Humber has launched an open source and accessible online course designed to teach broadcast content creators how to make their media inclusive and accessible.

The six-module course, Making Accessible Media: Accessible Design in Broadcast Media, covers topics including universal and inclusive design, live and closed captioning, transcription, described video, alternative text, how to make documents and presentations accessible, and considers the representation of disability in broadcast media.

It is available for free at humber.ca/makingaccessiblemedia, and will also be offered to all students and faculty in the School of Media Studies and Information Technology (SMSIT).

Working with a $130,900 grant from the Broadcasting Accessibility Fund, a team of SMSIT professors and developers, collaborating with internal and external advisors, designed the online course, which incorporates features such as a built-in screen reader, text magnifier, captioned video, downloadable transcripts and ASL translations for original videos. The accessibility tools used in this course are now being incorporated into upcoming online courses at Humber as well.

For more information and to take the course, go to humber.ca/makingaccessiblemedia.