Universal Design for Learning

WAVE is an accessibility evaluation tool from WebAIM. Just enter a url into the tool and WAVE will provide you with a report of adherence with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and suggest changes for improvement. 

Attached are two infographics with some basic information about digital accessibility and course design for remote learning. These were provided for the workshop, "Creating Accessible Courses for Remote Learning" offered by the University of Pittsburgh. 

Suggestions from Angie Bedford-Jack on Digital Accessibility:

• Start simple by using built-in heading structures, adding alt-text to images, and ensuring that hyperlinks make sense out of context.
• Use built-in accessibility checkers in Microsoft Word and Canvas. 
• Share Zoom keyboard short-cuts with others

Suggestions from Dr. Tinukwa Boulder on Cognitive Accessibility:

• In your Learning Management System, keep navigation as simple as possible, avoiding redundancy and hiding components you are not using. 
• Aim for clarity in design and content. 
• Remember challenges posed by synchronous instruction: 
  • The inability to pause, rewind, review
  • People are often afraid to interrupt to ask questions/clarify in ways that they would in person
  • Delay in providing accommodations to students with disabilities
  • Equity-based issues 

Desmos produces tools that make math accessible. Their graphing calculator is compatible with screen readers, and includes audible representations of graphs. 

The goal of the Accessibility Toolkit – 2nd Edition is to provide resources for each content creator, instructional designer, educational technologist, librarian, administrator, and teaching assistant to create a truly open textbook—one that is free and accessible for all students.

ThinkUDL is a podcast about Universal Design for Learning where we hear from the people who are designing and implementing strategies in post-secondary settings with learner variability in mind.

Series of blogs by Matt May, Adobe's head of inclusive design. 

Links to a Google slide presentation by CAST representatives on designing accessible Open Educational Resources. 

Several links to guides and lists of resources for accessible teaching from the DO-IT Center out of the University of Washington.

Suggestions for using visuals and references based in the principles of universal design. Practices are provided and hosted by DeafTEC.

A PDF with guidelines for creating dyslexia-friendly PowerPoint presentations from York St John University

NVDA is an open source software screen reader. Their site has information about its development, help guides, and a free download. 

Create a free account at CAST to access this book, Universal Design for Learning: Theory & Practice

Entry Point!, a signature program of the AAAS Project on Science, Technology and Disability, is a national effort to discover and develop talent among undergraduate and graduate students with disabilities who demonstrated a talent and interest in pursuing a STEM career. The primary goal of the project is to increase the diversity of the scientific and engineering workforce at the professional level.

The Foundation for Science and Disability (FSD) was founded in 1975 as a non-profit organization to promote the integration of scientists with disabilities into all activities of the scientific community and of society as a whole and to promote the removal of barriers that hinder success of students with disabilities in pursuit of scientific careers.  FSD is affiliated with AAAS and offers a graduate student grant program.

The UDL Guidelines are a tool used in the implementation of Universal Design for Learning, a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn.