"Providing accessible digital content at the University of Oregon is important to creating a campus experience in which everyone feels they belong and can be successful."
- President Karl Scholz (Around the O)
What digital accessibility means
As Digital Accessibility at UO, states, it "...refers to designing digital content so that it can be fully used by people with disabilities. 'Digital content' includes anything used or viewed on a computer or mobile device, such as: web pages; Microsoft Word documents; PowerPoint presentations; PDFs; Canvas courses; streaming videos; email; software and mobile apps, and much more."
Content that is digitally accessible meets specific standards (such as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, or WCAG). Instructors do not need to know these specifications; instead, they can enact them by learning some basic guidelines and how-tos included in trainings and other resources featured on this page.
- What are some examples of basic guidelines I should know and use?
A partial list of basic guidelines digital accessibility trainings (and other resources) address include use of:
- Alternative text (alt text)
- Captioning
- Headings (using semantic HTML, as opposed to manually changing size or color)
- Lists
- Color contrast
- Tables
- Meaningful urls
Why accessible content matters
Our institution is committed to creating content that people with disabilities (whether students, employees, and/or others) can access. This commitment is codified in UO's Information and Communications Technology Accessibility policy. Our institution also has legal obligations under federal civil rights laws that correspond to digital accessibility.
In addition to our institutional commitments and obligations, digital accessibility supports student success. Having accessible course content is crucial for many students (both ones who have AEC accommodations and ones who do not), and is relevant for a wide variety of disabilities, including those we may not perceive.
- What do UO students say about digital accessibility and their learning?
The following student comments are excerpted from 2022 Student Experience Surveys at UO (you can find more information about what students think at Practitioner Guide: Accessibility). The content of these comments can be a helpful reminder to almost all of us, whether or not we've had students express this explicitly.
Students frequently note the need for captions and transcripts:
- “I would have loved to see captions on the lectures as this is an online course. As someone with auditory processing issues, I really struggled at times to understand course material that was only presented in audio and with no visible video of the instructors face to aid in understanding.”
- “I would have really liked subtitles on the weekly videos and the interview videos. Subtitles are just a really helpful way to keep track of what was said, which can make for better notes and understanding.”
- "The subtitles and audio transcript that is available when the instructor uploads lecture videos has been extremely helpful. As someone with ADHD, this helps me to write my notes and keeps my focus better."
Students frequently note the need for text-searchable documents:
- “Just making sure that students have access to a text that is text to speech accessible…”
- “In the future it would be helpful to be able to use text to speech on pdf texts (or all texts that are required) because I haven't been able to get a diagnosis of dyslexia, but it's still difficult to keep up with the readings. So, if the all texts could be accessible, even if students don't have school provided accommodations, it would be helpful.”
- "In the future it would be helpful to be able to use text to speech on pdf texts (or all texts that are required) because I haven't been able to get a diagnosis of dyslexia, but it's still difficult to keep up with the readings. So if the all texts could be accessible, even if students don't have school provided accommodations, it would be helpful."
