‘Tis the season for accessibility! While we can’t promise you a partridge or five golden rings, we can offer you something that might be even better for your courses: Grackle—GCC’s new tool for creating accessible content.

Grackles are pretty common birds here in the Valley. They are quite noisy, surprisingly clever, brown and black birds that help control pest populations.  Our Grackle is a browser extension for Google Workspace that helps identify and fix accessibility pests in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides before uploading them to Canvas. 

What does Grackle do?

Grackle scans Google documents for common accessibility problems, like missing alt text on images, improper heading structure, color contrast issues, and more. Grackle then guides you through fixing them with a simple click-and-fix interface. It’s like having a helpful elf checking documents for accessibility compliance, except this elf works year-round and doesn’t require breaks for reindeer games.

Panorama is to Canvas what Grackle is to Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides; it’s the first step in identifying and addressing common accessibility issues and helps us learn how to fix them. As GCC faculty and staff, we’re responsible for creating and maintaining accessibility in our documents and course materials. Grackle makes this task just a little easier! 

Ready to give it a try?

Begin by checking out the MCCCD Quick Reference Guide. Mark your calendar to learn more at the Districtwide Virtual Training Session on Thursday, January 15th, at 11 a.m. And, of course, your friendly neighborhood Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence will also be offering a 30-minute whirlwind tour of Grackle for Docs, Sheets, and Slides on January 12th at 11:00 am and January 15th at 3:45 pm.

Here’s to accessible courses in the new year—may your Grackle be merry and your alt text be bright!