Headings make course content easy to skim and navigate for all students. This guide covers why built-in heading styles matter for accessibility, how to structure them correctly, and how to apply them in D2L Brightspace, Microsoft Word, and Google Docs.
Screen reader users rely on digital heading tags (such as h1, h2, and h3) to navigate content efficiently:
- Navigation Shortcuts: Screen readers allow students to skim from heading to heading to jump straight to key information without listening to the entire page.
- Visual vs. Structural Formatting: Simply making text bold, italicized, underlined, or larger does not create a true heading. Screen readers read manually styled text as standard body paragraphs, leaving visually impaired students without structural guideposts.
- Pima Styling Standard: Keep headings short and direct (5–8 words), use Title Case (capitalizing major words), and ensure they make sense on their own.
Think of headings as an outline or table of contents. Heading levels must follow a logical hierarchy and should never skip levels (for example, going directly from Heading 1 to Heading 3).
- Heading 1 (H1) — Page or Document Title:
- Identifies the primary topic of the document. Use only once per file or page.
- D2L Brightspace Rule: D2L automatically formats your Page Title field as H1. Therefore, all body content you type in the editor must start with Heading 2.
- Heading 2 (H2) — Major Sections:
- Use for main topics or primary chapter/module sections (e.g., "Course Overview", "Weekly Learning Objectives").
- Heading 3 (H3) — Subsections:
- Use for subtopics nested directly under a Heading 2 section (e.g., "Week 1 Readings" under "Required Readings").
- Heading 4 (H4) — Sub-subsections:
- Used for detailed subsections nested directly under a Heading 3 section.
Key Rule: Never select a heading level based on how it visually looks (e.g., choosing H4 just because you want smaller text). Choose heading levels strictly based on structural hierarchy, then adjust font styles if needed.
When creating HTML documents, announcement posts, or assignment instructions in D2L Brightspace:
- Highlight the line of text you want to format as a heading.
- Click the Format dropdown menu in the HTML Editor toolbar (by default, it displays Paragraph).
- Select the appropriate level (Heading 2, Heading 3, or Heading 4).
- Click Save and Close.
When drafting syllabus files, handouts, or assignment prompts:
In Microsoft Word:
- Select your target heading text.
- Go to the Home tab in the top ribbon.
- In the Styles gallery, click Heading (for file title), Heading 2, or Heading 3.
In Google Docs:
- Highlight your text line.
- Click the Styles dropdown in the toolbar (defaults to Normal text).
- Choose Heading 1, Heading 2, or Heading 3, then click Apply.
- Open the Document Outline sidebar (left side) to verify that your headers form a clean, nested outline.
You are done. Great job!
0 Comments
Add your comment