USM Center for Academic Innovation - Digital Accessibility

USM Announces Formation of Digital Accessibility Working Group

admin-jennifer — Mon, 07 Apr 2025 21:00:21 +0000

�鶹��ý Announces Formation of Digital Accessibility Working Group

The �鶹��ý (USM) is proud to announce the formation of the Digital Accessibility (DA) Working Group, spearheaded by the Kirwan Center for Academic Innovation. This initiative brings together representatives from all 12 USM campuses, community college representatives, independent public university representatives, private college representatives, and MarylandOnline to address the critical need for accessible digital course materials across the State of Maryland.

The DA Working Group is charged with fostering cross-institutional collaboration to support faculty and staff in meeting the Department of Justice’s Title II ruling on digital accessibility. This ruling requires that all public higher education institutions make web content and mobile apps accessible and meet WCAG 2.1 guidelines for web accessibility. Web content includes content inside an institution’s learning management system and password-protected content. Public higher education institutions are required to meet these accessibility standards by April 2026.

According to a recent Chronicle of Higher Education article, 21 percent of college students report having a disability, spanning visual, hearing, cognitive, and manual-dexterity domains. The DOJ Title II ruling is important, as it is difficult or impossible for people with disabilities to access information and content when website and mobile apps are not accessible. While USM institutions have processes in place for accommodating students, faculty, and staff with disabilities, this new ruling pushes institutions to build accessibility into the digital infrastructure from the beginning, so that everyone can access and engage with materials.

The DA Working Group will develop shared resources, offer professional development opportunities, explore and evaluate faculty and staff support structures, and create best practices documents for campus-wide use.

The DA Working Group urges all Maryland faculty and staff to actively participate in this initiative by attending training sessions, utilizing shared resources, and collaborating with colleagues to ensure their web content and mobile apps meet digital accessibility standards. This work is crucial in creating an inclusive educational environment that supports all students.

For more information, please contact: cai@usmd.edu

News Type:

USM News

Areas of Focus:

Digital Accessibility

Preview Quote:

The DA Working Group is charged with fostering cross-institutional collaboration to support faculty and staff in meeting the Department of Justice’s Title II ruling on digital accessibility.

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Teach Access Announces Academic Hub at Kirwan Center

admin-joel — Thu, 27 Feb 2025 20:14:10 +0000

Teach Access, a nonprofit dedicated to making digital accessibility fundamental to higher education curricula, proudly announces its newest academic hub, the �鶹��ý’s (USM) William E. Kirwan Center for Academic Innovation. This collaboration aims to advance accessibility education, research, and practice by integrating accessibility-focused initiatives into faculty development, curriculum design, and institutional strategy across USM.

The Kirwan Center + Teach Access partnership will focus on several key initiatives, including:

Establishing a Kirwan Center + Teach Access Faculty Fellowship to support faculty embedding accessibility into their pedagogy and research.
Conducting joint research on effective strategies for integrating accessibility into academic disciplines.
Collaborating on credentialing initiatives to ensure students gain recognized expertise in accessibility.
Developing Open Educational Resources (OER) and contributing to OER Commons to make accessibility-related materials more widely available.

Through these efforts, Teach Access will provide the �鶹��ý with free resources to enhance accessibility instruction across various courses and disciplines. The collaboration will amplify best practices in pedagogy, research, and institutional implementation of accessibility, ultimately preparing students to create more inclusive digital environments. In turn, the Kirwan Center will coordinate accessibility-focused initiatives across the system and leverage its existing statewide partnerships for even greater impact.

“We are thrilled to partner with the Kirwan Center and the �鶹��ý to further our mission of integrating accessibility into education,” said Rolando Méndez, Teach Access Director of Education. “This initiative will empower faculty and students with the tools they need to champion accessibility in their fields.”

“Designing with accessibility in mind - whether software applications, lesson plans, or museum exhibitions - is a vital 21st century skill,” said Nancy O’Neill, Executive Director of the USM Kirwan Center. “We are proud to be the first state system-level academic hub for Teach Access in the country, and together we have the potential to develop accessibility focused initiatives at an unprecedented scale.”

This partnership marks a significant step toward embedding accessibility in higher education and fostering a new generation of professionals dedicated to inclusive design and innovation.

News Type:

USM News

Areas of Focus:

Digital Accessibility

Preview Quote:

Collaboration to Advance Accessibility in Higher Education Through Research, Faculty Fellowships, and Innovative Pedagogy

News Link:

/newsroom/news/2472

Cross Post:

Call for Applications for the 2025 Elkins Fellowships for SoTL

admin-jennifer — Fri, 07 Feb 2025 19:41:18 +0000

The Kirwan Center for Academic Innovation is pleased to announce this call for applications for Elkins Fellowships for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). Up to 10 Elkins SoTL Fellowships of $1,000 each will be awarded for 2025-2026 (May 1, 2025-June 30, 2026).

Proposals are due to Dr. Jennifer Potter (jpotter@usmd.edu) by 11:59 pm on Friday, March 28, 2025, for work to take place over the subsequent academic year.

News Type:

USM News

Areas of Focus:

Digital Accessibility

Cross Post:

News

NFB-MDTAP Resource Guide for Accessible Classrooms

admin-annika — Wed, 05 Oct 2022 13:24:02 +0000

Resource Guide for Making an Accessible Classroom

This resource guide was created for USM institutions in support of the digital accessibility goals. For more information or resources, please contact the MDOD IT Access Initiative via email at: mdod.nva@maryland.gov or via their website mdod.maryland.gov.

The Center for Excellence in Nonvisual Access of the National Federation of the Blind is an excellent resource for learning more about nonvisual accessibility. They can be contacted at access@nfb.org.

Most laws and guidelines in place are built on the international standards, known as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The explanation of these standards and the various versions and upcoming updates can be found on the WCAG 2 Overview page.

Document Accessibility

These resources should help consumers learn the requirements and techniques for making various electronic documents accessible for both Microsoft Office and Adobe PDF.

Video & Audio Accessibility

The first two links will give instructions as to what is needed for content to be considered accessible. 3PlayMedia has a free checklist available for ensuring new content meets these standards. The Audio Description Project has several links for learning how audio description is created and offered.

General Accessibility Questions

Maryland Department of Disabilities

MDOD has other resources listed for any questions regarding digital accessibility and offers monthly webinars on various digital accessibility topics. The Maryland Assistive Technology Program (MDTAP) is also a great resource for learning more about types of assistive technology and seeing demonstrations.

National Federation of the Blind

The National Federation of the Blind Center of Excellence in Nonvisual Accessibility hosts a variety of programs each month, called Accessibility Boutiques, which cover a wide array of topics from document and web accessibility basics to evaluation of educational technologies and other productivity software. You can learn more about them at www.nfb.org/cena. The Accessibility Switchboard provides a variety of resources and guides for learning about many areas of accessibility: www.accessibilityswitchboard.org.

Download a copy of this guide

Areas of Focus:

Digital Accessibility

Cross Post:

Story

Digital Accessibility

admin-annika — Wed, 05 Oct 2022 13:10:51 +0000

Digital accessibility refers to the intentional design of electronic technologies and materials so that they are usable by all people, including people with disabilities. In the case of our increasingly technology-enhanced courses, digital accessibility means equal access to educational opportunity.

The Kirwan Center is exploring ways USM institutions—individually and collectively—can support faculty and other educational staff as they work to ensure that the instructional technologies and digital materials they use in their courses are accessible to all learners.

The key questions we are exploring include: How do we help faculty understand their role in and responsibility in digital accessibility for learning? What kind of support is available to them in the selection and/or creation of instructional materials? How do we create a “born accessible” culture within our academic programs? And how might we collaborate across USM institutions to share resources and best practices?

Initiative Type:

Digital Accessibility

Supporting Digital Accessibility for Learning

admin-annika — Thu, 29 Sep 2022 04:00:00 +0000

The William E. Kirwan Center for Academic Innovation has been collaborating with the National Federation of the Blind for several years to support digital accessibility efforts across the System. We are excited to announce that we are now collaborating to co-host an upcoming meeting to discuss how to build support for faculty around digital accessibility for learning on Thursday, September 29 from 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. at the National Federation of Blind’s offices in Baltimore.

The purpose of this meeting, which is co-hosted by the National Federation of the Blind and the Kirwan Center, is to explore ways USM institutions—individually and collectively—might better support faculty and other educational staff as they work to ensure that the instructional technologies and digital materials they use in their courses are accessible to all learners.

How do we help faculty understand their role in and responsibility in digital accessibility for learning? What kind of support is available to them in the selection and/or creation of instructional materials? How do we create a “born accessible” culture within our academic programs? And how might we collaborate across USM institutions to share resources and best practices?

The agenda for the day will include a keynote by Dr. Jonathan Lazar, Professor, College of Information Studies, University of Maryland, College Park. Dr. Lazar is involved in research and teaching related to human-computer interaction (HCI), with a focus on information and communication technology (ICT) accessibility for people with disabilities, user-centered design methods, assistive technologies, and law and public policy related to accessibility and HCI. Breakout sessions will address topics including building supports for faculty to evaluate and create curricular materials, facilitating culture change, laws/legal obligations and standards. Teams will have time to reflect on the day’s learnings and plan their next steps.

This event is by invitation only and all attendees must be part of a designated institutional team. Please use the Registration tab to register for the meeting.

Event Location:

National Federation of the Blind - 200 East Wells Street at Jernigan Place, Baltimore, Maryland 21230

Event Cost:

Free

Start Date:

Thursday, September 29, 2022

Event Date (expanded):

September 29, 2022 | 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

Event Type:

Face-to-Face

Event Year:

2022

Event Program:

Schedule at a Glance
8:30 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.	Registration and Breakfast
9:00 a.m. - 9:15 a.m.	Welcome and Opening Remarks
9:15 a.m. - 10:15 a.m.	Keynote Address Strategies for Improving Digital Accessibility: Supporting Faculty, Staff, and Administrators Jonathan Lazar, Professor, College of Information Studies, University of Maryland, College Park
10:15 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.	Institutional Team Planning
10:30 a.m. - 10:45 a.m.	Break and Transition
10:45 a.m. - 11:45 a.m.	Concurrent Sessions Building Institutional Awareness for Digital Accessibility through Campus Partnerships ADA IRL? NP! – Faculty’s Role in ADA Compliance in a Digital World Download Slides for this Presentation
11:45 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.	Lunch
12:15 p.m. - 12:30 p.m.	Break and Transition
12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.	Concurrent Sessions Supporting Faculty around Digital Accessibility: Challenges, Strategies, and Aspirations Making an Accessible Classroom Download Slides for this Presentation Download the Handout for this Presentation
1:30 p.m. - 1:45 p.m.	Break and Transition
1:45 p.m. - 2:45 p.m.	Institutional Planning and Sharing
2:45 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.	Wrap Up and Next Steps

Event Program File:

Program - Digital Accessibility for Learning FINAL.pdf

Event Presenter:

Jonathan Lazar

Professor, College of Information Studies, University of Maryland, College Park

Dr. Jonathan Lazar is a professor in the College of Information Studies (iSchool) at the University of Maryland. Dr. Lazar joined the iSchool in 2019, after 19 years as a professor of computer and information sciences at Towson University, where he served as director of the information systems program for 14 years. Dr. Lazar has authored or edited 13 books, including Research Methods in Human-Computer Interaction (2nd edition, co-authored with Heidi Feng and Harry Hochheiser), Ensuring Digital Accessibility Through Process and Policy (co-authored with Dan Goldstein and Anne Taylor), Disability, Human Rights, and Information Technology (co-edited with Michael Stein), Universal Usability: Designing Computer Interfaces for Diverse User Populations, and Web Usability: A User-Centered Design Approach. His 14th book, Accessible Technology and the Developing World, will be published by Oxford University Press in mid-2021. He has published over 150 refereed articles in journals, conference proceedings, edited books, and magazines, and has been granted two US patents for his work on accessible web-based security features for blind users. He frequently serves as an adviser to government agencies and regularly provides testimony at federal and state levels, and multiple US federal regulations cite his research publications. He has been on the executive Board of the Friends of the Maryland Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped since 2009, was co-chair of the Cambridge University Workshop on Universal Access and Assistive Technology (CWUAAT) from 2012-2020, and has been on the program committee of the ACM Conference on Accessible Computing (ASSETS) most years since 2006. Dr. Lazar was the general chair of the ASSETS 2021 conference. Dr. Lazar is the director of the Trace Center and is a faculty member in the Human-Computer Interaction Lab.

Registration Form:

Registration: Supporting Digital Accessibility for Learning

Front Page Event:

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Ensuring Accessibility

admin-annika — Fri, 17 Sep 2021 13:52:02 +0000

In 2021, the Kirwan Center curated a list of resources for ensuring accessibility in support of the sudden shift to remote teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Balancing Student Privacy and Accessibility | Kirwan Center for Academic Innovation

Provides guidance on best practices for balancing student privacy and accessibility in an online environment.

Getting Started with Accessibility | University of Florida
Provides guidance on tools for creating accessible content. Includes a link to a Universal Design Online content Inspection Tool (UDOIT)

6 Quick Ways to Be More Inclusive in a Virtual Classroom | The Chronicle of Higher Education
Flower Darby
Provides an overview of two frameworks for creating online or hybrid courses with an ethos of inclusion and equity embedded throughout: Universal Design Learning and Culturally Responsive Pedagogy.

WAVE (Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool) | Utah State University
WAVE is a suite of evaluation tools that helps authors make their web content more accessible to individuals with disabilities.

Tota11y Accessibility Visualization Toolkit | Khan Academy
tota11y helps visualize how your site performs with assistive technologies by providing a fun, interactive way to view accessibility issues.

Resources from the National Federation of the Blind | nfb.org

Don't Be a Barrier: Be Accessible NOW | National Federation of the Blind
Stephanie Flynt
Includes links to the NFB's Higher Education Accessibility Online Resource Center as well as other useful resources.

Creating Nonvisually Accessible Documents | NFB Jernigan Institute
This downloadable resource aims to provide practical information on how to make HTML, PDF, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents more accessible to blind users.

For Students with Disabilities, a Mass Shift to Online Courses Comes with Deep Concerns | Diverse
Sara Weissman
As colleges and universities hastily prepare to shift their courses online in response to the coronavirus, some students might welcome the chance to attend class at home in their pajamas. But for blind students, remote courses come with a host of new concerns and questions: Will online course platforms be compatible with their screen-reader technology? Will professors send readings as Word documents, which can be read with screen-reading software, or as scans, that cannot? What if there are images without alt text to explain what’s showing on the screen?

How Do You Create Accessible Videos? | CAST
National Center on Accessible Educational Materials at CAST, Inc.

Outlines simple options for creating captioned videos, including captioning capabilities that are already built into several video editing applications.
CAST also provides information on ensuring high-quality captioning, including resources that already have high-quality captioning, such as PBS and Khan Academy, here.

Accessibility and Accommodations in Online Courses | UMCP

First Steps
Instructor Resources for Accommodations Online
Examples of Online Accommodation

Areas of Focus:

Digital Accessibility

Cross Post:

Story