Introduction
Why an Accessibility Toolkit?
The focus of many open textbook projects and other digital resources is to provide access to education at low or no cost. But what does access mean? If the materials are not accessible for each and every student, do they fulfill the mandate to deliver fully open textbooks and materials?
The goal of this toolkit is to assist personnel at CUNY’s School of Professional Studies to create truly open and accessible materials that are free and accessible for all students.
The suggestions provided in this guide are intended for the non-technical user. If you are looking for more technical descriptions about how to make your work accessible, review the WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines).
To Care and Comply: Accessibility of Online Course Content
Here is a video looking at Portland Community College’s web-accessibility guidelines, and how supporting students with disabilities is a shared responsibility across the college. The video includes stories from students whose education is impacted by inaccessible web content, and ways faculty and staff can improve online course materials to make course content more accessible.
Who Authored This Toolkit?
This toolkit was remixed, revised, and expanded by Kelly Hammond of the CUNY School of Professional Studies. It is based most substantially on BCcampus’s Accessibility Toolkit—2nd Edition. It also includes elements from the Accessibility Handbook for Teaching and Learning by Briana Fraser and Luke McKnight, including the Brightspace Accessibility section.
New material includes the “Who are you doing this for?” textboxes throughout the book as well as new sections, The Students We Serve, Using Ally in Your LMS, and Listening to Our Students.
What is Pressbooks?
In addition to providing general strategies for ensuring the creation of accessible digital content, this toolkit includes specific instructions on how to achieve accessibility requirements in Pressbooks. Pressbooks is an online authoring tool based on WordPress, and used by CUNY, BCcampus Open Education, and other institutions to create and modify open textbooks. (See the BCcampus Open Education Pressbooks Guide.)
In May 2018, Pressbooks announced their Accessibility Policy, outlining their efforts and commitment to making their software accessible.
Attributions
- “To Care and Comply: Accessibility of Online Course Content” by Portland Community College. licensed under CC BY 3.0.
- “Why an Accessibility Toolkit?” and “What is Pressbooks” adapted from “Accessibility Toolkit—2nd Edition” by Amanda Coolidge, Sue Doner, Tara Robertson, and Josie Gray (a collaboration between BCcampus, Camosun College, and CAPER-BC) licensed under CC BY 4.0.
