Digital Fluency & AI Literacy Coach
This interactive coaching tool is designed to support Skidmore College faculty in creating inclusive, engaging, and future-ready courses. It combines instructional design guidance, digital fluency development, and AI literacy integration that is tailored to the liberal arts context.
By using this chatbot, you understand it may occasionally produce incorrect information (“hallucinations”). Please avoid sharing personal, sensitive, or confidential information. This chatbot will never ask you for your login credentials or account passwords.
Ask me anything about course design, AI integration, accessibility, or instructional strategies tailored for the liberal arts classroom.
[mwai_chatbot start_sentence="Hi! How can I help you?" instructions="Converse as if you were an AI assistant. Be friendly, creative." mode="assistant" max_tokens="1024" env_id="m5si27wt" assistant_id="asst_0JwUIBJfrs9llw2yvasuxbcd"]Accessible Instructional Materials
It is important to ensure the digital components of a course are accessible to and usable by all students. This includes documents, videos, and websites. Proactively ensuring accessibility enables all students, regardless of ability, to participate fully in the course.
Accessible Books and Textbooks
When possible, faculty should select accessible content. Check the following resources to confirm availability:
- Access Text Network
- Bookshare
Note: Ebooks are often not available in an accessible format. Requiring an ebook could mean students needing accommodations must purchase a hard copy and wait for conversion by The Learning Commons.
Making Word Documents Accessible
Structural cues in a document provide semantic information for screen readers. Use Word’s built-in Accessibility Checker to verify your files.
- Headings: Use the Styles feature. Start with Heading 1 and do not skip levels.
- Lists: Use built-in bullet/numbering tools, not manual tabs or spaces.
- Tables: Tick the "Header Row" box in the Table Design tab.
- Links: Use descriptive anchor text (e.g., "Syllabus Guide") instead of "Click Here."
Templates & PDF Conversion
Download our pre-formatted accessible templates to save time:
To convert Word to PDF: Use File > Save As > PDF and ensure "Best for electronic distribution and accessibility" is selected.
Images, Video & Audio
Images present a serious barrier to users with visual disabilities. Screen readers cannot interpret images without Alternative Text (Alt Text).
Presentation Software (PowerPoint)
Stick to built-in templates to facilitate keyboard navigation and logical reading order. Use SmartArt for infographics to ensure text is semantically encoded.
Video & Audio Workflows
- Panopto: All videos are auto-captioned upon upload. Review captions for accuracy before sharing.
- YouTube: Auto-captions require manual editing for accuracy.
- Audio: Provide transcripts for those with hearing or auditory processing impairments.
Checking & Remediating with Ally
Ally checks accessibility for your course content in theSpring, assigning a numerical score and a colored gauge to each file.
Ally organizes feedback in a decision tree. Simply read the directions and respond to the prompts to correct issues like missing Alt Text or insufficient colour contrast.
