What Instructors Should Know About Creating Accessible Course Content
Around the country and at Harvard, instructors are being asked to create learning materials that meet digital accessibility standards. Some instructors have spent years teaching students with disabilities whose needs and materials have been entirely managed by a disability services office, and those instructors may be confused as to the role they are now being asked to play in this process. When it comes to creating course content that complies with accessibility standards, instructors want to know what is being asked of them and why.
What do instructors need to know?
- Harvard has a Digital Accessibility Policy that applies to University content, which includes course content.
- University content is expected to conform with WCAG 2.1 Level AA standards.
- The university provides tools and resources to support instructors in creating and maintaining accessible course materials.
Why should course content meet accessibility standards?
Belonging
When course content is accessible, it’s like making a great first impression. Students with disabilities can recognize that they are welcome in your course.
Time-saving
Having course content that is made accessible from the beginning saves time and effort for both students with disabilities and instructional staff. Here’s some of what can come up when courses aren’t accessible:
- If a student who finds a barrier must then report it and wait for it to be remediated, they are losing precious time for coursework.
- If an instructor learns that a student with a disability is joining their class with little notice, they have to scramble to liaise with the disability coordinator and make sure the student’s access needs will be met. When instructors work accessibility into their process of designing or updating a course, they can save themselves time and effort during the busiest parts of the semester.
Creating a baseline
Content that meets accessibility standards does not replace individualized accommodations. Students will still need things that are above and beyond what basic digital accessibility covers. However, having course materials that meet accessibility standards means starting with a baseline of materials that are going to be usable by the majority of students and that will be easier for the Assistive Technology Center to work with for students still requiring alternate formats
What do we do next?
Now that you understand why it’s important for course materials to meet accessibility standards, the next step is to explore how to do that. We’ll address that in an upcoming DAS Navigator post. In the meantime, check out some resources from DAS and other reputable sources:
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