Accessibility

A commitment to equitable teaching must extend to students with disabilities. In this session, we will discuss why you should not wait until you receive an accommodation request to design a learning experience that is inclusive of students with visual, hearing, motor, and cognitive disabilities. You will have an opportunity to practice identifying and addressing potential accessibility barriers in Word documents, PowerPoint slide decks, and Canvas pages. We will also introduce UDOIT Advantage, a tool for scanning your Canvas site, finding and addressing accessibility barriers, and even providing alternate formats for your course materials.

Digital accessibility is not only a best practice for inclusive teaching, it is the law. By April 2026, all electronic materials provided by state and local government entities must meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1. In other words, your Canvas site and all materials you offer must be accessible, even if you have not received a request for accommodation. Join us to learn more about what this means and how you can prepare.

Science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) content poses unique challenges for digital accessibility, but students in these disciplines need that support to learn and succeed. In this session, we will cover accessibility for complex images, data visualization, and equations. We will also look at tools that can help you address barriers in your existing content and create accessible content going forward.