NIU has long endeavored to provide inclusive and equitable learning opportunities for all students. This universal design framework has fostered student success by developing and implementing learning experiences that attend to diverse needs and strengths of students. Our need to continue these efforts is heightened with the upcoming activation of the Title II Final Rule requiring all university digital content to meet accessibility standards as written in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1. The rule applies to all web content, including our learning management system, BlackBoard.
While it is easy to view this as simply a compliance issue, it is truly about providing our students with positive and inclusive learning experiences by removing barriers and having equitable access to content on websites, web applications and other digital spaces.
Faculty and staff are all content creators and need to work toward digital accessibility. Many units in academic affairs have developed and shared resources to support our efforts of creating a culture around universal design, and we continue to develop robust supports. NIU offers numerous resources to assist digital content creators.
The Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning (CITL) offers a variety of Resources for Accessible Teaching. Among the resources you will find guidelines and video tutorials for creating accessible Word, Excel and PowerPoint as well as closed captioning for your videos. You will also find accessibility checkers to evaluate a document’s accessibility.
CITL will host an Accessibility Institute May 12-14. Faculty, staff and graduate teaching assistants can select from a variety of online and in-person sessions that will offer guidance and tips to create accessible content across multiple formats including Word, PowerPoint and PDF, in addition to sessions focused on key topics like Blackboard accessibility features or creating an accessible syllabus. Participants will choose sessions to attend based on their interests in creating new content through a lens of accessibility or fixing current content to improve its accessibility.
The university has also launched the Accessibility at NIU website that provides resources to students, faculty, staff, students, visitors and families. With links to the Disability Resource Center, services and tips, this site offers broad support for many constituents.
A cohort of Accessibility Ambassadors will provide individual guidance to other faculty and staff to assist with creating compliant content. Accessibility Ambassadors will have office hours available to schedule and provide services over the coming year.
As we continue our efforts, we want to hear from you about the challenges you have and resources you need. Please contact accessibility@niu.edu to provide feedback.
