What do we mean when we talk about making online courses “accessible”? Does accessibility mean the same thing as accommodation or Universal Design for Learning? While the concepts are interconnected and all work in support of creating inclusive learning environments for students in higher education, each also has its own characteristics and definition.

The goal of this accessibility toolkit, 2nd edition, is to provide resources for each content creator, instructional designer, educational technologist, librarian, administrator, and teaching assistant to create a truly open textbook—one that is free and accessible for all students. This is a collaboration between BCcampus, Camosun College, and CAPER-BC.

This guide provides resources on the topic of Accessibility of Digital Content, as a supplement to the OERTX Digital Information Literacy Hub.

This page summarizes the accessibility issues demonstrated in the Word, PDF, and PowerPoint sample files that accompany the Accessible University demo site. With each issue, a solution is suggested as demonstrated in the accessible files.

Adaptive learning has its origins in John Carroll’s
personalized learning concept which prioritized
allotting engaged learners the time to become
proficient in a task (1963). Today, the phrase
adaptive learning applies to three overlapping
areas involving technology and learning.
Adaptive learning technology refers to the
educational technology, courseware, and
learning systems that deliver instruction and
learning content. Personalized learning,
sometimes interchangeably called adaptive
learning, represents content, pacing, pedagogy,
and goals designed to meet students’ individual
learning needs (Office of Educational
Technology n.d.). Thus, adaptive learning
describes the combination of active,
personalized learning delivered through
adaptive learning technology (Brown et al.
2020; Kerr 2016).

The goal of the Designing for All: A Toolkit for Maximum Digital impact is to provide resources for instructors at Vancouver Island University to create digitally accessible courses for their students. It focuses on the suite of tools supported by the Centre for Innovation and Excellence in Learning (CIEL). A giant thank you to BCcampus and their Accessibility Toolkit - 2nd Edition. We were able to rely heavily on the content provided in that publication in the creation of our own version. Thank you for your hard work.

This Book Will Be Helpful to:

Managers-
This book is aimed primarily at those who are responsible for implementing accessibility at an organizational level. These people tend to be managers, but may also be accessibility specialists, whose role it is to oversee the implementation of accessibility strategies and awareness throughout an organization.

Web Developers-
Web developers may also wish to read this book to expand their understanding of the organizational aspects of implementing accessibility, extending their role as an IT accessibility specialist, often being the person who leads the implementation of accessibility culture in an organization.

Everyone Else-
While managers and web developers are the primary audience for this book, anyone who has an interest in the aspects of implementing accessibility culture in an organization will find this book informative.

The Inclusive Design Guide can be applied to digital design as well as to the design of services, the built environment and physical products. It can be applied to processes like workshops, meetings, conferences, and even our daily interactions with one another. It can be used by anyone. The Guide is ever-evolving as we learn more about how to design inclusion into all that we do. We rely on your feedback and contributions to continue developing these ideas.

With raised awareness and accessibility laws emerging around the world, understanding what inclusive access to the Web means is becoming necessary knowledge for anyone who produces digital content. Much of the current information on Web accessibility requires some technical understanding, and may be difficult to consume for the average person. The instruction here will “interpret” the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.1), to make it easier to understand for a general audience. You will have an opportunity to experience barriers firsthand, then experience that content with the barriers removed, developing a practical understanding of web accessibility.

Faculty are required to ensure that the teaching materials we use are accessible to all students. Applying a universal design approach to your curriculum allows you to improve accessibility for all learners.

This starter kit has been created to provide instructors with an introduction to the use and creation of open educational resources (OER). The text is broken into five sections: Getting Started, Copyright, Finding OER, Teaching with OER, and Creating OER. Although some chapters contain more advanced content, the starter kit is primarily intended for users who are entirely new to Open Education. [Version 1.1. Revised September 5th, 2019.]

This policy is a starting point for institutions wishing to develop accessibility policies and practices for their online courses and is designed as a set of dynamic guidelines rather than a legal document. It was created in response to earlier research done by Frey and King (2010) with QM institutions revealing that 87% of respondents did not have an accessibility policy for online programs.

With much of the world gone digital, learning to create documents that are accessible to everyone is becoming a necessary skill. Intended for a general audience, this free resource reviews a wide range of document authoring applications, including the tools they contain for creating accessible documents, and tests them to ensure they do not contain potential barriers. Learn how to create accessible word processed documents, spreadsheets, presentation slides, and PDF documents, among others, so they are accessible to everyone.

Universal Design for Learning, or UDL, is a set of learning design principles that increase access and reduce barriers for all types of learners. In short, these principles encourage a variety of ways for instructors to engage students, represent course concepts, and allow students to demonstrate what they have learned. This video series breaks down the three guiding principles of UDL (engagement, representation, and action and expression) and explains how UDL principles benefit specific student populations. The series focuses on how UDL can apply to a college setting, but also provides guiding points for other levels of education.

Accessibility is one of the most important values underlying all of the work that we do. Now, you might already have some experience with accessibility, but other people that you work with might be new to the topic, or need methods or tools to see how to improve the accessibility of a product or service.

This page is an introduction to why accessibility matters, and we hope that you share it with your team.