Digital Accessibility as a concept is the practice of intentional, inclusive design to support the interaction, and access to, web content, digital tools, and technologies by people with disabilities.
What is Digital Accessibility?
Support for Every Student
Developing instructional content that is digitally accessible is one way to apply Universal Design principles in your classroom. It is a proactive way to make your instructional content accessible to everyone, regardless of circumstance or ability.
Digital Accessibility directly supports what we value as an institution by actively removing barriers preventing students' access to learning materials.
Access By Design
Learn how to create, assess, and remediate learning materials, and to apply Universal Design for Learning concepts in your course design to support a wide variety of learners.
View our resources for faculty here.
FACULTY RESOURCESDigital Accessibility at COCC
The Basics of Digital Accessibility
An introduction to the basics of digital accessibility, including: where and how we might encounter it, who it benefits, why we need it, and next steps for faculty and creating accessible course content.
Instructional Accessibility Standards
Read COCC's Digital Accessibility Policy, see how it is implemented and applied in academic spaces, and how our standards support Federal requirements outlined in the Americans with Disabilities Act.
ADA, UDL, and Digital Accessibility
Learn about the differences and areas of intersections between Digital Accessibility, Universal Design for Learning, and how COCC meets the needs of students with ADA Accommodations.
Digital Accessibility 101
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Why is Digital Accessibility Necessary?
The short answer is because it is the right thing to do. Greater accessibility elevates the experience of the entire COCC community: students, employees, and the community. And as a public entity, certain standards around digital accessibility are required by Federal law and thus the expectation of all higher education institutions.
In terms of academics, digital accessibility is a proactive way to make instructional content accessible to everyone, regardless of circumstance or ability. COCC's Vision statement includes that we "strive to promote equity, inclusion and sustainability in all aspects of our College, ensuring every student has access to needed resources and supports." Further, our values include that we create an environment that honors students’ strengths, addresses their individual needs and helps them achieve their goals." Digital Accessibility directly supports what we stand for as an institution, and actively works to remove barriers preventing students' access to content.
For more details on the regulatory aspect of digital accessibility, open the second card on this page: Instructional Accessibility Standards.
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What types of content are included?
This includes:
- Canvas content
- Digital documents (e.g.: Word docs, PowerPoints, Excel spreadsheets, PDFs)
- Video, images, and audio files
- eBooks and other Digital Courseware
- Required academic technology
... any other 3rd party content which requires student interaction, including external websites.
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How do I make my content digitally accessible?
Check out our page Access by Design for our collection of resources, tutorials, on-demand courses, and training schedule related to:
- Self-guided tutorials for creating, assessing, and remediating your digital course materials
- Applying Universal Design for Learning concepts to support a wide variety of learners
- Instructional resources related to digital accessibility
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Key Terms
Digital Accessibility: The practice of intentional, inclusive design to support the interaction, and access to, web content, digital tools, and technologies.
Digital Content: content delivered through technology, including the learning management system, electronic documents, audio, video, digital courseware/textbooks, websites, and other supplemental material that requires student interaction to achieve the course learning outcomes.
Equitable Access: means that information presented in an alternative format communicates the same information and allows users to have a comparable experience in as timely a fashion as does the source.
UDL: Universal Design for Learning
ADA Americans with Disabilities Act
WCAG: Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
Accessibility Standards for Instructional Content
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COCC's Digital Accessibility Policy
This Policy applies specifically to areas within Academic Affairs. It directly supports the college Vision statement, and supports local and federal standards for accessibility.
Central Oregon Community College will provide all students with equitable access to learning materials within digital learning spaces by working to ensure that all instructional content and academic technologies conform to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 Level AA standards.
Our policy extends to the creation, procurement, management and timely dissemination of all educational resources and technologies, as well as expectations regarding the design, development, acquisition and use of digital academic resources.
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Federal Accessibility Rule
...adopts the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Version 2.1, Level AA as the technical standard for web content and mobile app accessibility under title II of the ADA. ... The Department is requiring that public entities comply with the WCAG 2.1 Level AA success criteria and conformance requirements.
-- Federal Register Rule 2024-07758: Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability; Accessibility of Web Information and Services of State and Local Government Entities
Our policy acknowledges that the use of digital content is an integral component of higher education, and that accessible digital content improves the learning experience for all students, including those students with disabilities.
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Instructional Accessibility Standards
COCC's instructional accessibility expectations apply across academic content and technologies used in digital learning spaces. These standards support equitable access and align with WCAG 2.1 AA.
- Course materials should be readable and structured for assistive technologies.
- Video should include accurate captions.
- Images should include meaningful alternative text when appropriate.
- Technology used in instruction should be reviewed for accessibility alignment.
- Digital learning environments should support equitable access to the same information and learning activities.
Understanding the Difference: UDL, ADA, and Digital Accessibility
The three terms you are most likely to encounter when discussing accessibility and instruction are Universal Design for Learning (UDL), Digital Accessibility, and ADA Accommodation.
While these concepts are distinct, they are not mutually exclusive. Here's how they work together to create a more accessible learning environment for all.
What's the Same?
UDL, Digital Accessibility and ADA Accommodations all:
- Make course content easier for students to use and navigate.
- Apply to the design or presentation of material, not the curriculum or content.
- Can be utilized for any discipline, course delivery method, or audience.
What's Different?
- Universal Design for Learning is a holistic pedagogical framework that provides a flexible blueprint for creating instructional goals, methods, materials, and assessments that work for everyone.
- Digital accessibility is the practice of intentional, inclusive technical design to support interaction and access to various types of digital content.
- ADA Accommodation seeks to remove barriers that are specific to an individual with a documented disability.
Working Together
The more instructional content is digitally accessible, the more likely it is to meet a legal ADA requirement and employ one of the Universal Design principles.
For example, closed captioning a video could meet the needs of all these learners:
- The student who speaks English as a second language
- The student with an audio processing disorder
- The student reviewing material in a public space