Flexible Training Options

Web accessibility can be intimidating and complex. We designed a training series that introduces federal law, international guidelines and accessibility checker tools to resolve web accessibility issues.

No matter which track you choose, you’ll understand when and why users need accessibility. Then you’ll dive into the “how”: making a page work properly with screen readers, and managing input focus. Finally, you’ll learn styling techniques that help users with partial vision navigate your documents easily and reliably. Some aspects of accessibility can be checked automatically, while others need to be reviewed manually.

Required Training

Beginning July 1, 2019, PDF accessibility training is required for all new and current web content contributors and owners.

Digital Accessibility MS Word (OLPD 131)
Microsoft Office Word has many helpful tools that makes creating accessible documents much easier for content creators. In this course you will learn how to utilize these tools, as-well-as learn some basic formatting techniques to create an accessible document that you can then save as an accessible PDF. This course is offered onsite (2 hours) and online (4 hours). Register online »

Additional information provided below.


CCBC Courses

With approval from your supervisor, CCBC employees may participate in a variety of onsite and online digital accessibility courses.


Department of Online Learning

Training for CCBC faculty and staff
  • Digital Accessibility MS Word (OLPD 131) — Microsoft Office Word has many helpful tools that makes creating accessible documents much easier for content creators. In this course you will learn how to utilize these tools, as-well-as learn some basic formatting techniques to create an accessible document that you can then save as an accessible PDF. This course is offered both face-to-face and online. The instructor lead face-to-face session is a two hour class. The self-directed online version can take up to 4 hours to complete. View the course training guide (SharePoint access required) »
  • Digital Accessibility MS PowerPoint (OLPD 164) - Microsoft Office PowerPoint has many helpful tools that makes creating accessible presentations much easier for content creators. In this course you will learn how to utilize these tools, as-well-as learn some basic formatting techniques to create an accessible presentation that you can then save as an accessible PDF. This course is offered both face-to-face and online. The instructor lead face-to-face session is a 2-hour class. The self-directed online version can take up to 4 hours to complete. Prerequisite: Basic Microsoft Office skills
  • Digital Accessibility MS Excel (OLPD 169) - Microsoft Office Excel has many helpful tools that makes creating accessible workbooks much easier. In this course you will learn how to utilize these tools, as-well-as learn some basic formatting techniques to create an accessible worksheet that you can then save as an accessible PDF. This course is offered both face-to-face and online. The instructor lead face-to-face session is a 2 hour class. The self-directed online version can take up to 4 hours to complete. Prerequisite: Basic Microsoft Office skills
  • Content Accessibility Clinic - The Content Accessibility Clinic is for those in need of one-on-one assistance with specific issues/questions that need some additional guidance. If you are currently working on creating digital content that must be accessible such as a document, PDF, spreadsheet, presentation or a closed caption video the facilitator will assist in guiding you in completing the task. Prerequisite(s): ITOR 152 or OLPD 131
Register Online »

A condensed version of OLPD 131 is also available during CCBC's Professional Development Conference, Teaching and Learning Conference, Winter Adjunct Conference and Fall Focus. This one-hour version includes a brief overview with one hands-on exercise.

School of Business, Technology, and Law

Training for CCBC students, faculty and staff
  • CSIT 121 (Web Standards) — Introduces common Web Standards as recommended by the World Wide Web Consortium. Topics include HTML, XHTML, CSS, XML, and WAI (Web Accessibility Initiative.) The course emphasizes the important role standards play in Web Site development. Students learn how to use these standards to create and structurally mark-up web pages. NOTE: Course offered fall, spring, and may be offered during additional sessions. (3 credits)

Register Online »

School of Continuing Education

Training for CCBC students, faculty and staff
  • PCP 245 (Intermediate CSS and XHTML) — This course provides instruction on intermediate CSS and XHTML web design techniques. Topics to be covered include: document trees, cascading, CSS style rules, CSS floats, semantic markup, elastic navigation bars, drop-down menus, and accessibility design. (Ed2Go online course)

Register Online »

College Communications Department

Training for CCBC faculty and staff Registration is no longer available. This workshop series was hosted in partnership with Instructional Technology.

We trained 68 web content collaborators, contributors and owners in 8 months.
Thank you for your support! The 17 training sessions were enlightening and action packed with information. This training was phased out in May 2019. Also, Siteimprove Academy tutorials were phased out in January 2023.

Lynda.com Tutorials

CCBC students, faculty and staff are encouraged to explore Lynda.com’s vast array of web and PDF accessibility tutorials—all free for Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Harford and Howard county residents. Use your library card number (bar code) and pin to login.

Creating Accessible PDFs

This course walks you through how to take an existing PDF file and remediate it for users of assistive software. You will also learn how to create accessible PDFs from scratch—one in Word and one in InDesign—with some special considerations for Excel and PowerPoint.

Additional topics include what is accessibility, the screen reader experience, setting up Adobe Acrobat DC, tagging content, adding metadata, bookmarks and alt text, controlling tags and reading order and adding hyperlinks.

Login to Lynda.com to view this tutorial »

Advanced Accessible PDFs

This course covers adding advanced features to your document such as security, form fields and links, while keeping the PDF accessible and compliant. You will also learn how to work with tables and create PDF forms.

Login to Lynda.com to view this tutorial »