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Accessibility
Federal law requires that academic institutions provide accommodation for students of differing abilities, and this includes online courses. Boise State Policy #1075 Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability outlines expectations of accessibility in compliance with our legal requirements and our mission and Statement of Values, stating, “E. Faculty members are responsible for ensuring that the selection and/or development of their course tools and materials are fully accessible for people with disabilities.” Please review the policy for additional details, and recognize that eCampus and your Instructional Design Consultant are available for your assistance.
Universal Design for Learning
Universal Design for Learning (or UDL) is a set of guidelines often used by educators to ensure their lessons and activities are accessible to all their students. The Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 defines universal design for learning as:
a scientifically valid framework for guiding educational practice that:
(A) provides flexibility in the ways information is presented, in the ways students respond or demonstrate knowledge and skills, and in the ways students are engaged; and
(B) reduces barriers in instruction, provides appropriate accommodations, supports, and challenges, and maintains high achievement expectations for all students, including students with disabilities and students who are limited English proficient” (boldface ours).– (Higher Education Opportunity Act, 2008, § 103, Stat. 3086-3090)
Please watch the following video for an overview of universal design, adapted for a higher education audience. If you have trouble seeing the embedded video, visit the link on YouTube: UDL at a Glance (4:36 min.)
Applying the Principles of Accessibility and Universal Design for Learning
The underlying mantra of universal design is for educators to build into the curriculum enough options and flexibility so that challenges and supports exist to help all students — including those who may be gifted or struggling — to achieve learning objectives. Incorporating universal design into one’s course can start with a few simple practices. For example, in this seminar, we have incorporated the following:
- We use heading styles in the content to break up the content and denote importance
- We add alternative text (ALT text) and long descriptions embedded into graphics, so that screen-reading equipment can describe the graphics to sight-impaired participants
- We provide you with options for accessing outside resources (i.e. the Please Choose and Optional resources) not only because the content of one might appeal more than another, but also because one resource might be more accessible for someone than another
The UDL at a Glance video in the previous reading introduced three primary principles based on neuroscience research that provide the underlying framework for universal design guidelines. The principles encourage educators to provide students with options in three key areas of a course.
In her book, Making the Move to K-12 Online Teaching: Research-Based Strategies and Practices (2012), Boise State Educational Technology professor Kerry Rice offers the following example strategies for each UDL Principle (pp.225-226). Although Rice’s book is specifically geared toward K-12 online teachers, the strategies she recommends certainly apply and are useful in higher education online classrooms as well:
| Principle | Explanation | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| I – Provide multiple means of representation | This principle is related to the brain network for recognition (the “what” of learning). Use text, video, audio, and video representation to improve perception and comprehension. |
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| II – Provide multiple means of action and expression | This principle is related to the brain network for skills and strategies (the “how” of learning). Allow the use of text, audio, video and action as a means for students to express their understanding of content. |
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| III – Provide multiple means of engagement | This principle is related to the brain network for caring and prioritizing (the “why” of learning). Recognize that students are motivated and engaged in different ways and provide alternative means for engagement with the content. |
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Strategies to Design Online Courses that are Welcoming and Accessible to All Students
Watch this very concrete (and concise) video created by The DO-IT Center of the University of Washington that provides an excellent overview of how to make online learning accessible:
Real Connections: Make Distance Learning Accessible to Everyone (13:07 min.)
Please don’t freak out or get overwhelmed if your course design reflects that there are many items that may need special attention to make them accessible. If there are, remember that providing accessible course materials is best practice for good teaching and that anything you can do to increase accessibility is helpful not only for students with disabilities but for all students. Consider informing your department chair/program director of your plans while beginning to work toward increasing the accessibility of the course materials little by little.
Why Now? I may not have a student with a disability in my course.
Creating accessible content, activities, and assessments during the course design and development process is much easier than retrofitting a course later. Plus, 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 University have been the subject of federal complaints or lawsuits over charges of inaccessibility. Making your course accessible is the right thing to do and it makes course materials more usable for everyone.
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. Incorporating Universal Design for Learning Principles enables you to create content and interactions that remove barriers to learning for all students and particularly students with disabilities.
Captioning Services at Boise State
At the time of writing, Boise State does not have the resources available to offer captioning services for instructional video. There are conversations being held across campus to help you address the need for captioning services, so this may change in the future. In the meantime, we can help you learn to manually add captions or an accurate transcript to your videos using Camtasia Studio or Camtasia Relay for hosting on your Techsmith Relay or G Suite YouTube account. Instructions are available at http://oit.boisestate.edu/ video/closed-captions/. This topic will also be covered in the module on developing multimedia.
Third-party Online Tools and Resources
When third party resources or tools from the textbook publisher or other sources are proposed as an integral part of the course and/or student learning, please work with your Instructional Design Consultant to conduct a vetting process to establish the level of accessibility. Your Instructional Design Consultant may also enlist the assistance of the Educational Access Center, Albertsons Library, and other departments across campus, as needed, to support use of the resource or tool, or find equivalent, accessible alternatives for those tools/resources.
References
Bond, T. (Producer). (2013, March 15). Universal Design for Learning Remix with Higher Ed Images (Version 2) . [Video file] Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gpx4Wgqjy_8
CAST. (2012a). National Center on Universal Design for Learning. Retrieved from http://www.udlcenter.org/
CAST. (2012b). Universal design for learning guidelines. [PDF] Retrieved from http://www.udlcenter.org/sites/udlcenter.org/files/updateguidelines2_0.pdf
Ed.Gov. (2010). Higher Education Opportunity Act (2008). Retrieved from http://www2.ed.gov/policy/highered/leg/hea08/index.html
Pennsylvania State University. (2012). Accessibility checklist. Retrieved from http://accessibility.psu.edu/checklist
Rice, K. (2012). Making the move to K-12 online teaching: Research-based strategies and practices. Boston: Pearson.
TheDOITCenter (Producer). (2011, August 18). Real connections: Making distance learning accessible to everyone. [Video file] Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3sdR53ho2