Joint Dear Colleague Letter from the DOJ and DOE
May 19, 2023
Today, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a letter regarding the Departments' ongoing efforts to address barriers that prevent people with disabilities from participating in online services, programs, and activities that colleges, universities, and other postsecondary institutions make available to students and the public. The letter can be found at OCR's Digital Accessibility webpage and DOJ's Disability Rights Cases page. Read Joint Dear Colleague Letter from the DOJ and DOE.
Early Bird Accessibility
May 18, 2023
A few steps over the summer will mean a smoother start to the Fall semester for many of your students. Read More About Early Bird Accessibility
Alternative Testing Accommodations for Final Exams
Alternative testing accommodations, such as extended time for testing, are provided to ensure that a student's performance is representative of their mastery of the subject and not their disability.
DRES and/or NCOD student(s) must request their accommodations each semester in SAAS and faculty are able to review the student eligible accommodations.
New Procurement Accessibility Canvas Course
March 29, 2023
If you are a frequent “CSUN shopper” you may have been told to complete an ICT Form prior to your purchase being approved. Information Communication Technology (ICT) purchases at CSUN must undergo the Accessible Technology Initiative (ATI) Procurement Procedure. Knowing when, what and how to submit required documentations to Universal Design Center (UDC) and the Purchasing & Contract Administration will help both departments expedite your request. Read More About New Procurement Accessibility Canvas Course
What Does a11y Mean?
February 23, 2023
“a11y” stands for “accessibility.” A numeronym is a number-based word with 11 for the number of letters between the letters a and y. A11y often appears on social media platforms like Twitter because space is limited and every character counts #a11y. It is always good practice to spell the word and any abbreviations or make a reference to your abbreviation when used for the first time. Read More About What Does a11y Mean?
5 Accessibility Tips to Help You Keep Your New Year’s Resolutions
January 19, 2023
Whether it is a document, webpage, Canvas, flyer, infographic, email, or social media, content creators should always consider the five most common accessibility tips to create accessible and user-friendly content for everyone. Read More About 5 Accessibility Tips to Help You Keep Your New Year’s Resolutions
Accessibility Tip - Student and Faculty Training
December 22, 2022
In 2021-22, the Universal Design Center (UDC) conducted a pilot with select departments to train their student employees in making documents accessible. The pilot was a success, so for 2022-23 we are pleased to offer this program to all CSUN departments.
The Universal Design Center (UDC) will train your department’s student employees to help make documents and other course materials accessible. This new session starts in February 10th, and there are only 34 seats left. Sign your department’s student employees up today! Read More About Accessibility Tip - Student and Faculty Training
Accessibility Tip on Dashes and Hyphens
November 17, 2022
A screen reader is an assistive technology that helps people with vision impairment to access and interact with websites or applications through touch or audio. However, there are some limitations with screen readers. For example, screen readers do not know what the – symbol represents, whether it is a minus sign, hyphen, en dash or em dash, and will not read it. So, when you are creating content for your courses, it is always a good practice to spell out the word and any abbreviations or make a reference to your abbreviation when used for the first time. Read More About Accessibility Tip on Dashes and Hyphens
Accessibility Tip - Share Notes, Share Knowledge
October 20, 2022
In my dual role as an instructor and an accessibility analyst at the Universal Design Center, I often try to weave accessibility practices into my teaching strategies. They are mostly easy to implement and benefit all students. There may be students who do not self-identify as individuals who need certain accommodations to participate in class activities and meet the learning objectives. Read More About Accessibility Tip - Share Notes, Share Knowledge
Accessibility Tip - Recycling Old Files
Want to know a common object you’ll find in any classroom or office that’s a secret weapon when it comes to accessibility? It’s your computer’s Trash or Recycle Bin! Going through your content and getting rid of unused files helps you focus on the accessibility of the remaining materials. And it is often more time efficient to find or make a new, more accessible copy than it is to try and fix an older file.
If you need storage for files that you’re not using this semester, but that you don’t want to necessarily delete forever, you can always store them in myCSUNbox until you’re ready to make them accessible and use them again! Accessibility Tip - Recycling Old Files
Accessibility Training for Student Employees
August 26, 2022
The Universal Design Center (UDC) will be training student employees to help make documents and other materials accessible. This new session starts up on Sept. 30th, and there are only 18 seats left. Sign your department’s student employees up todayRead more about Accessibility Training for Student Employees
A few steps over the summer will mean a smoother start to the Fall semester for many of your students. Read More About Early Bird Accessibility
Join the "Moving the Needle" Challenge
March 24, 2022
This April 4th to 8th, each CSU will compete to see which campus can show the greatest improvement to the accessibility of our course materials. We need your help! Read CSUN's approach to this challenge
Where to Start with Accessibility?
Not sure where to begin when it comes to accessibility in your course? No problem! We have three steps that will help you get your course off to a great start. Read more about Where to Start with Accessibility?
What Does “Accessible” Mean?
What does it mean for something to be "accessible"? If your course materials pass these three checks, then you have addressed many common issues. Read more about What Does “Accessible” Mean?
Accessibility for Scanned PDFs
When you're working with scanned PDFs, Canvas Ally says “the document is scanned but not OCRed.” What can you do? Sometimes fixing a file is not the first answer. Read more about Accessibility for Scanned PDFs
Tidy Your Way to a Better Report
March 24, 2022
The Course Accessibility Report is a new feature of Canvas Ally that gives you a picture of the accessibility of the course as a whole. Read more about Canvas Ally Report
Just One Thing: Descriptive Text
March 24, 2022
Have time for just one accessibility step? Add descriptive text! Descriptions for images, links, and more can help all of your students navigate and access your content. Read more about Just One Thing
Faculty Resources for SAAS Student Accommodation
If you have a student in the Student Access and Accommodation System (SAAS) receiving services through NCOD: Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services, please brush up on the tips on their Virtual Learning page.
If you have a student in SAAS receiving services through Disability Resources and Educational Services (DRES), please review their Accommodating Students page and consider how virtual instruction may intersect with your student(s) accommodation(s).
If you have any other questions about accessibility, please /bookings/">make an appointment with the Universal Design Center (UDC). Read more about Faculty Resources for SAAS Student Accommodation
Ensure your Spring syllabus is accessible and earn a stipend through this four-day workshop Jan. 11-14th, 10-11:30am each day. The Accessibility Bootcamp covers best practices, tips, and the core tools and campus resources available to make documents, videos, and other course materials more accessible. Featured tools include Canvas Ally, which aids in identifying accessibility challenges in your course materials in Canvas. Read more about Winter Accessibility Bootcamp
How Do Students Use Canvas Ally?
In 2020-2021, students downloaded 57,704 PDF versions of Word and PowerPoint course materials. Students have several alternative file formats to choose from, and Ally will convert a variety of files. However, Word and PowerPoint to PDF was by far the most popular. What does this mean for faculty? Read more about How do students use Canvas Ally?
Winter Online Accessibility Training
The CSU Chancellor's Office now offers an online independent-study document accessibility course covering Word, PowerPoint and PDF. The course covers creating, evaluating, and optimizing content and structure in documents. There's also a bonus module on accessibility in Excel. Read more about Winter Online Accessibility Training
New Canvas Course Accessibility Report Feature Available
New for 2021-22! The Course Accessibility Report is powered by Canvas Ally and is available in the navigation menu for each of your Canvas courses. The Course Accessibility Report gives you an overview of the accessibility of your course, including guidance like “easiest issues to fix” and “fix low scoring content." The Course Accessibility Report also lists all of the content within that course and displays the Canvas Ally dial for each item. Read more about New Canvas Course Accessibility Report Feature Available
Taking a few Universal Design steps over the summer will mean a smoother start to the Fall semester for many of the students in your courses. Read more about Early Bird Accessibility
Captioning Course Content
April 30, 2021
Captioning is part of the Accessible Technology Initiative (ATI) because videos have become an integral way to share information with students, faculty, staff... Read more about Captioning
Purchasing Information and Communication Technology
April 30, 2021
Another way CSUN incorporates accessibility is through our purchasing process. Per CSU policy, all of our Information and Communication Technology (ICT) purchases undergo the Accessible Technology Initiative (ATI) Procurement Procedure to measure the impact on accessibility. Read more about Purchasing ICT
New UDC Training Videos and Resources
April 30, 2021
Curious how to create accessible course materials that reach more students? The UDC offers Accessibility Training Videos and Resources, and virtual training throughout the year. Our Accessibility Training Events are open to all faculty, staff, and student assistants. Email us at udc@csun.edu. Visit UDC Training Video and Resources
Can You Read This? Using Color Contrast in Universal Design
March 23, 2021
Color can be a potent way to grab attention and convey information – and a few simple techniques can make it even more effective for the widest possible audience. Read more about Can You Read This? Using Color Contrast in Universal Design
Making STEM Content Accessible with EquatIO
EquatIO is software to help both faculty and students create, share, and study accessible equations and formulas. EquatIO can generate images with accurate alternate text descriptions, or “use LaTeX to create accessible math expressions and add them directly into digital documents.” Read more about Making STEM Content Accessible with EquatIO
New Zoom Feature - Live Automated Captioning
CSUN Academic Technology is excited to announce that live automated captioning in Zoom is now available campus-wide. Read more about New Zoom Feature - Live Automated Captioning
Canvas Ally Feature: BeeLine Reader
Ally, the accessibility service within Canvas, makes it easier for students (and you!) to read on computer, tablet, or mobile device screens. Read more about Canvas Ally Feature: BeeLine Reader
Captioning Videos
Funding is available to help faculty generate captions and transcripts for instructional media. Read more about captioning videos.
