Employee Expectations and Getting Started

Accessibility is a continuum. Our goal as a university is to move along the continuum toward better and better accessibility.

All employees are responsible for integrating accessibility best practices into their electronic content, course design, and instruction, starting with small steps and advancing as they are able.

Employee Responsibilities

All faculty and staff are expected to ensure that any content they create and/or distribute meets the Universal Design Goals for that content type, as defined by the Electronic Accessibility Rubric. Employees working with public-facing, website, and marketing content should work toward Full Accessibility as defined by the Rubric.

The Accessibility Tutorials on this website were built in conjunction with the Rubric to provide a guide for achieving the Universal Design Goals and Full Accessibility.

These are essential steps toward meeting the required WCAG compliance standards per national and state laws.

*Employees will not be held liable for accessibility fines when they’re working in good faith as part of their job duties. This is the same legal protection CSU provides for other aspects of work.

Accommodations

In cases where further adjustments or specialized resources are needed to fulfill an approved accommodation, the university will provide additional support to ensure these needs are met effectively. The Student Disability Center and Accessible Media Production provide support for accommodations, when applicable.

Where to Start

Providing materials electronically is a big step toward accessibility. A fundamental aspect of Universal Design, electronic versions provide necessary alternative access to print-only content, which is completely inaccessible to assistive technologies.

Consider which types of documents you create or modify most frequently and use the rubric to improve those types of documents first.

Scanned PDFs, which are images of text rather than actual text, are the least accessible type of document because technology cannot interact with the content. If you have scanned PDFs, prioritize this universal design goal (Anthology Ally for Canvas meets the goal for scanned PDFs if the scan is good quality).

Working toward Universal Design Goals is the responsibility of all employees. For instructional content, additional support will be available for individual accommodations that require full accessibility. This is especially true of STEM or other complex content.

Accessibility concepts like the ones listed below are common across many different types of content, including Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Canvas, and web content. Prioritize incorporating these top steps into your workflow for any document type.

See the tutorials on this website on implementing these concepts in specific platforms, focusing on Universal Design Goals.

Use the Electronic Accessibility Rubric

The Electronic Accessibility Rubric is a tool to help you prioritize accessibility improvements for specific document or content types. The Tutorials on this website explain how to achieve the Universal Design Goals and Full Accessibility goals on the Rubric.

Please refer to the Rubric and Tutorials on this website for creating accessible electronic content. All CSU employees are expected to work toward at least the Universal Design Goals on the rubric and tutorials to provide a base level of accessibility.

If you still need assistance after you have reviewed the rubric and related tutorials, please email CSU IT Accessibility Support.

How to Prioritize

Most of us will not be able to remediate all of our materials at once. The key is to prioritize content, to incorporate accessibility into your workflow, and to improve over time.

  1. Prioritize fixing any Scanned PDFs you are sharing. This is the least accessible format and will create the most barriers for the most users. (For students with a “Base Level Accessibility of Course Materials” accommodation, this is also the first priority.)
  2. Prioritize the type of content you use the most, whether that’s PDF, PowerPoint, videos, etc.
  1. Try to stay at least a couple weeks ahead of when readings or coursework are due so students are able to complete the work in an equal timeframe to others in the course.
  2. If your student has a “Captioning” or “Audio Description” accommodation, prioritize the tasks for Video and Audio. These steps will simplify the process for the Accessible Media Production captioning support team. Make sure to coordinate with the AMP team as far in advance as possible.
  • Regularly remove outdated content that you no longer use.
  • Consider whether PDFs can be converted to a webpage or Canvas page, as remediating PDFs can be time-consuming.
  • Be sure to replace old content with the new versions to reduce the need for individual accommodations in the future.

Strategy: The RAM Framework

RAM: Remove content that does not need to be shared right now; Adapt current materials for accessibility; Make new content with accessibility in mind.
  1. Remove any non-current/outdated content from your website, course shell, etc.
    • Be sure to download local copies for your records.
  2. Adapt any materials you’re currently using so that they meet at least a base level of accessibility, defined by the Universal Design Goals on the Rubric and Tutorials.
    • We suggest that you choose one or a few initial accessibility skills to learn, and apply them until you feel comfortable adding more.
    • Remember to prioritize your most-used types of content.
  3. Make new content with accessibility in mind.
    • As you create new course materials, integrate accessibility best practices into your workflow. When we consider accessibility from the beginning, retroactive accessibility remediation is not needed.
    • When sourcing materials such as textbooks, request accessible versions.
Read more about the RAM accessibility framework

“Similarly to checking email inboxes or even putting on shoes in the morning, accessibility skills will eventually become natural components of our workflow. As with any new skill, the adjustment period may be understandably uncomfortable. Your efforts, time, and dedication to access for all are immeasurably appreciated.”