Building Accessibility into Your Courses

Inclusive Practice Series: Topic Intro | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

Inclusive Practice Series
Part 4: 
Building Accessibility into Your Courses

Overview

Postsecondary enrollment for students with disabilities has seen a steady increase over the last few decades (Hong, 2015). However, students with disabilities still face challenges and barriers toward completing their degrees. For example, the most recent report by the National Council on Disability found that the average time to graduation for students with physical disabilities was almost twice as long as their able-bodied peers (NCD, 2003; cited in Hong, 2015). Additionally, students with disabilities reported several barriers to success in college, including fear of faculty perceptions related to the need for accommodations and stressors such as the social stigma surrounding disability in addition to the physical, mental, and emotional demands of college classes (Hong, 2015). Faculty and graduate student instructors play a key role in supporting students with disabilities in postsecondary education. This resource will provide strategies and suggestions to help you build accessibility into your courses for all students. 

—

Employing Principles of Universal Design 

Employing principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) can be beneficial for all students in your classes, but is especially key for the success of student with disabilities. The framework involves supporting learning by providing multiples means of 1) engagement, 2) representation, and 3) action and expression (CAST, 2018). By clicking on the link above, you can find detailed instructional strategies and suggestions for integrating universal design into your courses, as well as research supporting these strategies. 

Examples to help you consider UDL as you build accessibility for all students into your courses: 

Strategies Explanations Examples/Suggestions 
Provide course materials or lecture content in multiple modalities 

Learning is made more difficult for students with disabilities when course or lecture materials are inaccessible. For example, students who are visually impaired may have difficulty seeing 

lecture slides or writing on chalkboards. Similarly, students who are hard of hearing may have difficulty hearing their instructors during lecture or their peers during class discussions. 

Consider providing your course materials or lecture content through multiple means and mediums. For example, you could video- or audio-record your lectures and upload them to Canvas along with lecture slides. Additionally, the UC Davis Student Disability Center provides services for translating course materials and readings into audio formats (see Additional Technological Resources below). 

 

 

Try to minimize distractions to learning in your classroom. Threats or distractions to learning for students with disabilities can include excessive sensory stimuli in the classroom, or unexpected changes in course routines.   CAST (2018) suggests varying audio/visual sensory stimuli in your lectures and providing opportunities for students to take short breaks and/or engage in active learning activities. Additionally, it is helpful for all students to maintain consistent course practices, minimize unexpected changes to the course calendar, and provide outlines for class activities--these strategies can help students establish routines that can help them manage their work in your class and others. 
Support the development of positive coping strategies It can be difficult for some students to manage frustration and anxiety in academic settings. Many students need support in developing adaptive coping strategies for managing these emotions in productive ways. CAST (2018) suggests providing students with scaffolding materials like frequent reminders, checklists (e.g., for assignments and other course tasks), and positive models for coping with stress. Employing mindfulness exercises during class time can also help students cope with anxiety--for example, at the beginning of class, you could have students pause for a minute, close their eyes, and visualize one goal they have for that class period. 
  1. ^It is good practice to inform your students that you are recording the lecture. Additionally, if students may be visible in the recording, they must be informed that they might be recorded and given the option to sit outside the camera’s view. 

—

Additional Suggestions for Making your Course More Accessible 

In addition to incorporating principles of UDL, below are some additional strategies for building accessibility into your courses: 

Strategies Explanations Examples/Suggestions 
Allow students to use laptops, tablets, smartphones, and other technologies freely Debates about whether device usage creates distractions for students and/or limits students’ ability to process course material during lecture have been ongoing for the last few decades (Brooks & Pomerantz, 2017; McMurtrie, 2017). However, it is important to remember that for many students with disabilities, laptops, tablets, and smartphones are a vital and necessary part of how they engage and learn in the classroom. 

Banning or limiting the use of laptops, tablets, or smartphones in your classroom may disproportionately impact students with disabilities who use these technologies for educational accessibility. Consider allowing students the choice to use their various devices in class, while emphasizing the importance of staying on task during class. As noted above, uploading recordings of your lectures along with lecture slides to Canvas and help students to actively engage with lecture content instead of just blindly copying notes.   

 

Emphasize and encourage helpseeking in your class A 2017 report from the National Council on Disability found that despite an increase in the number of students seeking mental health resources on college campuses, many students are still not receiving treatment for mental health conditions. For example, 61% of students who met criteria for a mental health disorder were not receiving treatment. Additionally, only 35% of students diagnosed with a mood disorder had received treatment in the past year, and less than half of students who had attempted or serious considered suicide had received professional support.   

Emphasize help-seeking behaviors in your class by encouraging students to reach out to you or your TAs if they are struggling academically. Remind them to seek out counseling services if they need mental or emotional support and provide links to these services on your syllabus 

(see Additional Campus and Online Resource below for a list of helpful links). Additionally, encourage students to form study groups, as these can provide important opportunity for students to access peer social and emotional support. 

For those courses that are more interactive, Gin et al. (2019) offer the following suggestions: 

  • Be transparent at the start regarding what active-learning strategies are integrated into your courses. 
  • Proactively design your courses being mindful of inclusivity for students with disabilities. 
  • Assist students in navigating retroactive accommodations, if necessary, since they may not have any because they do not know there is a system for obtaining them. 
  • Talk with colleagues about active-learning accommodations they use and standardize a core set that seem successful. 

As with other evidence-based strategies, transparent, proactive, and collaborative actions can all promote inclusion. 

—

Supporting Autism-Spectrum and/or Non-Neurotypical Students 

Students with autism-spectrum disorder or other neurodevelopmental disorders face unique challenges in college. For example, students with autism report struggling with new and different situations and routines, difficulties establishing social relationships with their peers, time management and adequate processing of new information, fears of disclosing their disabilities to faculty or advisors, and a host of mental health issues as a result of these and other challenges (Van Hees, Moyson, & Roeyers, 2015). Additional academic challenges can include a lack of organization and time management skills and difficulties communicating with faculty (Cai & Richdale, 2016), as well as struggles with the traditional lecture formats common in many college classes stemming from the multiple and conflicting sensory stimuli within these contexts (Myers, Ladner, & Koger, 2011). 

As noted above, employing the principles of Universal Design for Learning (see above) can help students, including those with autism more easily engage in classroom activities and manage their workload (Grogan, 2015). 

For example: 

  • You can support students’ development of time management skills by breaking course assignments and classroom tasks into more manageable pieces or distinctive steps (Kelley & Joseph, 2012). 
  • Establish routines for course or classroom activity and do your best to not deviate from those practices. If a deviation is necessary, try to notify students as early as possible. 
  • It can also be helpful to provide models for setting reasonable personal goals and providing students with opportunities to check in with you about their progress in achieving those goals. 
  • Provide multiple means through which students can communicate with you (e.g., through Canvas, email, phone calls, or in-person) so that students for whom social interaction and communication is difficult can find a strategy that works for them. 

—

Digital Accessibility Toolkit for Instructors

For additional accessibility tips, explore our Digital Accessibility Toolkit for Instructors. The toolkit provides step-by-step guidance, practical tips, and campus resources to help you create accessible materials.

Digital Accessibility Toolkit for Instructors