Accessibility

Accessibility

Accessibility

General Guidelines for Accessibility

Faculty play a key role when it comes to providing access to our students with disabilities. Faculty must maintain the confidentiality of students with disabilities and allow private meetings to discuss letters of accommodations. Although it requires some forethought, all faculty members should strive to follow the principles of Universal Design of Instruction for the benefit of all students.

Textbooks
  • Textbooks should be purchased with accessibility in mind. Choose those that are available in electronic format as well as in print. Students with blindness, low vision, dyslexia, those with many types of learning disabilities or traumatic brain injuries may not be able to utilize printed material.
  • Textbook choices should be publicly listed at least four weeks before class starts. Even electronic books may not be fully accessible from the publisher and may require extensive editing before they are ready for student use. Students with disabilities must have equivalent access to these textbooks when class starts.
Learning Materials
  • All handouts and learning packets must be available in an accessible electronic format when posted online.
  • Videos must be captioned accurately. (Auto-generated captions in YouTube generally do not meet acceptable standards for accuracy.)
  • Audio only material must be accompanied by a transcript or captions for hearing impaired students.
  • Third party websites need to be fully accessible. If you refer students to other websites, learning environments, online labs, or digital teaching tools, faculty are responsible for making sure they are accessible to all students. If they are not accessible, you will be called upon to provide an equally efficient method for students with disabilities to obtain this information.
Technology
  • When using clickers, smart boards, tablets, or other technology, be aware they must be accessible to all students. Those with dexterity or coordination issues as well as visually impaired students may have barriers to overcome. If you are unsure, ask the student privately to try out the technology in question.
  • If you are in a larger classroom that has a microphone, use it. Don’t assume anyone will speak up if you simply announce, “Can everyone hear me without the mic?” The learning experience will be better for all your students if they can hear you well.
Flexibility
  • Build some flexibility into your course to allow for make-up test dates and some absenteeism.
  • Allow students to record your class or take notes using an electronic device.
  • Allow flexibility with in-class quizzes to accommodate students who may need additional time.
  • Some in-class writing assignments may need to be done outside of class for students with a disability related to writing or processing.
  • Some students may require seating in the front of the class, need space in the back of the class, require a service dog, use a large motorized wheelchair, require a sign language interpreter, or any number of variations to accommodate their disabilities.

Accessibility Resources

Colorado Governor's Office of Information Technology
TidyUP and UDOIT Accessibility Tools in Canvas

Step 1: TidyUP → Step 2: UDOIT

TidyUP scans your Canvas course, identifies any files that are not being used, and allows you to easily delete those files. It also shows you to where in your course files that are being used are linked. You are strongly encouraged to run TidyUP before running UDOIT, since it can help you get rid of unused files that UDOIT may flag as not being digitally accessible, thereby reducing your work!

TidyUP and UDOIT Support Session

Join this hyflex, interactive workshop to focus on using TidyUP and UDOIT to make your courses more digitally accessible. Sessions are offered regularly on the second Wednesday of every month.

Wednesday, September 11, 2024, 11:30am – 12:30pm

Session Sign-up

UCCS Support
Creating Accessible Materials
Web Content Accessibility
  • WebAIM – Articles on HTML accessibility, media accessibility, evaluation and testing tools, etc.
  • How to Meet WCAG 2.0 – A customizable quick reference to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 requirements (success criteria) and techniques provided by W3C.
Accessibility Resources at Other Institutions

While we continue to develop documentation and tutorials on creating accessible content, we recommend you take a look at other institutions that excel in the area of accessibility.

Last updated September 12, 2024
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