Welcome to the Course Accessibility Self-Paced Spring Cleaning Guide!

This collection of resources is designed for faculty who want to improve course accessibility but cannot attend our synchronous Spring Cleaning events on January 8-9.

You can work through these materials at your own pace, focusing on the areas most relevant to your courses. We estimate the complete path takes 4-6 hours, but you can break it into smaller sessions or focus on specific modules.

How to Use This Resource:

• Start with "Getting Started" to build foundational knowledge
• Review "Core Principles & Standards" to understand accessibility frameworks
• Complete the "Hands-On Audit" to evaluate your own course
• Dive deep into one or more Focus Areas based on your course content needs

🎯 Getting Started (Foundation Module)

Estimated time: 45-60 minutes

Understanding Disability & Accessibility

• Read What is Accessibility? (CAST)
• Read MHEC June 2024 Report: Students with Disabilities at Maryland Colleges and Universities
• Read Disability Language Style Guide (National Center on Disability and Journalism)
• Read Designing for Everyone: Addressing Permanent, Temporary, and Situational Limitations (Medium)

Understanding Disability Types & Barriers

• Read Visual Disabilities (WebAIM)
• Read Auditory Disabilities (WebAIM)
• Read Motor Disabilities (WebAIM)
• Read Cognitive Disabilities (WebAIM)
• Read Seizure and Vestibular Disorders (WebAIM)

📋 Core Principles & Standards (Framework Module)

Estimated time: 60-75 minutes

Accessibility Frameworks

• Review 6 Essential Steps of Digital Accessibility and corresponding video (University of Maryland DIT Office)
• Read Accessibility Standards - WCAG POUR Principles (Web Accessibility Initiative)
• Watch Designing for Accessibility with POUR video (CAST)

Practical Guidelines & Tools

• Review Maryland eLearning Accessibility Guidelines (.docx) (Maryland Department of Disabilities)
• Review USM Digital Accessibility Checklist (USM Kirwan Center)
• Read Is it Accessible? Questions to Ask Before Selecting Materials (CAST)
• Review Designing for Accessibility - posters (UK Government)

🔍 Hands-On: Audit Your Course (Action Module)

Estimated time: 90-120 minutes

Complete Your Module Accessibility Audit

Follow these steps to evaluate one module/week of your course:

1. Gather Materials: Select all materials from one module (syllabus section, readings, slides, videos, assignments, assessments)
2. Evaluate Each Item:
   • Use the USM Digital Accessibility Checklist
   • Consider using native accessibility checkers in Microsoft and Adobe
3. Document Your Findings: For each material, identify:
   • At least one accessibility strength
   • At least one potential barrier for students with different disabilities
   • One specific, achievable improvement
4. Prioritize Improvements: Create a list of 3-5 accessibility improvements, noting:
   • Which groups with disabilities (visual, auditory, etc.) would benefit
   • Estimated time/effort required
   • Resources or support needed
5. Begin remediating!

🎨 Deep Dive: Choose Your Focus Area(s)

Select one or more areas based on your course content needs

Focus Area 1: Data & Visual Communication

For courses with charts, graphs, images, diagrams, or visual data

Alternative Text Fundamentals

• Review the USM Quick Fix Guide: Creating Alt Text for Images
• Explore WebAIM's Alternative Text content
• Review W3C's Alt Text Decision Tree

Complex Images & Data Visualization

• Read W3C's Complex Images tutorial
• Review Best Practices for Writing Alternative Text for Complex Images (Valerie Morrison)
• Read Beyond Basic Alt Text--Charts, Maps, and Diagrams (Equidox)
• Read How to make charts and graphs more accessible (Whitney Lewis)
• Explore Accessible Visualizations
• Review Color and Graphics (Brandeis University)

Specialized Visual Content

• Read Accessibility in Math chapter (Digital Accessibility Handbook)
• Read Best Practices for Screenshots with Text (The 508 Advantage)
• Explore How to create accessible 3D printed objects (Accessibility.com)
• Read 3D Model Accessibility (Scot Vinkle)
• Explore Tactile Graphics (Teach Access)

Focus Area 2: Written Content & Document Accessibility

For courses with PDFs, Word documents, PowerPoint presentations

Document Accessibility Essentials

• Read Why you should be wary of using an "accessibility checker" alone (Verbit)
• Read PDF Accessibility (WebAIM)
• Read Using OCR to tag scanned PDFs for accessibility (Equidox)

Platform-Specific Guidance

• Explore Accessibility Handbook for Teaching and Learning (Open educational resource, includes Word, PowerPoint, Video, Math, and PDF chapters)
• Review Converting accessible PowerPoint to PDF (Texas Tech)

Focus Area 3: Multimedia Design & Production

For courses with videos, audio content, animations, or social media elements

Video & Audio Accessibility

• Read WebAIM's articles on captions, transcripts, and audio descriptions
• Read W3C's Captions/Subtitles content
• Explore YouDescribe website for adding audio descriptions to YouTube videos

Animated & Social Content

• Read Are animated GIFs accessible? (mary.codes)
• Read Four ways to make emojis accessible (AbilityNet)

🎉 Congratulations on completing the Digital Accessibility Learning Path!

Share your experience and audit findings through this brief survey. Submitting the survey with examples of your remediated materials allows us to write a letter of support for your faculty dossier and to publicly name you as a Digital Accessibility Faculty Champion.