JBE Court Education Trainers Greg Sunderman and Deb Hand attended an annual online conference intended to support educators with making their teaching and educational tools more accessible. Accessibility Summer Camp is based in Wichita, Kansas and has been bringing together educators for almost a decade to learn best practices from peers and directly from students with ADA accommodations.

Highlights of the session included:

• Participant Cognitive Load: What amount of information should be provided in order not to overload the working memory.  This may be considered the advanced level education offering at JBE and how too much information can create the inability to process, store or recall information.  
• AI & Accessibility, The Stages Where the Human Appears in the Loop: The positive uses for AI as a "thinking partner".  Consider AI information but not rely on it lending the final checks to the subject matter experts.  Using AI to create a platform of learning such as level of design, evaluating education for accessibility, and with use of specific prompts can build scenarios and learning platforms.
• Accessible & Inclusive Online Courses: When evaluating draft stage think of 3-4 people with accessibility needs and compare education to their standards not yours.  Emphasize on multiple ways to learn.  Avoid strict policy on specific learning.  Consider accessibility prior to beginning of training so participants with accessibility needs will be considered instead of having to ask for consideration.
• Anatomy of an Accessible PDF: Apply text styles (Title, Header 1, Header 2, Body). For links, avoid using only the words such as “Click here” or “See this website.” Color contrast between text and background should be 3:1 for large text and 4.5:1 for regular text. For a math equation: create a screenshot image of the equation and insert it into the document, then add alternative text explaining the equation. Alternative text should be short, but concise (1-3 sentences). Never rely on color alone to convey meaning. When converting a Word document into a PDF, avoid using "Save as PDF" but instead use File > Save As.