Creating Accessible Courses
Cal Poly Pomona is committed to providing access to information resources and technologies to individuals with disabilities. To ensure courses are accessible to all users, instructional materials must be delivered in a manner that is equally effective for individuals with disabilities as without disabilities.
Faculty have a large role to play in creating accessible learning materials, and the campus has many resources to help. To learn more about accessibility, see the Chancellor’s Office Accessible Technology website. To learn more about our campus policies and resources, see the Disability Resource Center website.
Download our Accessibility Checklist to help ensure that your materials are accessible.
Ally in Canvas
Ally in Canvas checks uploaded Word docs, PowerPoints, and PDFs for characteristics that make materials accessible to students with disabilities and more flexibly available for all students. It provides recommendations for enhancing accessibility and generates reports to direct resources to the most important issues. To see how Ally in Canvas works, watch the Ally for Instructure Canvas (1:58) and Ally Quick Start for Instructors.
Champions for Accessibility and Inclusivity (CHAI) Program
Creating excellent learning experiences for each student
CAFE are starting a new initiative that we are extremely excited about and committed to: The Champions for Accessibility and Inclusivity (CHAI) Program!
The Champions for Accessibility and Inclusivity program is a chance for us to recognize heroes and to help other faculty become heroes. We want to create a network of empathy, both towards students who benefit from universal design and accessible course materials, and towards faculty who provide those materials.
Basic Accessibility Terms
Screen Reader: Screen readers are used by individuals with visual impairments. Screen readers scan materials, word-by-word, and then read all the text back to the individual through the computer speakers.
Captions and Transcripts: Captions and/or transcripts should accompany all audio and video materials. Captions and transcripts serve as a description of what is happening in the audio or video (either a summary or word-for-word representation), allowing hearing impaired individuals, as well as non-native speakers, the opportunity to receive the same content from audio and video that a hearing individual would receive. Contact MediaVision for assistance adding captions to your audio/visual content.
Alt Text: Alternative text, also known as alt text, should accompany every image that has meaning, i.e. not purely decorative images. Alt text serves as a description of what is happening in the image, allowing visually impaired individuals, through the use of a screen reader, the opportunity to receive the same content from an image that a sighted individual would receive.
Tutorials for Creating Accessible Materials
