Accessibility 101: Principles of Inclusive Design

Course Overview

The purpose of this course is to introduce participants to the basics of accessibility with emphasis placed on making content accessible while promoting proactive (as opposed to reactive) steps that people can take to create and advocate for accessible content. Participants will learn the language of accessibility, the laws that most impact higher ed, how to create accessible content, the principles of Universal Design for Learning, and other useful information pertaining to accessible technology and the experience of people with disabilities.

Course Objectives

Explain the importance and benefits of accessible/inclusive design.
Summarize the laws that protect people with disabilities
Differentiate between access and accommodation.
Employ Universal Design principles.
Create simple, accessible documents, Canvas pages, PDFs, and/or PowerPoint presentations that include the following:

Use of headings and style guide
Alt-text for images
Descriptive hyperlinks
Accessible tables

Identify and use the various approaches to caption a video.
Take steps to ensure online technology is accessible to students, faculty, and staff on your campus.

Required Technology

This course focuses on creating content using Microsoft Office and online platforms. All faculty and staff should have access to Microsoft Office - either as software they can load onto their home and office computers, or as software they can access from a campus computer.

We strongly recommend that you use the most recent versions of Office. Older versions do not support accessibility as well as the new versions do. If you're using a version older than Office 2013 please consider contacting your IT office for an update. We will not provide instruction or support for outdated software. And keep in mind, outdated software means it's unsupported and may create security risks -- another reason to upgrade.

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