SBCC strives to educate instructors on their role in providing accessible course materials to students with disabilities. Support in the creation of accessible materials is available through the Faculty Resource Center by following the captioning and transcription procedures and accessibility strategies for instruction.
In your role as an instructor you will be:
- Identifying barriers and systemic issues that affect timely delivery of instructional materials to postsecondary students with disabilities;
- Discussing technical solutions that could improve timely delivery of instructional materials to postsecondary students with disabilities;
- Analyzing how to create and improve the use of instructional materials in your classroom.
As an enrolled student, you may come across print materials that are inaccessible to you in the standard classroom format. You may request materials in an alternate format as a reasonable accommodation. Approval is based on disability-related functional limitations.
As an instructor at SBCC, you may be asked to make your instructional materials accessible to students with disabilities, in order to provide timely access and participation in the curriculum.
The most common barriers found in a classroom setting are listed below:
Examples of images found in course materials include: Power Point presentations, web-based materials, course packs and textbooks. Images may be presented as photographs, illustrations, graphics, charts, icons, etc. Students with print impairments may ask for images to be labeled with an “alt” tag in order to be read in the background with a screen reader using voice output.
Examples of text found in course materials include: font appearance, size format, color emphasis or varied layout on a website or in a learning management system. Students with print impairments may request text in Braille, digital format or use a software based screen enlargement program. This allows the user to have desired control in setting font size and format.
Examples of audio found in course materials include: a variety multimedia materials. Students may ask for flexibility in the delivery of print materials so they are available in audio format. “Talking books” can provide audio feedback through human narration or digital output. Print can also be read by using a software based screen reader.
Examples of video found in course materials include: videos to convey history re-enactments, story examples, demonstrations or simulations in the classroom. Students who are deaf or hard of hearing may request captioned videos in order to have a text-based equivalent of oral information. Media to be captioned includes online video clips, DVD’s (check to see if it is time to swap out old versions of media) and videos created by the instructor.