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This chapter introduces the expectations, resources and principles of designing your course so it is accessible for persons with disabilities and meets Quality Matters Standards 8.1-8.5.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this module, each participating faculty member will be able to:

• I4. Explain the importance of using “universal design” principles to design materials that are accessible for persons with disabilities.
• I10. Design and develop new rich media instructional materials that incorporate accessibility principles
• I11. Check instructional materials against Quality Matters Standards 8.1-8.5.

Why This Chapter is Important

You may be asking, “Why think about accessibility now? I don’t even know if I will have students who need accommodation!” As you know, federal law requires educators to ensure content is accessible to students with disabilities. In fact, a recent clarification from the Office for Civil Rights interpretation states that a university violates its obligations under the Americans with Disabilities Act when it responds only on an ad-hoc basis to individual requests for accommodation.  In recent years, universities including Penn State, Arizona State and Louisiana Tech U. have been the subject of federal complaints or lawsuits over charges of inaccessibility. Planning to add captions to videos, or heading tags only after an online student requires this accommodation could be interpreted as a violation.

If you choose to use new/emerging technologies and/or other software/hardware as required components of the course, those must be accessible, too — not only due to the law, but also to meet Quality Matters standards. The bottom line: Online course content must be accessible, and accessibility must result in an educational experience that is equitable to that of students without disabilities.

Universal Design for Learning Principles enable you to create content that is more accessible for all students and particularly students with disabilities.