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Beginning to make documents digitally accessible can feel overwhelming and time consuming at first. However, there are a few strategies that can make the process much more manageable. Below we give steps you can follow based on motivational and organizational change research.
Steps for making a course accessibile quick links
The Vision
The University of Nebraska–Lincoln (UNL) is committed to equity across all of our physical and digital campuses. We promote inclusive practices and strive for accessibility in all of our services, programs, and activities.
Why do I need to make my courses digitally accessible?
- Digital accessibility increases student learning and success for most students. For example, providing captioning on videos increased exam scores by 10% (e.g., Whitney & Dallas, 2019).
- It promotes the UNL value of “Every person and every interaction matters.”
- Over 20% of college students have a disability and the percentage has been increasing over time (National Center for Education Statistics, 2023). Digital accessibility is particularly beneficial to students with disabilities.
- Digital accessibility can save time in the long run because you do not have to make as many last-minute changes to meet accommodations. It is proactive rather than reactive.
- Over two-thirds of students with disabilities do not receive accommodations for a variety of reasons (National Center for Education Statistics, 2022). Digital accessibility helps to meet the educational needs of those students.
- Digital accessibility supports students’ civil and human rights.
- It is the law. New federal guidelines specify that all digital materials used at the university must follow the WCAG 2.1 Level AA guidelines. Failure to follow the guidelines can result in sanctions from the Department of Justice, fines, and/or lawsuits.
Steps for Making a Course Accessible
Step 1: Learn How to Make Documents Digitally Accessible
Many instructors were never taught about digital accessibility, its benefits, or how to make digital content accessible, so they feel ill-prepared to make these changes. But the central principles are easy to learn and UNL has created a variety of easy-to-use resources to assist you as we build a culture of accessibility at the university. You likely will not use all of these resources but select whatever resources you think would be most helpful to you.
Online Asynchronous Trainings
- Digital accessibility training: This ~1.5-hour training provides explicit guidance on producing accessible materials in Microsoft Office, PDFs, and Canvas and implementing universal design for learning.
- Title II training: This training will teach you about Title II and the new regulations.
Workshops
- B is for Barriers: A workshop on accessibility barriers and solutions.
- Building Inclusion through Digital Accessibility Workshop Series: A workshop series designed to build skills and in-depth understanding of accessibility best practices. The series includes tutorial workshops and practice sessions.
Resources
- Accessibility checklist: A checklist you can use to check the accessibility of digital materials in Microsoft Office, PDFs, and Canvas.
- Digital accessibility and UDL Instructor Resource: A handy resource where you can easily find information on providing accommodations, making your course materials more accessible, utilizing universal design for learning, and instructor support.
- CTT Accessibility and Universal Design for Learning webpage: Contains information about accessibility and universal design for learning with links to many of the other resources on this page.
- Accessibility at UNL: Contains an overview of the new ADA Title II Rule and what it means for UNL.
Individual Help
- Digital Accessibility office hours: You can stop by during any of the practice sessions for the Building Inclusion through Digital Accessibility Series and receive help from an instructional designer on your accessibility-related questions.
- Contact your instructional designer: Faculty looking for help with making course materials accessibility can get advice and guidance from the instructional designer in their school or college. While instructional designers cannot remediate documents for you, they are happy to answer any questions that you have and give you strategies for approaching remediation.
Step 2: Utilize Accessibility Features When Creating New Content
It is easier and quicker to make new documents accessible as you are creating them than to create the document and then fix the accessibility issues. From this point forward, make documents accessible when you create them. You can use the accessibility checklist to help you. For already existing documents, it may be easier to remediate the document or recreate the document. Consider the age of the document and the number and nature of accessibility errors to help you decide which approach would be best.
An additional shortcut that you can use is to create accessible templates, such as this PowerPoint template, for the types of documents that you commonly create. Then when you create a new document, you can use that template to get started in an accessible format. Your instructional designer can assist you with creating a template for types of documents that you commonly use in your courses.
Step 3: Take an Inventory of Changes to be Made
For each course, make a list of the electronic documents you will be using the next time that you teach the course. You can use or adapt this course inventory template if it is helpful. Include in your list all:
- Canvas pages
- Canvas assignments
- Documents
- Websites
- Any content (documents, websites, video or audio files) that are linked or embedded on a Canvas page or other document
- Third party content such as textbooks or publisher materials
Step 4: Make an Implementation Plan
There are several different plans that you can use to work on your course. Below we give two models that you can use and adapt based on what is most effective for you. Regardless of which plan you utilize, there are a few strategies you can use in each plan that might be helpful:
- Use the accessibility checklist to check your course.
- Give a priority rating to each document so that you fix the most used or most problematic documents first.
- Along with the priority rating, consider whether it would be easier to fix documents of the same type all at once or start from the beginning of the course, fixing different types of documents as you go.
- Set realistic deadlines for yourself to help you keep on track. For some people, setting an aspirational deadline and the latest deadline the item can be completed by is helpful.
- Find an accountability partner or group that regularly checks in with each other to see what progress people have made on making their courses accessible.
- Track your progress in your course document inventory so you know what still needs to be completed and can celebrate your progress.
- If you notice that there are old files or pages in your course that you no longer use, we recommend deleting them or moving them to a sandbox.
Small Bites Plan
Schedule 20-minutes a day or 1.5 hours a week to work on remediating or recreating a document. If you find these blocks are too short for you to be productive, you can schedule a longer block of time. Protect this time so that you are consistently working on your plan.
Big Break Plan
Dedicate a block of time to working on your course, such as during a break in the semester. Set deadlines for yourself so you can stay on track. Set aside a little more time than you think you will need, if possible, to make sure you have enough time. Take breaks every 1-2 hours since this is detailed oriented work that requires focused attention.
Step 5: Implement Your Plan & Adjust as Needed
Carry out your plan and reach out for support with the resources given above as needed. Adjust the plan as needed based on your needs and timeframe. If it will not be possible for you to complete the entire course in time, complete as much as you can. Every additional accessibility feature in your course benefits our students.
References
Abraham, C. & Sheeran, P. (2005). Health belief model. In Conner, M. & Norman, P. (Eds.), Predicting health behaviour: Research and practice with social cognition models (2nd ed.). Open University Press.
Hays, K. (2024, May 17). An integrative approach to digital accessibility initiatives [Paper presentation]. Global Accessibility Awareness Day Conference, online. https://mediaspace.umn.edu/media/t/1_pvmmnqjx
Hyatt, J. M. (2006). ADKAR: A model for change in business, government and our community. Prosci Learning Center Publications.
Tobin, T. J., & Behling, K. T. (2018). Reach everyone, teach everyone: Universal design for learning in higher education. West Virginia University Press.