Accessible courses and course content require a little more planning and work upfront. This website provides resources that will help plan, develop, and implement course sites in ways that reduce barriers to learning and facilitate meaningful participation by all students.
To develop an accessible course, strive to use the following CELT resources:
- Participate in programs about Quality Matters (QM) via the CELT’s Quality Matters at Iowa State University webpage
- Read through the 10 Tips for Creating Accessible Course Content webpage
- Download the Effective Practices for Making Your Course Site Accessible (PDF)
- Download CELT’s Universal Design Checklist for Your Online Course (PDF)
- Learn more about universal design from CELT’s Universal Design for Learning Overview
- See the How-to Guide for Student Accommodations in Canvas web guide. To view previous/current request(s) and/or to request an accessibility feature in Canvas, visit the Canvas Accessibility Feature Request webpage.
- Use the Quality Matters (QM) Accessibility and Usability Resource webpage.
- Read through Educause’s ADA Compliance for Online Course Design page
Develop a Backup Plan
Students with a range of abilities should be able to participate in whatever learning experiences you design for your course. We recognize that inaccessible apps and technologies will make their way into classrooms, so we encourage you to think about a backup plan; how will a student with a disability have an equivalent experience if they can’t use that app?
Iowa State Resources and Support
It’s beneficial to be thinking about these things during the planning stage of your course, but you can also apply these concepts and best practices during a course redesign. Consider using these Iowa State University resources for help with your course or questions about accessibility:
- Instructional designers/academic technologists in your college
- ISU Library’s Accessibility Services & General Information webpage
- Digital Access website
- Student Accessibility Services website
- eAccessibility Initiative from Iowa State University’s Extension and Outreach website
- Contact our CELT staff members
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