Issues of Accessibility
Since our classes are not held in the classroom with in-person instruction or are held only half the time in-person for hybrid courses, the way that the information is delivered must be accessible for ALL students. Using captions for videos, providing descriptive links, and informative images are a few ways to check your courses for accessibility.
Below are helpful resources on accessibility, including a checklist/Quick Guide from NCSU IT, an online facilitation checklist, as well as information from Disability Services and Serena Reavis at NCSU IT. Please read through the sections below to understand different ways to increase accessibility in all of your classes for all of your students.
NCSU IT Accessibility Quick Guide
https://accessibility.oit.ncsu.edu/faculty/it-accessibility-quick-guide/
NCSU Disability Services Office
The NCSU Disability Services Office or DSO is a resource for faculty on how to meet their obligations in providing equal access to students with disabilities. Faculty who have questions about any accommodation or need clarification on an issue, are encouraged to discuss their concerns with a staff member of the DSO. Learn more about creating accessible course content and providing other accommodations here.
“What does Accessible Mean?” from DSO
Faculty Resources on Accessibility from DSO
The Center for Universal Design
Housed at NC State, the Center for Universal Design (CUD) is a national information, technical assistance, and research center that evaluates, develops, and promotes accessible and universal design in housing, commercial and public facilities, outdoor environments, and products. Their mission is to improve environments and products through design innovation, research, education and design assistance.
You can use the Principles of Universal Design within class as a discussion starter or rhetorical analysis, or you could apply these principles to the structure of your own class regardless of the format (or all of the above!). Information is also included on how to Convert a PDF to a More Accessible Document for class documents that are posted online.
Online Content Accessibility Checklist
This accessibility checklist from Michigan State University is intended to be a starting point for making documents and websites accessible. See the link for tips and descriptions of the elements requiring equal accessibility below:
- Text and Contrast
- Text Styles
- Heading Styles
- List Styles
- Alternative Text
- Multiple Avenues for Multimedia
- Added Context
- Tables
- Capitalization
- External Links
- Keyboard Navigable Content
Online Facilitation Instrument
Use this Assessing Online Facilitation Instrument from California State University to manage the various tasks/modes of the course: managerial, pedagogical, social, and technical.
The AOF Instrument is broken down into a checklist for different stages of the course: before the course begins, during the first week, throughout the course, and during the last week.