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Learning Objectives

Define accessibility and adaptability goals.
Incorporate best practices for technological accessibility.
Identify feedback loops for technological accessibility.
Explore strategies allowing diverse learners to adapt content to personalize the learning experience.
Promote multimodality and alternative means of access to course content.
Assess the accessibility and usability of tools and content.

Assignment Overview

In this activity, you will be exploring the accessibility of a student-facing artifact in your/your instructor’s course. You will actively use accessibility checkers and tools and will also engage with your Student Accessibility Services department (or the equivalent). You will then share your experience with the other participants in this course.

Librarians: if you have a student-facing document you would like to assess, feel free to complete this activity independently. Note: A LibGuide or handout you use for instruction may be a great option for this assignment! If you don’t have a student-facing document, feel free to work collaboratively on this activity with your instructor partner.

Guidelines

Watch "Open Dialogues: Open Education and Accessibility" (3:29).
Read the following resources:
Choose a student-facing artifact from your course that you’ve developed. This can be a syllabus, a handout, a slide presentation, an infographic... pretty much anything you give to your students and require them to use.
Using the University of Washington’s Online Course Accessibility CheckerLinks to an external site. and the resources above, assess the accessibility of your artifact. Take note of what changes you need to make if you are able. If you are unable to make changes, assess whether or not a more accessible version is available or can be developed.
Engage with your campus Student Accessibility Services department (or the equivalent). Review its website and determine what resources it might have available to you—or even better, set up a meeting with a representative from the department to talk about your project. This meeting does not have to happen this week.
By Thursday of this week, please write a paragraph or two as you reflect upon your experience with the accessibility checker and the Accessibility Services department. Please consider the following questions as you compose your response.
1. 1. Describe the artifact you chose to check for accessibility. How do you or your students use the artifact?
  2. Describe your experience with the Online Course Accessibility Checker:
    1. Was it clear what aspect of accessibility you were checking?
    2. Were the tools easy to use?
    3. How accessible was your artifact? What do you need to change/update to ensure your artifact is fully accessible? How much labor do you suspect you will need to put into making the artifact fully accessible?
    4. Brainstorm briefly regarding how you might make this content more flexible so as to encourage diverse learners to adapt it so for personalizing the learning experience if possible.
    5. Briefly discuss your encounter with your Student Accessibility Services department - was its website helpful? Do you have a meeting set up? How do you think they will help you in implementing your OEP project? Is there anything you find lacking?
Please respond thoughtfully to your colleagues as you feel appropriate in the discussion by using the Reply box below by Sunday of Module 4.

Assessment

This activity will be assessed through discussion forum engagement. In addition to paying attention to the Certificate in OEP Discussion Rubric, your facilitator will be looking to see that you:

Chose a student-facing artifact
Utilized the accessibility checker on the student-facing artifact
Reflected upon your experience with the accessibility checker and the student services department through a thoughtfully constructed paragraph or two discussion posting, and through a thoughtful reply to a colleague.

Materials, Technology, and Technical Support

References:

Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology, University of British Columbia. (2017, Jul 28). Open Dialogues: Open Education and Accessibility. [Video]. YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcvYG-rkO-YLinks to an external site.

Thompson, T. (2013). 30 Web Accessibility Tips. Access Computing. University of Washington. Links to an external site.

https://www.washington.edu/accesscomputing/sites/default/files/doit-sync/files/30_Web_Tips.pdfLinks to an external site.

Digital Education Strategies/The Chang School. (2020 Jan 15). Understanding Document Accessibility. [Electronic book].

https://pressbooks.library.ryerson.ca/docs/Links to an external site. is licensed under a CC BY SA 4.0 International LicenseLinks to an external site.

Smith, E. [@Em1lySm]. (2022, Apr 20). I’m just a girl, standing in front of the internet, asking you, for the love of goodness to stop using ‘Click here’ to embed your

links: it’s inaccessible. [Tweet]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/Em1lySm/status/1516741011422199810Links to an external site.

University of Washington. (2022). Online Course Accessibility Checker. https://depts.washington.edu/uwdrs/faculty/online-course-accessibility-checklist/Links to an external site.

Need help using Canvas Discussions? If so, please review the following page: Canvas Resources for Students - DiscussionsLinks to an external site..