Recommendations for Faculty

Classroom Materials

Faculty are encouraged to consider accessibility in developing course materials, whether or not a reasonable accommodation has been requested. Consistently selecting accessible course material allows for reasonable accommodations to be implemented quickly, and can benefit all students, with and without disabilities (for example, a student with hearing impairment and a student with English as a second language may both benefit from captions on a video).

Faculty are also encouraged to consider including universal design learning (UDL) principles in their courses.

In order to proactively make course materials accessible, consider the following:

• Confirm that video learning materials are captioned and/or have transcripts.
  • For all videos, whether they are self-created or captured from an external agencies, confirm that the captioning and/or transcripts provided are accurate.
• Confirm that audio learning materials have transcripts.
• Confirm that text books are available from a publisher in digital format.
• Confirm that course materials (e.g. websites, interactive games, CDs, PowerPoints, etc.) provided by the publisher are accessible.
• Provide written materials (including documents and PowerPoint presentations) in alternative accessible formats (e.g. audio, tagged PDF, rich text format)
  • In written materials, be sure to use:
    • Headings
    • Sufficient color contrast
    • Sufficient white space
    • Alternative text and explanation for pictures, graphs, diagrams, and other images
    • Easily readable font
• Confirm that software and hardware used or purchased for class is accessible.
• Confirm that websites used for the course are accessible.
• If you have necessary course materials or activities that are not accessible to all students, consider alternatives means for those materials or activities to be available.
• Confirm that library reserve materials are accessible or chosen from publishers who provide accessible content.
• Confirm that math/scientific equations and/or formulas being provided digitally are created using MathML, which helps make equations accessible using a screen reader.

Additional Recommendations For Accessibility:

1. Include referral information about the Access Center/Access Services in your syllabus and/or the university’s discrimination or accessibility policies.
2. Provide multiple ways for students to communicate with you.
3. Refer students to the Access Center/Access Services, if necessary (i.e. a student shares a concern about their ability to complete a task due to their disability).
4. Work with the Access Advisor/Coordinator if you have any questions.
5. Departments can keep a log of accessible materials for wider use within the department. This is especially helpful for classes that are taught by graduate students.