The Vienna University of Technology is committed to equality and inclusion of people with impairments and/or chronic illnesses and has set itself the goal of creating framework conditions for the equal participation of people with disabilities and/or chronic illnesses in all teaching, research and administrative activities (see TU Vienna policy published in the Mittelungsblatt No. 15/2014). 

Accessibility enables all people - with and without impairments - to make unrestricted use of services, facilities and objects in daily life. This topic therefore concerns not only the infrastructure and classroom teaching at TU Vienna, but also scenarios created by the digitalisation of teaching. 

Information on how teaching can be designed in such a way that people with disabilities also benefit from it can be found on the pages of TUW barrierefrei, opens in new window.

Another important service in terms of accessibility is provided by GESTU. This is a competence and service centre that supports deaf and hard of hearing students in their studies with a wide range of services to enable them equal access to their studies. Teachers can also get support here if they have questions or concerns.

Seminars on the topic of barrier-free teaching are held regularly. You can find the current offerings in theinternen Veranstaltungen in TISS, opens an external URL in a new window. New since the winter semester 2021 is that teachers can have TUWEL course content checked for accessibility. You can find instructions on how to do this cheat sheet, opens an external URL in a new window.

According to the principle "essential for some, usefull for all" (WAI), accessible documents are not only made for a certain group of people, but are more usable for all. When creating digital teaching content, care must be taken to ensure that it is as accessible as possible. A course is barrier-free if it is accessible and usable for people with disabilities in the generally usual way, without particular difficulty and basically without outside help. (see BGStG §5). The Vienna University of Technology is committed to the equality and inclusion of people with disabilities and/or chronic illnesses and has set itself the goal of creating framework conditions for the equal participation of people with disabilities and/or chronic illnesses in all teaching, research and administrative activities (see TU Vienna Guideline published in the Mitteilungsblatt No. 15/2014).

Summary of (accessible) principles for the creation of learning materials

1. Perceptibility

• Text alternatives for non-text contents
• Captions and alternatives for audio and video content
• Content adaptable and available for assistive technologies
• sufficient contrasts to make things easier to see and hear

2. Functionality:

• Functions must also be operable with the keyboard
• Give students enough time to read and use content

3. Comprehensibility:

• Make texts readable and understandable
• The display and usability of content must be predictable
• Support users in avoiding or correcting errors.

4. Compatibility

• Maximise compatibility with current and future technologies

Since text documents (usually in PDF format) make up the majority of course documents, this is dealt with in particular here. With the Office licences for employees, the TU Vienna also provides format templates that can be used as a basis for own documents. In addition, each Office licence includes the plugin axesWord, which can be used to convert Word documents into PDF files. The human resources development department also offers, for example, introductory seminars on the topic of "creating accessible documents". In order to make the planned learning materials as barrier-free as possible, the necessary aspects should already be taken into account during the conception phase by considering the following points:

1. Correct use of format templates (see TU CD templates: headings, lists structuring the text, ...)
2. Using automatically generated tables of contents for longer documents
3. Provide text alternatives for graphics whose content is relevant to text comprehension. Diagrams and complex illustrations should be described with the help of labels or in continuous text
4. Use of lists and numbering for listings
5. Use of links and text marks for easier navigation
6. Avoiding fancy fonts
7. Correct insertion of tables
8. Sufficient contrast between foreground and background colour
9. Information must not be conveyed by colour alone
10. Entering metadata (title and language) for the document
11. Correct conversion of Word documents into a "tagged" PDF

The same applies to the design of presentation slides as to text documents in general; in addition, attention should be paid to:

1. Use of slide layouts. (Slide masters are the "format templates" for presentation slides).
2. checking the reading order of the objects on each slide
3. Grouping of complex objects consisting of individual parts; inserting as a single object

When creating digital teaching content, care must also be taken to ensure that it is barrier-free. A course is barrier-free if it is accessible and usable for people with disabilities in the generally usual way, without particular difficulty and basically without outside help. Accessibility is also anchored in law in the form of the principle of equal rights in the Federal Constitutional Law Art. 7 Para. 1. The Vienna University of Technology is committed to the equality and inclusion of people with disabilities and/or chronic illnesses and has set itself the goal of creating framework conditions for the equal participation of people with disabilities and/or chronic illnesses in all teaching, research and administrative activities (see TU Vienna policy published in the Mittelungsblatt No. 15/2014).

In order to create awareness of the importance of the topic of accessibility, this subitem lists the individual forms of impairments that may be relevant in the context of university operations: Disability in mobility, fine motor difficulties, visual impairment, hearing impairments, cognitive impairments or reading difficulties and concentration disorders, psychological impairments, international students with limited language skills and/or flight history, students with caring responsibilities.

This section aims to provide educators with an overview of the process of creating accessible educational videos - from planning and recording to post-production and subtitling - in order to make educational videos accessible and inclusive through proper subtitling and thus provide all students with a digital educational experience that they can potentially take advantage of, thereby meeting the intended culture of participation and fulfilling equal opportunities as enshrined in law.

At this point it should be pointed out that due to the current technical equipment at the TU Vienna, there are limits to accessibility in the creation of teaching videos and this excerpt deals with teaching videos that are created in the context of a course with the destination of a TUWEL course. The creation of accessible teaching videos with the current technical conditions is shown. This essentially involves the creation of a subtitle for the course recording, which is subtitled via Adobe Premiere and made available in a TUWEL course. The subtitling will not only reach students with hearing impairments, but also other students who may have a need for subtitling, such as foreign language users and mobile users.

Remember: Part of the accessibility of a course is also that presentations and course content are made available in accessible form in the TUWEL course before the start of the course. Further information on how teaching can be designed in such a way that people with disabilities also benefit can be found on the TUW barrierefrei, opens an external URL in a new window. Seminars on the topic of barrier-free teaching are held regularly. You can find the current offer in the list of internen Veranstaltungen in TISS, opens an external URL in a new window. New since the winter semester 2021 is that teachers can have TUWEL check course content for accessibility. You can find instructions on how to do this in this cheat sheet, opens an external URL in a new window.

Checking a homepage for accessibility is possible free of charge on the Servicepage Siteimprove, opens an external URL in a new window