Virtual Conference: Accessibility and Copyright Primer

Accessibility and Copyright Primer​

Andy Sheppard and Chanda McCann

Santa Fe College, Northwest Campus

Staff from Santa Fe College’s Disabilities Resource Center (Ms. Chanda McCann) and our Center for Academic Technologies (Mr. Andy Sheppard) collaborated to develop faculty training to better support our students with disabilities.

The core mission of the Florida College System is to “provide access to high-quality, affordable academic and career educational programs that maximize student learning and success.” This goal can only be achieved if we support all of our students. Students with disabilities face unique challenges and faculty are often unprepared for how to anticipate these challenges and remove barriers to instruction.

The “Accessibility and Copyright Primer” is a one-hour web-based training course developed with faculty in mind and highlights five practical steps that instructors can take to better support students with disabilities. This training also illustrates how implementing universal design can benefit all learners. The five practical tips examined are:

• Improving course site navigation
• Using audio and video with accurate captions or transcripts
• Making web links more accessible
• Applying copyright guidelines for multimedia use
• Adding the SF Accessibility Statement to course syllabi

When content is not accessible from the outset, students with disabilities often have delayed access to instructional materials, which inhibits their ability to learn effectively. This training helps faculty become more proactive and recognize how some relatively simple changes can have an enormous benefit for students.

Our training was developed in our Canvas LMS (Learning Management System) and can be used at other colleges utilizing this platform.  We are also passionate about sharing this training to schools that may be on another system (and can arrange guest access to help any interested colleges adopt this training.)

We introduced this training in the Fall of 2019, and to date, 180 instructors have successfully completed this training. Comparison of “Pre” and “Post” course survey data indicate that faculty have increased their knowledge of accessible design practices and how best to support students with disabilities. The reception was overwhelmingly positive.

Faculty participant post-course responses include:

• The course was great. It was entertaining, informative, and a manageable length.
• I like it the way is designed.
• I think you did an awesome job.
• I thought the course was informative and I wouldn't change anything.
• I really like the layout and format of the course modules. Very user friendly and informative.
• I think the course was well done.
• This is a good course
• It's well designed.
• Enjoyed
• The format and delivery was great. I took this training in a Dr’s office waiting room and had to do so with my audio off (on my phone). I utilized and strongly benefited from the accessibility features of this course!!!

Santa Fe College randomly selects twenty online courses for review each semester. This process provides us with an opportunity check the accessibility of instructional materials, and partially determine if this training is having an impact on the course design.

Our college is also currently undertaking an inventory of all inaccessible multimedia content (audio and video) used in our courses. This data will provide us with a baseline to compare against in the future to help determine the impact of this training.

Perhaps the most innovative aspect of this training is that it was the product a strong, ongoing collaboration between Santa Fe College’s Disabilities Resource Center and our Center for Academic Technologies. Accessibility is a shared responsibility; and we believe this type of collaborative model is essential for all colleges to improve the accessibility of instructional materials for all of our students.