Webinar Archives
Oct 14 2021, 2pm
Part 1: An Overview of OCR and How Accessibility Laws Apply to Digital Accessibility in Higher Education
Date: October 14, 2:00pm PDT
This webinar was not recorded. Summary available.
Presenter
Mary Lou Mobley, National Disability Expert and Co-Lead of National Digital Accessibility Team
Amy Kim, Senior Attorney
Description
At the end of fiscal year 2019, OCR had over 2,800 digital accessibility cases on its docket, and it became one of the top four categories of disability complaints that OCR received. Join OCR as we walk through OCR’s streamlined process for resolving digital accessibility cases under federal disability rights laws and answer your questions about OCR and digital accessibility cases.
Learning Outcomes
At the end of this presentation, learners will be able to:
- Recognize the types of accessibility complaints and issues being filed with OCR.
- Understand how OCR will work with school, universities, and libraries to resolve digital accessibility cases.
- Be prepared to respond to digital accessibility concerns and increase accessibility and usability in its online programs and activities.
June 9 2021, 11am
Creating inclusive classroom spaces in which students thrive
Presenter
Kathryn (Kathy) Oleson, Dean of the Faculty and Professor of Psychology at Reed College.
Kathy was appointed Dean of the Faculty in July 2020. She joined the Reed faculty in 1995 as a professor of psychology. She earned a MA and PhD in Social Psychology from Princeton University and a BA in psychology from the University of Kansas. From July 2014 to June 2016, she served as the founding director of the Center for Teaching and Learning at Reed College. Her current research primarily explores ways to make the college classroom more inclusive, with a particular focus on productive and unproductive discomfort. Her book Promoting Inclusive Classroom Dynamics in Higher Education: A Research-Based Pedagogical Guide for Faculty (Stylus Publishing) was published in fall 2020.
Description
This webinar focuses on ways to support faculty and students’ classroom experiences in higher education. I consider students’ backgrounds, including class, race, disability, and gender, and center primary needs (competence, autonomy, belonging) and concerns (e.g., self doubt about ability, impostor feelings, and stereotype threat) that students bring to the classroom. I then draw on universally-designed learning in combination with educational design rooted in social justice and multiculturalism to describe ways to design in-person and online spaces in which students flourish academically. I encourage webinar participants to reflect on their own approaches and think through how these ideas are most productively applied to their institutions.
Learning Outcomes
At the end of this presentation, learners will be able to:
- Understand the potential diversity of student backgrounds and the psychological needs that students bring to the classroom.
- Recognize misperceptions between faculty expectations and student experiences and the possible impact of these misperceptions on student learning
- Support the design of inclusive physical and online learning spaces in which students thrive
April 27th, 2021, 11am
Accessibility in Procurement: How to Read a VPAT
Anyone who makes IT procurement decisions is assuming risk on behalf of their library, university, or organization. As the risk owner, you must take steps to ensure the product or service you’re procuring is accessible to all users, including those with disabilities. How do you do that? A standard form used by IT vendors to document their level of accessibility is the Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT). This session will explore VPATs in detail and provide guidance on how to read them, and what you can learn from them, without being an accessibility expert.
Presenter Bio
Terrill Thompson is manager of the IT Accessibility Team at the University of Washington, a role in which he works to promote IT accessibility by building community, developing resources, delivering lectures and workshops, conducting accessibility evaluations, providing consultation and support to a wide variety of constituents, and conducting research. Terrill has nearly thirty years of experience in the IT accessibility field, and has presented internationally at numerous conferences and consulted widely with local and state government, private industry, and K-12 and postsecondary education entities on IT accessibility issues.
Oct 21, 2020, 11 am
Using Universal Design for Learning to Promote Student Learning and Engage Learners Where They Are
Description
Institutions often wrestle with selecting and supporting solutions that not only support learning, but are effective, affordable, accessible and easy to integrate with current processes. The modern classroom and professional development environments demand that we use available tools to support a learning style that is active, inclusive and learner-centered. Enter: Universal Design for Learning (UDL). In this presentation we’ll learn of UDL emergence from Universal Design (UD); how to integrate UDL principles into teaching, training or presenting; provide guidance on how accessibility and UDL work together and explore practical application examples.
Learning Outcomes
At the end of this presentation, learners will be able to:
- Identify Universal Design principles
- Describe Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
- Apply UDL guidelines into teaching and learning scenarios
Presenter
Ana Thompson CPACC, Learning & Access Designer
University of Washington Bothell
Presenter Biography
Ana Thompson has worked in higher education for the last 19 years in the areas of IT, tech support, digital/online learning, database and system administrator, strategic planning, accessibility, instructional design, and as affiliate faculty. Currently, she is the lead of the Universal Design for Active Learning (UDAL) campus initiative, chairs the Campus Accessibility Committee, represents Bothell in the UW IT Accessibility Tri-Campus Task Force, and is a member of the Learning Spaces Design Team at the University of Washington Bothell campus. Prior to UW, Ana was an Instructional Design Consultant at Boise State University and the Director of Distance Education at Casper College in Wyoming.
July 8, 2020, 11 a.m.
Resources for implementing accessibility and usability testing in libraries
Andy Andrews, UW Libraries Accessibility Coordinator Hilary Robbeloth, University of Puget Sound System & Discovery Librarian
Presentation title
Accessibility Testing: Training for Libraries Staff
Andy Andrews, UW Libraries Accessibility Coordinator
Description
The UW Libraries is committed to providing equitable access to digital library resources. With the help of UW-IT’s Assistive Technology Services a small group of library staff created materials to facilitate workshops to train Libraries staff on how to evaluate and test online resources and applications to ensure they are accessible to patrons with disabilities. This presentation will briefly cover the process UW Libraries went through in creating our materials for audit basics, issue logging, and report writing. I will also discuss the value of sharing testing results for our patrons, other institutions, and vendors.
Biography
Andy Andrews is the Accessibility Coordinator for the University of Washington Libraries. Since joining the Libraries in 2018, he has championed accessibility throughout the Libraries by empowering staff every day to improve the accessibility of their own work and services. He co-chairs the Accessibility Working group at the UW Libraries as well as a member of the DUX Accessibility Standing Group.
Presentation title
Alliance User Testing Toolkit
Hilary Robbeloth, University of Puget Sound, Systems & Discovery Librarian
Description
The User Testing Toolkit was created by the User Testing Toolkit Project Group (UTTPG) under the Orbis Cascade Alliance Discovery & User Experience (DUX) Team in 2018 to support member interest in performing user testing. In this presentation I will show some of the aspects of the toolkit I find to be the most useful, including the FAQ which points to resources and how-tos, sample documents, and a testing overview. I also encourage the audience to reach out if there are resources they want to recommend or sample documents they can contribute to build the toolkit further. The newly formed DUX Accessibility Group is currently building an accessibility toolkit and I will give a very brief update on its progress.
Biography:
Hilary Robbeloth is the Systems & Discovery Librarian for Collins Memorial Library at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, WA. In this role she provides leadership to support digital and technology services to enable research, teaching, and learning programs in the library. She is also the collection development liaison for Asian language materials. She is chair of the Collins Library Shared Integrated Library System Team and of the Alliance DUX Team.
April 29, 2020, 2 p.m.
Wading in the WCAG Waters: First Steps Toward Facilitating Accessibility Change at your Institution
By Michele Bromley, IT Accessibility Coordinator, Portland State University
Recording of the webinar:
Abstract
The necessity for working toward more inclusive, accessible digital spaces on our college campuses is becoming increasingly urgent. Legal considerations notwithstanding, there are ethical and practical imperatives for ensuring that digital resources and environments are as accessible and usable as possible for all users. But where do we begin? How can individuals act as catalysts for institutional change when that change requires community, investment, policy, and resource development? This presentation will outline first steps toward real accessibility change and provide an introduction to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) that can bring that reality closer.
Learning Outcomes
- Participants will review the basics associated with digital accessibility and the international standards that define it.
- Participants will learn methods and messaging for engaging high-level stakeholders in institutional accessibility development.
- Participants will explore strategies for building the communities, resources, and workflows necessary for real accessibility growth.
Biography
Michele Bromley is the IT Accessibility Coordinator for the Office of Information Technology at Portland State University (PSU). In this capacity, she serves as a digital accessibility resource for the university—providing support, technical direction, and assessment related to the accessibility of new and existing information and communication technologies. Michele’s primary areas of expertise are accessible digital design, digital accessibility validation, alternative media, and adaptive technology. She has presented regionally and nationally on these topics and currently serves on the Executive Council for the Access Technology Higher Education Network.