Accessibility and Online Course Content

icon_info.jpgConsider this scenario: You receive a notification from <Replace -  Institution's Disability Services Office> that you will have a student in your class with a hearing impairment in the upcoming semester. A sign language interpreter is then assigned to your class to assist. Any lectures, videos, narrated PowerPoints, etc. will be interpreted in your class for this student. When moving into the online environment, how is this same need met?

<Replace with Institution Accessibility Policy>

 

Federal Laws Regarding Accessibility

Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 Links to an external site. and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 Links to an external site. apply to higher education institutions. ADA Title II extends to all activities of state and local entities such as K-12 public schools, public colleges, and universities whether or not they receive federal funds. Please note that the US Department of Justice has made it clear that the ADA applies to programs offered on the Internet Links to an external site.. This includes web pages and digital materials in online courses and programs that students are required to access for educational purposes. For institutions that receive federal funds, the purpose of Section 504 (Links to an external site.) is to provide access to educational programs without discrimination to qualified students. Together, the purpose of these aforementioned laws is to make sure educational programs are all designed to provide students with the opportunities that are equal to that of their peers.

So what does this mean to you as a faculty member at <Replace -  Institution Name> moving into the online environment? If you have a student in your online course with a registered disability, access to course materials in your online course may present challenges for students with disabilities. For example, if a student is registered with <Replace -  Disability Services Office Name> and requires additional time to take quizzes, you must provide testing accommodations. In addition, <Replace - Your LMS> provides you with the ability to easily add various types of multimedia to your course. Please keep in mind that if you choose to incorporate these multimedia elements (e.g., YouTube video clips, video webcam clips, podcasts, narrated PowerPoint presentations, screencasts) into your online course, these materials may require some type of modification (e.g., transcript, captioning) in order to be accessible to all students. In fact, all course materials that students are required to access must be made accessible whether they are used in a face-to-face class or whether they are placed in an online learning environment. Additional materials that may require modification include but are not limited to:

  • MS Word documents
  • PowerPoint presentations
  • PDF documents

When you are determining which technology you want to add to your course, note that the Department of Justice and the Department of Education "encourages schools to employ innovative learning tools. Because technology is evolving, it has the capability to enhance the academic experience for everyone, especially students with disabilities. Innovation and equal access can go hand in hand" (US-DOE, 2012).

How <Replace - Department Name> Can Help

The <Replace - Department Name> offers a number of services to faculty to assist with compliance of online digital content.

Content

Follow our best practices noted below for the creation of accessible course content pages. Also, <Replace - Department Name> will create closed captions for videos if an electronic script or transcript is submitted.

Accessibility Review

A service that our department offers is an accessibility review of your online course. You will have the opportunity later in this course to submit your course for this review. A report generated as part of this process will identify any potential accessibility concerns that your instructional designer will review with you to help develop a plan to address these concerns. Please let your Instructional Designer know if you are interested in participating in this process.

UDL Principles

There is growing support for a concept called Universal Design for Learning (UDL). UDL is a way of creating course materials that are accessible not only to students with disabilities but to all students. The application of UDL principles provides strategies to address the learning styles of all of your students while breaking down unintentional barriers to learning. The Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 recognizes UDL as a “scientifically valid framework for guiding educational practice” and supports implementation at the post-secondary level of education (2008).

Let’s say that you’ve decided to incorporate a video into your online course. Applying UDL principles, such as adding captions, in advance would not only prepare your class in the event that you have a student with a hearing impairment enrolled, but it will benefit other students in your course from day one. A student for whom English is a second language will comprehend the audio better because accents and other auditory distractions will not conflict with processing the information. A student with a learning disability who has difficulty processing audio information may benefit from reading the captions instead of relying on the audio portion for information. Visual learners benefit from captioning because having access to the text has been shown to improve retention. In addition, a student who has a hectic schedule and is working on completing an assignment while in a library setting, may be required to listen to an instructional video provided by the faculty member in order to complete the assignment. If he does not have access to a set of headphones, he will be unable to complete the assignment unless the video is already captioned. Applying UDL principles to your course materials will improve access and instruction for all students with a variety of learning styles, cultural backgrounds, and various environments.

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icon_strategies.jpgInstructional Strategies & Best Practices

Design and create online course materials with accessibility standards and UDL principles in mind, and refer to the following resources to help you create accessible course content.

  • Headings
    • Apply Headings to your document (e.g., Word, HTML, PDF, etc.). Using Headings rather than bolding or enlarging text makes it easier for individuals using a screen reader to navigate a document or web page and they are an essential element when creating accessible online materials.
  • Images
    • If you use images in your online course, make sure they are instructionally meaningful and help students learn the concepts you are teaching.
    • Add a brief and meaningful text description or alternative text (alt text) for all images. Alt text is read by screen readers allowing the content and function of the image to be accessible to those with visual or cognitive disabilities.
  • Review <Replace - LMS documentation> to allow students with disabilities extra time to take a quiz/exam.
  • When considering adding third-party video links (e.g., You Tube) to your course, search for and use clips that are already captioned. If there's a link you really want to use, consider writing to the source to see if a captioned version is available. The <Replace -  Institution Name> Library licenses captioned commercial and educational videos that can be used in your online course.
  • Include a statement in your course syllabus informing students of any special technology requirements (e.g., Flash Player, Adobe Reader, or Java) so students know up front what they need to access your course materials.

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Optional Further Reading

If you would like more information related to accessibility and UDL, check out the following references. Each contains a wealth of information that you will find helpful now and in the future.

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References

Creative Commons License

TOPKit Sample Course was prepared by the University of Central Florida (UCF). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License Links to an external site..