Did you know that 95 copy machines across campus can produce PDF documents that are accessible to those with low vision or other sight impairment?
This is a great way for instructors to share articles and other printed materials in an accessible format. Instructors who provide paper copies of materials to their students can use one of these machines to create an accessible PDF document for distribution via Canvas or email.
When scanning printed materials, most copiers will produce a PDF document that is incompatible with screen-reading technologies. However, these 95 copiers include functionality allowing them to scan printed material using optical character recognition (OCR) and create a PDF document that is compatible with screen-reading technologies.
In 2019, the Office of the Provost supported the upgrade or replacement of copiers in 11 campus locations to add OCR capability. The Provost also announced that all campus copiers leased through the Convenience Copier program would be equipped with OCR capability as they are replaced.
The campus now has 95 machines across campus that offer this capability to faculty, staff, and students.
UTK’s accessibility website lists the locations of the 95 OCR-capable copiers and provides other resources supporting the development of accessible documents and videos.