It is important to create adaptable and flexible educational materials that can accommodate a diversity of learning styles and individual needs. The Educational Media Center uses Universal Design for Learning (UDL) as our framework to design learning to be as inclusive as possible from the very beginning. Accessibility of online materials is one aspect of UDL. View the following information and resources to learn why and how to create accessible documents, media, and websites for your courses that can help fortify student potential and abilities by designing learning materials and experiences that are not only accessible, but inclusive for all.
University of Hawaii's Commitment to Accessibility
As a campus of the University of Hawaii (UH) System, we are all responsible to follow the accessibility guidelines set by the UH System. Stay up-to-date with UH's Plan for New Online Content and Functionality and their information and resources for accessibility and creating accessible content on their Accessibility at UH website.
Professional Development
We provide or have provided a variety of workshops to engage and support instructors and staff in implementing UDL and accessibility at Leeward CC.
- Accessibility Starter Workshops
- Captioning Your Online Videos with YouTube - Feb. 19 at 2:30-3:30pm
- Making Your Laulima Content Accessible - Mar. 12 at 1:00-2:00pm
- Making Form-Fillable and Accessible PDFs - Mar. 31 at 1:00-2:30pm
- Making Your Online Documents Accessible - Apr. 9 at 1:00-2:30pm
- "Making Online Documents Accessible" - A workshop that provides a foundational overview of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and how Web Accessibility fits into the overall UDL framework. It also provides some basic web accessibility practices for text and images. This workshop is now available as a resource you can review on your own.
- "Accessibility: Captioning Online Videos with YouTube" - A workshop that provides the basics on captioning videos in YouTube.
Furthermore, we highly recommend checking out UH's Creating Accessible Content which includes how-tos and tools to create accessible documents (including Google Docs), media, websites, and access various accessibility trainings.
Assistive Technologies
As a higher education institution, we are committed to provide accessible learning materials and technologies for students with disabilities. However, we aim to go beyond simply providing accessible information. Our goal is to ensure learning materials and experiences are inclusive of all. View our list of commonly used assistive technologies and also UH's list of assistive technology software and devices.
Instructional Technology Accessibility Statements
It's a good practice to include the accessibility statements of instructional/educational technology tools that you use in your courses in your syllabus and/or course sites. Refer to our list of commonly used instructional technologies' accessibility statements. (Related: Standard (accessible) Leeward CC syllabus.)
Support and Accommodations
The resources on this site encourage a proactive design approach. If you are an instructor and have questions or need support with UDL or creating accessible instructional materials, please contact the EMC.
If you are a staff member or have students with questions about disability support services or need support, please contact the Disabilities Services Office.
Additional Resources
Click on a section below to expand the collection of resources on UDL, designing for accessibility, web accessibility checkers, and self-paced courses and trainings.
- UDL Professional Learning at Leeward CC - In-person workshop, self-paced courses/training, and resources
- CAST Professional Learning - leading organization that works to expand learning opportunities for all individuals through Universal Design for Learning (UDL).
- The Iris Center - application of UDL in four curricular components (goals, instructional materials, instructional methods, and assessments). Targeted toward K-12
- UDL on Campus - resources on applying UDL to Higher Education Environment, including examples, videos from UDL practitioners, and UDL course design, Accessible media
For the most current resources, visit the Accessibility at UH website.
- 10 Tips for Accessible Websites - Simple tips you can start with immediately compiled by Partnership on Employment and Accessible Technology.
- Accessible Syllabus - Short videos created by Accessible U on practical suggestions to make your syllabus as accessible as possible.
- Accessibility Checklist from University of Washington is a leader in the Accessible Technology area. This checklist is a great reference for providing accessible web-based resources including electronic documents in Word, PDF, and other formats.
- Accessibility Handbook from Portland Community College. It is a great resource with easy-to-follow guidelines on web accessibility, accessible slides, documents, PDFs, video, audio, and images.
- Best Practices for Educators and Instructors Best practices to ensure the accessibility of self-created educational materials and presentations.
- Best Practices for More Accessible Social Media
- How to Write Meaningful Alt-Text - How to convey context and meaning without writing an essay!
- National Center on Disability and Access to Education Cheat Sheets - One-page accessibility resources on MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), Adobe, YouTube.
- Perform OCR on a Scanned Document
- UH COE Accessibility Toolkit - modified by UH College of Education, based on an Accessibility Toolkit developed by BCcampus and CAPER-BC. The Accessibility Toolkit is a resources for content creator, instructional designer, educational technologist, librarian, administrator, teaching assistant to create open and accessible digital content.
- WebAIM - training and resources to make web content accessible to people with disabilities
- Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Quick Reference
- Siteimprove Accessibility Checker (Chrome Extension)
- WAVE (webpages)
- AChecker (webpages)
- WebAim Color Contrast Checker
- ACART color Contrast Checker
- Color Contrast Analyzer (Chrome Extension)
- Grackle Docs (Chrome Extension)
- Grackle Sheets (Chrome Extension)
- Grackle Slides (Chrome Extension)
- UH WCAG 2.0 Compliance Checking (reservation required)
- Creating Accessible Content (University of Hawaii) - how-tos and tools to create accessible documents, media, and websites, and access various accessibility trainings
- Accessibility Training through Lynda.com - online learning subscription to self-paced training provided by the University of Hawai'i available to full-time faculty and staff
- Accessibility of eLearning - free, self-paced course by OpenLearn University
- Accessibility: Designing and Teaching Courses for All Learners (OpenSUNY) - originally offered as a free, facilitated course; these materials are archived as a self-paced resource
- Basics of Inclusive Design for Online Education (University of Colorado) - free, facilitated course in Coursera offered periodically
- Online Accessibility Resource Documents (California Community Online Ed) - free self-guided tutorials, workshop resources, webinars on accessibility in online education
- How “Open Educational Practices” Support Student-Centered Course Design and Accessibility (Community College Consortium for Open Educational Resources) - webinar on how OER adoption can support accessibility of instructional materials
- Inclusive PDFs by Design (National Center on Accessible Educational Materials) - Webinar on how to create accessible PDFs