12 Planning for Accessibility

Accessibility means it is possible for all students, regardless of physical or developmental impairment, to use all course materials and tools.

An online course is accessible to the degree that every student can access, perceive, and navigate course content and assignments; submit assignments; and successfully use all course tools.

Accessible design is often included under the larger umbrella of “universal design for learning” because it considers all possible users.

See the video below for ways that online learners may be impacted by accessibility decisions.

Know the Accessibility Laws and Policies

Federal Law

Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (Links to an external site.) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Links to an external site.) apply to higher education institutions. ADA Title II extends to all activities of state and local entities such as K-12 public schools, public colleges, and universities whether or not they receive federal funds.

Please note that the US Department of Justice has made it clear that the ADA applies to programs offered on the Internet. This includes web pages and digital materials in online courses and programs that students are required to access for educational purposes.

For institutions that receive federal funds, the purpose of Section 504 is to provide access to educational programs without discrimination to qualified students.

Together, the purpose of these aforementioned laws is to make sure educational programs are all designed to provide students with opportunities that are equal to that of their peers.

University of Minnesota Policies

See the Online Teaching and Design Guidelines Links to an external site.for university-specific policies, best practices, and training opportunities.

Responding to Accommodation Letters

Consider this scenario: You receive a notification from the University’s Disability Resource CenterLinks to an external site. that you will have a student in your class with hearing impairment in the upcoming semester. A sign language interpreter is then assigned to your class to assist. Any lectures, videos, narrated PowerPoints, etc. will be interpreted in your class for this student.

So what does this mean to you as a faculty member when moving into the online environment? If you have a student in your online course with a registered disability, access to course materials in your online course may present challenges for that student.

The Disability Resource CenterLinks to an external site. (DRC) may contact you when specific accommodations are required for a student enrolled in your course. Some examples of frequent accommodation requests are:

1. additional time needed to complete online exams
2. document conversion (to another format, usually digital)
3. transcripts or captions needed for online media.

You can work with college or central academic technology staff to determine how to make these adjustments or add these resources to your course site. We will cover some specific strategies later in this module.

See also: AccessibleU section on Accessibility and AccommodationsLinks to an external site.