Accessibility and usability matter across many aspects of higher education. That said, we can generally break the needs into three categories.
- Accessibility during the school selection process.
- Accessibility once a student is enrolled.
- Ongoing accessibility policies and practices.
1. Accessibility during the school selection process.
This first section focuses on one key problem area, making all public facing documents accessible. This includes your website, marketing documents, campus maps, etc. It all needs to be accessible. Remember, prospective students (of all ages) and / or their guardians may be evaluating your institution. If your content isn’t accessible, those students will probably look elsewhere. But the problem goes even further.
If your website isn’t accessible and compliant (this includes everything from your online bookstore to athletics schedules) it opens you up to liability. Accessibility is a legal imperative. Higher education facilities must meet ADA, AODA, and Section 508 accessibility standards. If you don’t, you are exposed to lawsuits.
2. Accessibility once a student is enrolled.
Once a prospect becomes a student, you must ensure they have the opportunity to excel. For those who need an accommodation, that means addressing two main areas. The first is making all course content accessible. That includes any information kept in a learning management system (LMS) like Blackboard or Canvas. The second is accommodating individual students. This ensures that they have the same opportunity to excel as the rest of their classmates.
For student accommodation, it may be best to find an accessibility partner. This partner should work with staff to make student classwork accessible. Unlike website accessibility, student accommodation is specific to individual needs. It’s iterative.
At CrawfordTech, our Higher Ed accessibility team works with institutions to make content usable for individual students. This can include delivering chapters, as needed, throughout the semester. Sometimes there are requests to turn Math or Physics PDFs into HTML. Some students prefer Microsoft Word files instead of PDF. And, when needed, we provide alternative formats like Braille, Large Print, ePub, audio, and video captioning. The goal is to provide content in the way it works best for the student, so they understand and excel in their class.
3. Ongoing accessibility policies and practices.
The final category deals with long-term accessibility management. This includes proactive policies and practices as well as ongoing training. For website copy and public documents, it means ensuring accessibility in all new or updated content. For student accommodation, it’s continuing to provide accessible content for all students who need it. Lastly, this includes continually training your staff and faculty on accessibility. This moves you from reactive response to proactive planning.
Accessibility matters everywhere, but especially in Higher Education. As an institution of learning, you owe it to students to ensure equal access to learning materials. Ultimately, you want students to thrive and for your institution to avoid costly legal issues. Accessibility helps achieve both of these goals. If you’d like to learn more, check out our whitepaper.
