Institutional Accessibility Strategy: What does it look like?

In 2016, OLC and WCET asked the question, “What keeps you up at night?” and members listed accessibility at the top of the list.  It was not surprising.  There have been multiple high profile lawsuits and settlement agreements stemming from inaccessible web content on both public-facing websites and within online courses that caused a collective shudder through higher education.  Many institutions were faced with the prospect of not knowing how accessible their courses and web activities were and worse yet, not knowing where to start.

Looking for answers and guidance, administrators tend to turn to their disability services’ offices, assuming that these professionals will be able to effectively guide their efforts to an accessible campus.  But the technical prowess of disability services’ professionals vary widely when it comes to digital accessibility.  Some DS professionals are quite proficient and can effectively guide campuses regarding implementing the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and others have barely heard of them, let alone offer advice on how to assess and remediate tools that don’t meet the standards.

So, where does a campus begin?  An important first step is to understand the difference between accessibility and disability services and why the skill sets of each professional may not be interchangeable.  A disability services professional is skilled in understanding the student’s diagnosis, how it impacts him or her and crafting accommodations that will allow the student an equal opportunity to demonstrate what he or she has learned.  An accessibility professional understands how inputs and outputs work together with software and tools to create a learning experience that may or may not be compatible with common assistive technology tools that students with disabilities may use.  It is also important to recognize that accessibility is an institutional commitment and responsibility.  This means that administrators, instructional designers, faculty, educational technologists, programmers, and others who are involved in the course development process also have a role to play in ensuring accessibility. 

During this session, we will talk about the course in three stages: before the course is offered, while the course is offered, and after the course is offered.  We will highlight steps to take, tips and resources for ensuring accessibility is considered during all stages and by all campus professionals.

Before the course is offered:

One of the primary questions that campuses need to answer before offering a course is what services are you providing?  It is important to note that both Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 require that colleges and universities ensure that the courses, programs, activities and services they offer are accessible to individuals with disabilities.  There are no digital accessibility standards or regulations for either law.  What does that mean?  It means that the words “ADA compliant” mean nothing in terms of digital accessibility.  It also means that accessibility is open to interpretation with limited guidance from the federal government about what it is exactly.

It also means that purchasing a tool to assist with your accessibility efforts is likely not going to be enough.  Not only are these tools quite expensive, they also don’t do quite what everyone hopes they will do.  That is, they do not offer an end to end solution to ensure that every digital activity is accessible.  They merely are just one resource that can be included in an accessibility tool box.

One of the most critical steps to take before offering a course is to agree on an institutional policy regarding procurement of educational technology.  Vendors and educational partners have developed robust, interactive educational tools that many campuses are adopting to create engaging courses that will hold students’ interest.  But are they accessible?  And should we take a vendor’s word for it when we ask?  Procurement policies are important resources in an accessibility tool box that can offer a natural check and balance to course development activities.  We will cover what questions to ask when considering the adoption of a tool as well as ways to evaluate a vendor’s accessibility claims.

Faculty governance is also an important consideration for all stages of course development and delivery.  Many think the faculty role is limited to implementing accommodations in a course but there are important considerations throughout the course development phase as well.  Concerns regarding academic freedom can often lead to an “us vs. them” dynamic that serves no purpose, for the student or the faculty.  Accessibility strategies need to include faculty considerations and be supported by the faculty governance bodies on campus, both to ensure wide-scale buy in but to also satisfy some accreditation requirements for faculty consultation.   

During the course:

When a course is offered, one of the most important considerations is implementing a student’s approved accommodations.  But there are other accessibility considerations as well.  How are the educational tools working?  Are they behaving as expected with the student’s assistive technology?  What happens when the vendor has an unexpected technical difficulty?  The campus needs to assemble the team who is responsible for “taking care” of students while they are actively engaged in class and be sure that they have planned for accessibility concerns throughout every stage.

When thinking about natural “going to class” activities that students and faculty engage in, it has to be noted that faculty often find relevant materials to share with students once those students have already begun class.  Is it reasonable to request or require that faculty ensure this content is accessible when it is shared with students?  And if so, how do we support faculty in meeting this expectation?  What tools and services can we (and should we) be providing to faculty to build accessibility into what they do?

After the course, following up on accessibility:

Once a course has ended, the accessibility work does not end.  This is a critical time for follow-up and assessment of the institution’s accessibility steps.  What worked?  What didn’t?  What information can be provided to the vendors about student and faculty experiences with the tools the campus has purchased?  This feedback not only troubleshoots what may not have worked as expected during the course delivery but also allows the vendor to influence future releases of the product.  This is where it is important to remember that accessibility is a journey, not a destination.  Each new release of the product is an opportunity to make the experience better or worse.

The same is true for the courses the institution has developed.  Student and faculty feedback regarding their experience in a course will likely influence changes that will be made to the course for future offerings.  What does this feedback tell us about our accessibility efforts?  This is often where we can find our accessibility allies and champions on campus, i.e., those campus colleagues who are committed to accessibility who do not work in the disability services office.

At each stage, the presenters will share their experiences in crafting a comprehensive accessibility strategy for two very different institutional contexts.  We will also talk about key performance indicators for accessibility and how they tie to institutional buy in and commitment throughout the institution.  Our plan to discuss our experiences for approximately 25 minutes of the 45-minute session and leave at least 20 minutes for question and answers with the participants so they are able to get the information they need from the session.