Accessibility

What is Accessibility?

Accessibility ensures that all students can equally access, use, and understand learning content. This is often achieved through Universal Design. Universal Design for Learning takes into consideration a variety of learning modalities and disabilities when developing materials. Accessible course materials includes alt text for images and graphs, a clear course structure, and captioning and transcripts for course media like videos and audio.

Universal Design for Learning

Universal Design is a helpful framework that uses a research based set of principles to guide the design of learning environments to ensure they are accessible and effective for everyone. Beyond accommodating visually, audibly and learning impaired students, you’re also giving every student options, so they can choose the learning method which best suits their needs.

You can learn more about the principles, benefits and research of UDL at the websites below:

CAST: A nonprofit education research and development organization that works to expand learning opportunities for all individuals through Universal Design for Learning. (Cast.org)

CEUD: The Centre for Excellence in Universal Design (CEUD) was established by the National Disability Authority (NDA) in January 2007 under the Disability Act of 2005. (Universaldesign.ie)

Making Materials Accessible

Providing content in a variety of formats benefits all students. See the links below for helpful information on making sure your materials are accessible, regardless of format.

Voluntary Product Accessibility Templates

The Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) is a document which evaluates how accessible a particular product is according to the Section 508 Standards. It is a self-disclosing document produced by the vendor which details each aspect of the Section 508 requirements and how the product supports each criteria.

VPATs are used by buyers to determine how accessible a product is and where any potential deficiencies are. They are required by some buyers before a purchase is made.

Blackboard Ally

Blackboard has developed an accessibility check tool that can help faculty scan content such as PDFs, PPTs, and Word docs in their courses. Ally can report on how accessible the documents are and provide recommendations on how to correct common accessibility mistakes. The Ally course tool can be activated in any course in the On Campus Blackboard. Learn more about Blackboard Ally through the link below or contact bbhelp@uml.edu.