Digital Accessibility is an important, university-wide initiative with implications for all content creators, both in design and delivery. Regardless of disability or special need, every member of the CMU community should be able to access, use, and benefit from what is presented in their environment. There are many considerations for faculty in preparing course materials, so the CETL team has recently developed a few resources aimed at supporting faculty in this significant endeavor and helping them ensure that their course content is designed with all learners in mind.
Our new CETL website contains a helpful overview page, which includes basic definitions for learning about accessibility, as well as links to additional resources and research.
We have also created a digital content accessibility checklist, which provides guidelines in the following areas: text, color, links, documents, images, and complex visuals, and multimedia. It provides helpful ideas for making Blackboard course shells accessible and includes several linked resources.
In addition, we have recently launched a new self-paced online training that provides an overview and definition of accessibility, identifies the challenges encountered when there is not equal-access to materials, and helps participants learn how to create digitally accessible content for teaching and learning.
We hope you will take time to explore these resources to further your learning about digital accessibility and consider how you can seek to make your course material inclusive of all learners. To discuss accessibility in your course, contact CETL at cetl@cmich.edu or 989-774-3615.