Accessibility at The Studio
intro
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The Studio team creates course materials that meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 level AA. This work is a part of the course development, post-production, and course site building phases that occurs during online course development through UIC’s Online Initiative.
The Studio team also collaborates and consults with academic stakeholders, providing practical solutions that help UIC instructors create inclusive learning environments outside of UIC’s Online Initiative.
Each of the examples below are aligned with a specific WCAG 2.1 success criteria. Note that there are three levels of WCAG conformance: A, AA, and AAA. The Studio team meets all Level A and Level AA success criteria, as required by the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division 2024 rule revising Title II of the ADA. In some cases, we also meet Level AAA success criteria.
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There are many factors to consider when creating an accessible course.
Course Development Cycle
Course Development Cycle
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During the 16-week course development cycle, the instructional design team collaborates with UIC instructors to design an online asynchronous course, including accessible course elements, course goals, learning objectives, assessments, learning activities, and instructional materials Examples include ensuring that:
- Course goals and learning objectives are written from the student perspective, using clear language with expanded forms of abbreviations and limited technical jargon.
- Understandable, 3.1 Readable, 3.1.5 Reading Level, Level AAA
- Understandable, 3.1 Readable, 3.1.4 Abbreviations, Level AAA
- Assessments and learning activities have unique titles, clear instructions with headings and subheadings to support students’ executive functioning skills, and enough time for students to read and use the content.
- Operable, 2.2 Enough Time, 2.2.1 Timing Adjustable, Level A
- Operable, 2.4 Navigable, 2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context), A
- Operable, 2.4 Navigable, 2.4.6 Headings and Labels, Level AA
- Operable, 2.4 Navigable, 2.4.10 Section Headings, AAA
- Understandable, 3.1 Readable, 3.1.5 Reading Level, Level AAA
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- Instructor-designed instructional materials utilize accessible fonts, font sizes, line spacing, and color contrast, contain meaningful sequence and layouts by using styles/headings, and include text alternatives for any non-text and descriptive hyperlinks (e.g., images, graphs, etc.) in digital documents.
- Perceivable, 1.1 Text Alternatives, 1.1.1 Non-Text Content, A
- Perceivable, 1.3 Adaptable, 1.3.2 Meaningful Sequence, A
- Perceivable, 1.4 Distinguishable, 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum), AA
- Perceivable, 1.4 Distinguishable, 1.4.12 Text Spacing, AA
- Operable, 2.4 Navigable, 2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context), A
- Operable, 2.4 Navigable, 2.4.6 Headings and Labels, AA
- Operable, 2.4 Navigable, 2.4.10 Section Headings, AAA
- Instructor-selected instructional materials are reviewed to evaluate accessibility and recommendations and/or remediation occurs to meet WCAG 2.1 AA.
To learn more about the WCAG 2.1 principles, guidelines, and success criteria, please visit the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1.
Post-Production
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Post-production is the 8-week process where media team members work to produce instructional materials, including time-based media (video or podcasts) and interactive media. During post-production, the media team designs and develops accessible media by ensuring that:
- Time-based media has alternatives; for example, videos have closed captions and podcasts have transcripts and is designed to provide enough time for students to understand the material presented.
- Perceivable, 1.2. Time-based Media, 1.2.1 Audio-only and Video-only (Prerecorded), A
- Perceivable, 1.2 Time-based Media, 1.2.2 Captions (Prerecorded), A
- Perceivable, 1.2 Time-based Media, 1.2.3 Audio Description or Media Alternative (Prerecorded), A
- Operable, 2.2 Enough Time, 2.2.1 Timing Adjustable, A
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- Media design does not cause seizures or physical reactions by avoiding flashing, spiraling, swirling, or pulsing animations.
- Operable, 2.3 Seizures and Physical Reactions, 2.3.1 Three flashes or Below Threshold, A
- Interactive media is developed for keyboard navigation with single-point gestures, triggers are labeled with a name explaining the function (e.g., play button is labeled as “play”), and screen readers pick up all the content presented.
- Operable, 2.1 Keyboard Accessible, 2.1.1 Keyboard, A
- Operable, 2.5 Input Modalities, 2.5.1 Pointer Gestures, A
- Operable, 2.5 Input Modalities, 2.5.3 Label in Name, A
To learn more about the WCAG 2.1 principles, guidelines, and success criteria, please visit the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1.
Building of Course Sites
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Building course sites occur during the 16 weeks of the course development cycle and during the 2 weeks of quality assurance review of the course site. During the building of course sites on the learning management system (Anthology’s Blackboard), the instructional design team ensures that:
- Course sites are organized with weekly learning modules that have unique titles.
- Perceivable, 1.3 Adaptable, 1.3.2 Meaningful Sequence, A
- Operable, 2.4 Navigable, 2.4.2 Page Titled, A
- Text alternatives are provided in the course site for any non-text content (e.g., images).
- Perceivable, 1.1 Text Alternatives, 1.1.1 Non-Text Content, A
- All time-based media has closed captioning for instructor-designed or instructor-selected instructional materials.
- Perceivable, 1.2. Time-based Media, 1.2.1 Audio-only and Video-only (Prerecorded), A
- Perceivable, 1.2 Time-based Media, 1.2.2 Captions (Prerecorded), A
- Perceivable, 1.2 Time-based Media, 1.2.3 Audio Description or Media Alternative (Prerecorded), A
- Course elements are built using accessible fonts, font sizes, line spacing, and color contrast.
- Perceivable, 1.4 Distinguishable, 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum), AA
- Perceivable, 1.4 Distinguishable, 1.4.12 Text Spacing, AA
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- Course elements utilize built in headings, subheadings, and labels to improve student understanding of the content or instructions.
- Operable, 2.4 Navigable, 2.4.2 Page Titled, A
- Operable, 2.4 Navigable, 2.4.6 Headings and Labels, Level AA
- Operable, 2.4 Navigable, 2.4.10 Section Headings, AAA
- Course elements provide the expanded form of abbreviations, avoid jargon, and provide definitions or pre-training for technical or unusual words.
- Understandable, 3.1 Readable, 3.1.5 Reading Level, Level AAA
- Understandable, 3.1 Readable, 3.1.4 Abbreviations, Level AAA
- Descriptive links are used so students understand the purpose when navigating to a website.
- Operable, 2.4 Navigable, 2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context), A
To learn more about the WCAG 2.1 principles, guidelines, and success criteria, please visit the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1.
Accessibility Support
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If you would like to meet with an instructional designer to discuss how to make your course more inclusive and accessible, please consider scheduling a Studio Consultation.
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If you would like an instructional designer to facilitate an accessibility workshop for your department, please visit the Studio Department Workshops page to learn more and contact us to request a workshop.
Accessibility Resources & Tools
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UIC Resources
Please utilize the following UIC website to learn more about digital accessibility and access the resources available to UIC instructors to meet accessibility requirements.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about Accessibility
Where can I learn more about accessibility?
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There are several UIC and UI resources available for you to learn more about accessibility; please visit the hyperlinks under Accessibility Resources & Tools.
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Also, consider enrolling in the Designing & Teaching an Online Course to learn how to meet accessibility standards for online courses, including accessible digital documents, time-based media, interactive media, and course sites.
What are the legal requirements for accessibility?
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On April 24, 2024, the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division (DOJ) issued a final rule revising Title II of the ADA. The rule requires state and local governments to make their websites, mobile applications, and all other information and communication technology fully accessible for people with disabilities.
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The agency is adopting the technical standards of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA.