As you start the new semester, keep accessibility in mind! Creating course materials that are accessible helps all students in your classes, including students with disabilities. Use this checklist to help you get started, and feel free to reach out to OIT for more details at 303-735-4357 (5-HELP from a campus phone) or help@colorado.edu.
Need-to-Do’s:
- Ensure your syllabus is accessible by using the accessible syllabus template [.docx]. If you would prefer to remediate your existing syllabus to make it accessible, consult our accessible document guides or contact oithelp@colorado.edu for guidance.
- Make sure your syllabus contains CU Boulder’s required disability accommodation statement.
- For any digital software or service that students are required to use in your course, please determine the accessibility status of the software. For software supported by the Office of Information Technology, please check the list of accessibility pages for OIT software. To determine the accessibility status of any additional software, please contact the Digital Accessibility Office at digitalaccessibility@colorado.edu.
If the software is not accessible or has not been reviewed for accessibility, please provide notice to students using the syllabus statement below.
Syllabus statement:
This course requires the use of [name & description of tool], which is currently not accessible to users of assistive technology or has not yet been evaluated for accessibility. If you use assistive technology to access the course material, please contact your faculty member and Disability Services at 303-492-8671 or by e-mail at dsinfo@colorado.edu as soon as possible to discuss other effective means for providing equal alternate access.
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If you receive an accommodation request from a student in your course for a captioning accommodation, notify the captioning service using the online captioning request form.
Go Above and Beyond For Your Students:
- Consult CU Boulder’s resources on accessibility best practices and guidelines for educators.
- Review the accessibility of your course content using the Canvas Accessibility Checker.
- Implement recommendations from the accessible content guide for Canvas.
- Consult the Universal Design Checklist for Educators for specific advice on designing and authoring accessible digital content like PowerPoints, PDFs, and Word documents.
- Learn about implementing Universal Design teaching practices in the classroom.
- Caption video content used in your courses. Email captioning@colorado.edu for a consultation or to schedule captioning training, or review our YouTube captioning tutorials to caption on your own.
- Investigate the accessibility of your digital publisher-generated content using our E-Text Accessibility Evaluation Guide.
For additional resources related to accessibility and universal design for teaching and learning, please go to the Accessible Technology page. There you can also learn more about CU Boulder’s Accessibility Policy and Standards.
If you would like to learn more or have questions about digital accessibility, please contact the IT Service Center at oithelp@colorado.edu or call 303-735-4357 (5-HELP from a campus phone).