Designing for Accessibility in Online Education

Course Description:

Accessibility is becoming increasingly important to most institutions. Whether from the escalation of accessibility based lawsuits or just an increasing awareness of the types of disabilities affecting online learners, there’s been a corresponding increase in the scrutiny of and anxiety about instructional materials online and their perceptibility to persons with disabilities. 

This course seeks to soothe those anxieties by instilling in participants empathy for the student experience and empowerment that their courses and instruction can be made accessible. To this end, the course addresses the following topics:

• Legal Considerations Regarding Accessibility: What are Section 504, 508, and ADA? What sorts of legal cases have affected online courses in recent years, and what takeaways do they offer?
• Types of Learning Disabilities Affecting Student Learning: How do visual, auditory, motor, and cognitive disabilities affect a student’s experience in an online course?
• The Role of Instructional Design in Accessibility: How does accessibility merge with effective instructional design? What is the role of UDL when it comes to creating accessible courses?
• Preparing Documents for Use by Assistive Technologies: In what ways can common files types (.docx, .pptx, .pdf, .xlsx) be made accessible? What are strategies or tools that can used to easily review them? 

Most importantly, the course aims to shift perceptions about accessibility away from “accommodation” and “obligation” and instead towards terms “preference” and “responsibility.” That is, the course is built on a principle that designing for accessibility isn’t only a moral and legal imperative, but also a best practice from which all students benefit.

Course Objectives:

• Explain the laws and standards that relate to accessible design.
• Identify ways that specific disabilities may affect the user experience in the online environment.
• Describe the application of Universal Design for Learning in an online course environment.
• Review a variety of common file types for accessibility-related concerns and then correct them appropriately

About this course:

• From start to finish, module may take up to 4 hours to complete.
• Fully self-paced. Start and stop as you wish.
• LMS agnostic design strategies.
• Complete all or just some of the sections based on your course design experience.
• Receive a certificate of completion if all activities are completed.

How to enroll:

• Click on the “Click to Enroll” link below. (This action opens a new tab, transitioning you to the Engage LMS where you will complete the enrollment process.)

THIS COURSE IS INTENDED FOR FACULTY DEVELOPERS TEACHING IN PROGRAMS THAT ARE PARTNERED WITH WILEY.