Can I scan a document (handwritten, typed, copyright material, etc.) and post it in my Moodle course as a PDF?
No, and here’s why.
Scanned documents are treated like image files and therefore cannot be read by assistive technologies, such as a screen reader, the page will appear blank.
Copyright is another consideration to address before deciding to scan certain documents.
What are my options?
For handwritten material:
- Type your information in Word.
- Apply proper headings, alt tags and descriptions to graphics.
- Properly identified links in the document.
- Run the accessibility checker to find any outstanding issues.
When your document is ready, you can post it in Moodle, save it as a Google doc and provide a link to the file, or even save it as a PDF and post it in your course.
For typed materials (articles, receipts, paper tests, etc.):
- Use OCR software when scanning.
- Re-type the material as a Word document.
- Provide links to articles and practice tests if possible.
If you need to scan something smaller, like a receipt, or label, etc., try inserting it into a Word document where you can provide a bit of surrounding text to represent what is being captured in the graphical image and where you will also have the ability to add descriptive text to the image or a caption that will be read by a screen reader.
In the following video you will see how a screen reader handles a scanned document, followed by how it reads the document after it has been typed up. Stick with it! It helps to “hear” and “see” the process.