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

UDOIT Accessibility Tool in Canvas

The FRC is offering training sessions and support workshops for the UDOIT accessibility tool:

  • Training sessions include an overview of how the UDOIT tool works to detect and address accessibility issues in Canvas courses
  • Support workshops are an opportunity to begin addressing identified accessibility issues using UDOIT with guided support from the Faculty Resource Center staff
    • Pre-requisite: Participation in an FRC training session or completion of the UDOIT video series

All sessions and workshops are hyflex and limited to 8 in-person and 8 online participants. Depending on demand, preference may be given to faculty members who are teaching summer courses. Additional sessions and workshops will be scheduled over the summer.

March 5 (T), 6 (W), 14 (Th) and 21 (Th)
9 - 10 am Training session
10 - 11 am Support workshop
1 - 2 pm Training session
2 - 3 pm Support workshop

March 13 (W)
11 am - 12 pm Training session
12 - 1 pm Support workshop

March 20 (W)
9 - 10 am Training session
10 - 11 am Support workshop
3:30 - 4:30 pm Training session
3:30 - 4:30 pm Support workshop

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 February 22, 2024
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