Accessibility

Date posted: August 28, 2021

an ongoing commitment

As the college prepares for the November 8 ctcLink implementation, we want to reaffirm our commitment to accessibility. Bellevue College advocates for all users. We recognize that it is essential for every member of our community to have independent access to ctcLink and other online tools.

Since the last update in April, efforts continue to address known concerns – as well as uncover new issues with ctcLink-deployed colleges. 

The takeaway?  Accessibility will be an ongoing process for BC.

At the college level:

  • We will continue to work with the State Board of Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC) and with advocates to identify issues and request fixes to improve the user experience.
  • A BC ctcLink Mitigation Group will work on solutions for known issues and provide support for accessibility during the interim period.
  • We will provide regular accessibility updates to the campus as part of the implementation and post-implementation process.

Current SBCTC resources and actions taken to improve ctcLink’s accessibility:

  • Improving ctcLink’s accessibility is a top priority for the SBCTC. The State Board is addressing accessibility by engaging additional resources and increasing capacity.
  • In 2019, a third-party accessibility testing vendor, Level Access, was brought onboard to better understand accessibility challenges. Learn more.
  • In adherence to state policy, an accessibility coordinator was assigned in 2020 to track, test, and set implementation timelines. Learn more.
  • The SBCTC chief information officer and accessibility coordinator now meet regularly with the Disability Support Services Council.
  • SBCTC implemented the infrastructure upgrade (PeopleTools 8.57), which addressed some of the known accessibility issues. Level Access tested the new upgrade. Items not fixed by the upgrade have been documented. Learn more.

Additional resources and actions taken to improve ctcLink’s accessibility:

  • A policy associate position was hired and started June 2021.
  • Monthly accessibility forums are held by the SBCTC the second Tuesday of every month for input from colleges on their issues and needs.

SBCTC has stated as of June 1: Students who rely on screen reader software can enroll, register for classes, and complete all other essential functions in ctcLink independently – without the assistance of a sighted reader. 

SBCTC’s support team has one unresolved support-desk ticket related to accessibility on the student services side of ctcLink (“Campus Solutions”). The ticket involves an inaccessible PDF.

Employees who rely on screen reader software can also perform most essential functions in ctcLink independently.

There are, however, technical issues with PeopleSoft related to time sheets and absence balances. The SBCTC has elevated the issues to Oracle, the company behind PeopleSoft.  

There are alternative ways for employees who utilize a screen reader to have equivalent access to the timesheet functions. Find out more about how to enable screen reader mode.

Privacy of Accommodation Information

The flow of accommodation data from the Human Resources (HR) pillar to the Campus Solutions (CS) pillar was disabled in February 2021 and accommodation information for non-students has been removed from Campus Solutions.

In addition, those with the designated role that allows access to accommodation information can only view the information for students at their own institution. If a student is enrolled in more than one college, designated staff at either college would have access to a student’s accommodation information. Likewise, in Human Resources, today, only designated personnel can view accommodation information for their college employees.

Want to know more? Check out “Who can see my Information in ctcLink? on the ctcLinkConnect blog.

A deep dive into ctcLink Accessibility

We will share more information and status updates as they become available.

Rodger Harrison | Vice President   Information Technology Services   (425) 564-2224  
3000 Landerholm Circle SE bellevuecollege.edu

Last Updated November 2, 2021