Accessibility Requirements and Skills

disability distribution

 

When developing or revising an online or partially online course, faculty are responsible for ensuring the course is fully accessible to people with a wide range of abilities, disabilities, and other characteristics as described by the Universal Design for Learning Links to an external site. framework and the OEI Rubric Links to an external site. and Peralta Online Equity Rubric Links to an external site.. Section D of the OEI Rubric provides an excellent framework for assessing your course content’s accessibility. If you have questions about whether or not your materials are accessible, please contact your CSM Accessibility Specialist,  Instructional Designers/Technologists or the DE Coordinator.

Accessibility in the digital learning environment is an essential part of an equitable learning environment, and students deserve to have access to digital learning materials and environments without revealing their disability status as provisioned by Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. Links to an external site.Compliance with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act is required for all government-funded institutions including the California Community Colleges, and the California Community Colleges’ Chancellor’s Office  Information and Communication Technology and Instructional Material Accessibility Standard Links to an external site. (2020) says that “ensuring equal access to equally effective instructional materials and ICT [information communication technology] is the responsibility of all California Community College administrators, faculty, and staff”.

Accessibility is an academic and professional matter per Title 5 §53200 Links to an external site., and faculty should have and maintain full freedom of and purview over their instructional materials and digital learning environments, while fulfilling their obligation as educators to provide accessible learning environments as required legally and as a tool for closing equity gaps.

Accessibility is defined as when students with disabilities “enjoy the same services as a person without a disability in an equally effective and equally integrated manner, with substantially equivalent ease of use.” Accessibility is about content creation, and faculty are required to plan ahead and make their course content accessible to disabled students.  This is often referred to as Section 508. This includes activities such as: 

  • Captioning videos; 
  • Selecting accessible websites when assigning online resources to students;  
  • Ensuring Word and PDF documents can be read by screen readers;
  • Formatting content in Canvas Pages, Discussions, Assignments and Quizzes using the Rich Content Editor, and  
  • Providing alternate text for images. 

Accommodation refers to activities that specific students require in order to participate equally in the learning environment. Accommodation is about student service, not content creation.  This is often referred to as Section 503 and this is handled in concert with our Disability Resource Center (DRC) on campus. Example accommodations might include: 

  • Requesting sign language interpreters for a synchronous zoom meeting; 
  • Extended time for assignments or exams; and 
  • Note-taking assistance. 

CSM and the DE Team are committed to working with faculty to offer inclusive and accessible courses. We have hired an Accessibility Specialist to work with faculty to ensure that all students can participate equally in our online and partially online courses. 

Faculty members must allow students with disabilities into their classes and must allow students with disabilities to utilize approved accommodations. You need to ensure every element of your class is accessible or able to be accommodated in an equally effective manner.  

What can you do?

The following concerns apply to every digital page and document you create or include within your course:

  1. Applying or using heading styles to headers and subheaders.
  2. Providing alt text (textual description for images and complex charts)
  3. Include closed captions, transcripts, and audio descriptions for any pre-recorded videos. 
  4. Include transcripts for any pre-recorded audio.
  5. Define header cells for columns and/or rows in your tables.

When you address these five concerns within your digital pages and documents, you help ensure a basic level of accessibility that will allow most students to access your course successfully.

 

Digital media requirements

Requirements

Digital Media Type

Accessibility Strategy

Digital Text

Apply semantic structure through the use of heading styles, and other formatting styles that can be useful for users of assistive technology.

Digital Images

Describe your digital images with succinct yet thorough verbiage in the form of alternate text.

Digital Audio

Provide a digital text transcript of digital audio information.

Digital Video

Provide a digital transcript of digital audio information contained in the video and caption the video. Automated transcription of the video through YouTube which uses ASR (automated speech recognition) is not considered to be acceptable quality for accessibility.

Adapted from An Introduction to Assessing Online Media and Technology for Accessibility

 

Captioning guidelines for media

The following are guidelines for when to caption video and audio materials:

When Captioning is Required

  • Video that will be archived and used again over multiple semesters 
  • Links to YouTube videos or other streaming video services (permission is not required if you use a caption overlay service).
  • Publisher or other third party video.
  • Video created by the campus and placed on a public website.
  • Section 508 also requires audio descriptions for video. You must briefly describe what is visually happening on screen if that content changes the meaning or isn’t already conveyed by the captions.

When Captioning is Not Required 

  • Video and audio material that is one-time use and will not be used in another semester in a course with restricted access (such as Canvas).
  • Student work that will not be archived.
  • Audio or video comments that are included as assignment feedback and provided directly to a student, just one time, unless that student requires or requests captions.

Transcript Requirements

  • Any instructional material that is audio-only and is archived as part of your course. This includes audio podcasts that you use in your course. Captions are not required for audio – a transcript is preferred.
  • Some students prefer a transcript in addition to captions with a video. This is not required but recommended.

 

Accessibility Training Resources