.
- Engage in the interactive process with the student and their faculty members to design or adapt accommodations as needed.
Procedures and Processing Times:
When students require ongoing conversion of course materials, Accessible Media staff will reach out to faculty via email regarding the student's accessible media requirements. We aim to make this initial contact before the semester starts whenever possible.
In some cases, we may request a one-on-one meeting with faculty members to review course content and in-class activities. Faculty members are always welcome to request a one-on-one meeting if we do not.
The goal of this meeting is to discuss what formats the student will most likely need based on your course’s unique format. In this meeting, we will also discuss the processing times needed for your materials; however, in general, the processing times below are necessary.
Please note that some of the processing times below may have already passed by the time Accessible Media staff contact faculty. We will always work with faculty in these situations.
Braille Content (specialty content like math or music might need more time):
- (Entire) Textbook: 2 semesters
- Class PowerPoint: 20 business days (4 weeks)
- Class Handout: 10 business days (2 weeks)
- Exams: 5 business days (1 week)
- Class PowerPoint in accessible format: 10 business days (2 weeks)
- Class Handout in accessible format: 5 business days (1 week)
Screen Reader-Accessible Content:
- PowerPoint: 10 business days (2 weeks)
- Class Handout: 5 business days (1 week)
- Lab Manuals, course packs, etc.: The beginning of the semester. If material will be used within the first two weeks, we will need that content 10 business days (2 weeks) prior to its use.
- Exams: 5 business days (1 week) prior to the course’s scheduled exam date.
Large Print Content:
- PowerPoint: 5 business days (1 week)
- Class Handout: 5 business days (1 week)
- Lab Manuals, course packs, etc.: The beginning of the semester. If material will be used within the first two weeks, we will need that content 10 business days (2 weeks) prior to its use.
- Exams: 5 business days (1 week) prior to the course’s scheduled exam date.
Audio Described Videos
- Video under 5 minutes: 10 business days (2 weeks)
- Video 5-10 minutes: 15 business days (3 weeks)
- Video 10-20 minutes: 20 business days (1 month)
- Feature length: 1 semester
These are the processing times that will most realistically allow us to process all content in an accurate, high-quality, and usable form. We adapt them as needed if a student registers late for a class.
Frequently Asked Questions
Resources
We are working to manage timeliness, quality, and cost. Production of accessible materials requires multiple steps in order to provide quality content.
We also provide accessible formats to all JMU students who qualify for accessible media accommodations. Each of them is enrolled in multiple classes. For some visually impaired students, almost all course content must be converted.
AcMe does use outside vendors in addition to in-house production; however, vendors may also require weeks to months of advance processing time.
For example, a single braille textbook produced by an outside vendor can be astonishingly expensive, ranging from $10,000 to $30,000 or more, depending on content. Textbooks and course materials today tend to be highly visual and those in STEM, medical, and other related fields include graphics and symbols that can be extremely complicated to recreate, describe, or make into tactile graphics.
At JMU, we do as much processing in-house as possible as this helps us fine-tune outputs to meet each individual student’s needs and to ensure consistent quality. By doing the work in-house, we also save money for the university, but significant time and personnel may be required to do so.
Faculty members share the responsibility with ODS to include the student in the learning experience and to provide equal access to learning materials.
According to Section 504 of the federal Rehabilitation Act, the student with a disability must have “equal opportunity to obtain the same result, to gain the same benefit, or to reach the same level of achievement, in the most integrated setting appropriate to the person's needs.”
If processing times for production are missed, faculty may need to consider a “Plan B” to ensure that that content makes it to the student(s) in time and in a manner and format that ensures equal access. The student should be involved in agreeing upon a Plan B approach, via an interactive process, which can also involve the Office of Disability Services.
As with any student, it is helpful to document your communications or send confirmations through email to ensure clear understanding by both parties.
We appreciate efforts and enthusiasm by professors who wish to create their own accessible course content. Please know that you are under no obligation to do this. ODS’s Accessible Media program has funding, staff, and expertise to do these media conversions, as long as materials are provided with adequate processing time.
However, you are welcome to convert your own materials if you wish. You must ensure that the quality of these materials meets the student’s needs. Depending on the type of content, it may be very difficult to accomplish this on your own while maintaining consistent quality.
We are available to demonstrate how to create accessibly formatted materials. Whether you are creating a new course or updating an existing one, we will show how to apply accessible design.
Please keep in mind that, as a professor, you have power over your students. Because of this, they may be reluctant to come to you when your materials fall short of meeting their accommodations. Please be sure to relay to your student(s) that they may contact Accessible Media/ODS at any time if they have trouble with their materials.
- ODS’s Accessible Media program manages the actual conversion of your course materials and assists with designing or adapting student accommodations as needed.
- We provide expertise and support if you need to engage in an interactive process with the student, including consultation with you and attendance at meetings.
- In some instances, AcMe staff may coordinate one-on-one meetings with you, preferably in advance of the class, to review your materials and plan accommodations. We recognize that every class is unique and remain available to assist you throughout the semester.
- When subject-area expertise is required for us to create accurate materials, AcMe collaborates with you and your department to identify resources to assist us.
- We are available to demonstrate how to create accessibly formatted materials. Whether you are creating a new course or updating an existing one, we will show how to apply accessible design.
In order to view and download course materials, ODS staff will be added to your Canvas class using the “ODS Staff” designation. This special status, designed by LET Support and the Dean of Libraries, allows us to view and download course content but does not allow access to grades or your private communication with students.
ODS staff will only be added to a Canvas class to fill an accommodation for a qualifying JMU student and will never alter anything on the site. You may see several “ODS Staff” names added to your class. These are AcMe employees who work together and provide back up for each other’s roles. “ODS Staff” are always professional staff in Disability Services. Student employees are never added to Canvas sites.
Screen reading software allows some people with visual impairments to navigate computers by reading electronic content aloud. A screen reader-accessible document is, simply put, a document that can be easily operated in its entirety with a screen reader with no modifications required. This means that the document must be formatted correctly with knowledge of accessible formatting techniques.
We are always willing to help our faculty create content in universally designed, accessible formats for their students. We will help you determine whether or not your class materials are well-suited for use with a screen reader. If your documents are already accessible, we may need to have only minimal involvement in providing materials to your students.
Our approach varies. Many students who have a visual impairment can work with videos as-is. Others may need additional formatting, such as an audio description track that narrates the important visual elements of the video. In this case, we splice and edit the descriptive narrative to fit in between the video’s spoken and important auditory content. Depending on the complexity and length of the movie, this can take significant time.
For shorter videos, Accessible Media’s written descriptions may be adequate. However, when videos demonstrate information that is specialized for a certain field, we may need assistance providing accurate description from a professor, graduate student, or other designated specialist.
Braille:
- Braille is a highly sophisticated code, and there are many sub-codes of braille.
- Many people believe that braille is a letter-for-letter substitution for our standard English alphabet. While this is true for people who are just learning braille, the vast majority of braille-readers utilize contracted braille to make a workable option for reading. This contracted braille uses extensive shorthand that forms an intricate code. Within braille, there are a variety of specialty codes for mathematics, chemistry, phonetics, and other technical material.
- The actual transcription of braille occurs after substantial pre-editing work is done: making a linear document (no columns, no text boxes, etc.), fixing emphasis, correcting formatting, describing images, applying styles necessary for a good transcription, etc.
- Braille transcription cannot be fully automated.
- We work with multiple classes and multiple students.
- Rushing something will always come at the cost of de-prioritizing something else.
Tactile Graphics:
- Tactile graphics are raised-line drawings representing a visual image, usually printed on 11”x11.5” paper. While these can be crucial for a student who is visually impaired to understand a concept, they are also limited in the degree of complexity they can convey. Students often must be oriented to a tactile graphic, in person or with written description, in order to make sense of it.
- We cannot leave out an image and hope that the content is inferred.
- Not describing a relevant image is on par with leaving out chunks of text from a document. We address every image in a textbook, PowerPoint, or handout, either describing it or creating a tactile graphic.
- Nothing is automated in the image description or tactile graphic process.
- Image description is context-based. A decorative image of an atom in one book could be an essential atomic structure in another book. The process of describing an image takes judgment and time. Creating a tactile graphic takes even more time.
- We manually manipulate and trace images following standardized guidelines as closely as possible in order to produce tactile graphics that students can use as independently as possible.
ODS Accessible Media Contacts
For general questions or updates, please direct your emails to braille@jmu.edu . This account is monitored by Accessible Media’s senior staff.
Brennan Maupin – Visual Impairment Accommodations Specialist
maupinbp@jmu.edu
540-568-6705
Christina Wulf – Assistant Director, ODS and Coordinator, Accessible Media & Technology
wulfcx@jmu.edu
540-568-6705
