Instructional Materials

What is instructional materials accessibility?

Instructional materials and online course materials must be accessible to persons with disabilities in order to provide them with effective communication.  Communication should be, to the extent possible, as effective for persons with disabilities as it is for persons without disabilities. 

An essential component of effective communication is timeliness of delivery of accessible formats.  To the extent possible, instructional materials, including online course materials, must be accessible to students with disabilities at the same time it is available to any other student enrolled in that program.  

As mentioned in the University Catalog IV. Policies Concerning Faculty and Expectations of Faculty

ATI policies and processes for instructional materials

Timely adoption of textbooks by faculty

Each semester Academic Affairs Management emails all Faculty about the Timely Ordering of Textbooks at CSU Fullerton. The email contains the deadline for at least two upcoming semesters. For the upcoming Summer and Fall semester or for the upcoming Winter and Spring semester. Faculty is encouraged to consider low- and no-cost materials to help ensure an affordable, accessible, high-quality education for students.

Timely adoption of textbooks procedure.

Data and Performance Reports regarding adoption of IM and timely, late-hire adoption is available upon request by emailing the Titan Shops directly.

Faculty role in supporting students with disabilities

Faculty members and DSS support staff work together to facilitate students in their legal right to access education at CSUF.  If a student self-disclosed that he/she has a disability and requests an accommodation, faculty should refer them to contact DSS.  Students who connect to DSS are provided an official Letter of Accommodation (LOA).

Support Students with Disabilities UPS 300.001

Instructional materials via Canvas the Campus learning management system

Faculty members are encouraged to support their students by posting instructional materials through the Campus' learning management system known as Canvas.  The Faculty Development Center (FDC) has posted various training materials to help faculty setup courses, record attendance, discussions, post grades, and perform online chats with students.

• Resolution on Course Outlines and Syllabi
• Canvas Resource Center
• Learning Managememnt System Accessibility Enhancement Procedures

Accessibility requirements for instructional materials and curriculum approval

Federal laws including the Americans with Disabilities Act requires that Departments meet deadlines for reporting instructional materials selections each semester to that materials can be made accessible for all students.

Faculty Selection of Instructional Materials UPS 300.011

Support for faculty in the creation of accessible course content

Support Staff

Name	Department
Marc Montaser	Academic Technology Center, IT
Marc Trinh	Academic Technology Center, IT
Tu-An Nguyen	Library
DSS Team	Disability Support Services

 

CSU Fully Online (formerly "CourseMatch") 

All CSU Fully Online Courses get audited by FDC Staff trained on accessibility. After the audit of each course’s instructional material the FDC staff contacts the faculty member for remediation.

UDOIT (Cidi Labs)

UDOIT (Universal Design Online Content Inspection Tool) Advantage by Cidi Labs is integrated within Canvas and helps faculty scan course content and uploaded materials for common accessibility issues. UDOIT generates a course report and provides actionable guidance to remediate issues directly in Canvas.

UDOIT checks Canvas content such as Pages, Assignments, Discussions, Announcements, Modules, and the Syllabus, and flags issues including heading structure, alternative text for images, table headers, color contrast, and video captions.

Faculty who would like support improving accessibility can work with their college-based Instructional Designers or sign up for Document Accessibility Trainings on the CSUF ATI site.

 

Captioning

Campus offers tools for creating captions like Camtasia, VoiceThread's captioning option, Canvas Studio and ShareStream auto-caption running the IBM Watson engine.

Captioning is available via a vendor for a fast turnaround by contacting the ATI staff in the ATC for a fee. Captioning of exclusively lecture material is available for free via the  Titan Accessible  service. The department actively markets and reaches out faculty to have their lecture material captioned. If a student with disability has self-identified then DSS will create captions or transcripts by reaching out to the course faculty of student prior to semester start to collect all their media for captioning/transcription.

If there's a need for captioning (non-lecture material) or expidited captioning services the Campus can work with our vendor to get your materials captioned.  This process will incure fees that will be paid by the requesting department via a department chargeback.  You will need to have your chargeback number when you contact any of the support staff listed below.

Communication to students and faculty about instructional materials accessibility

College-based Instructional Designers ready to help faculty members with the creation and improvement of online, hybrid and web-enhanced classes.

The mission of the Office of Disability Support Services at California State University, Fullerton is to increase access and retention for students, faculty, and staff with permanent and temporary disabilities by ensuring equitable treatment in all aspects of campus life.

Faculty Course Design Checklist for accessibility

In accordance with Policy on Syllabi (Course Outlines) UPS 300.004 at minimum course outlines shall give detailed information for each course.  The Faculty Development Center (FDC) provides a Syllabus Design and Resources section including a course syllabus checklist will help faculty make sure they continue to meet these requirements.

Instructional Materials Evaluations

All CSU Fully Online (CourseMatch) courses are audited for accessibility prior to start of class.  After the audit of each course’s instructional material the FDC staff contacts the faculty member for remediation.

UDOIT (Cidi Labs) is an accessibility checker within Canvas that scans course content and files, identifies common accessibility issues, and provides guidance to remediate instructional materials to better align with accessibility best practices.