Further Faculty Resources: Accessibility

Equitable Lesson Design

Some suggestions for creating activities, assignments, and assessments that will provide an equitable learning environment for all students. See all Equitable Lesson Design suggestions here. [PDF]

Plain Language

Support all students in finding, understanding, and using class materials by using Plain Language for your syllabus, assignments, and instruction. Definition of Plain Language: “A communication is in plain language if its wording, structure, and design are so clear that the intended readers can readily find what they need, understand it, and use it.” Visit the Plain Language Guidelines or download the Plain Language checklist. (Pro tip: if you start on the Write for your Audience page and keep clicking “next” at the bottom of each page, you can learn the entire module!) The U.K. has some free guides to Plain Language if you’d like to delve deeper.

Universal Design

Make your class accessible to all kinds of learners by incorporating the principles of Universal Design. Consider attending a workshop through Bellevue College’s Faculty Commons, Colorado State has assembled some materials for Universal Design in Learning that you may find helpful and the University of Washington’s DO-It program takes it a step further with information on Universal Design of Instruction.

Use Canvas!

Organizing your class materials in Canvas supports student organization. There are many on-campus resources to support you in getting your materials on Canvas – ask your colleagues for support if you’re having difficulty finding resources. E-Learning has some terrific Faculty Resources for you!

Real-Time Captioning 

Microsoft Teams and will automatically caption in real-time for you if you turn it on. You may wish to instruct first-time users how to turn it on.

Zoom is provides auto-captions as well. You just need to turn it on!

Create Accessible Documents

E-Learning often has workshops about this, and so does the Faculty Commons. Another excellent resource is from the University of Washington: Creating Accessible Documents

UC Berkley Faculty Self-Evaluation

UC Berkley has quite a few accessibility and compliance self-evaluations, so you can learn a lot if you have the time. The Faculty Self-Evaluation Work Plan examines practices around ensuring maximum curriculum accessibility.

Microsoft Higher Education Blog

Microsoft is all about accessibility! Their Higher Education Blog can take you to so many places, so if you’re interested in exploring, this is a great place to learn about all kinds of accessibility in higher education.

Note Sharing

Helping students share notes in class supports learning and community! Learn more about implementing this on the Note Sharing document. You can share the video below with your students. Notes sharing implementation handout for faculty [PDF]


Moving Forward in Unpredictable Times:

UCLA Presentation Deck [PDF]


Video: Autism Cultural Responsiveness in the Classroom

(55 minute video)


Last Updated March 10, 2024