Digital learning tools are increasingly important in higher education facilities and campuses. Resources ranging from learning materials to navigational tools and remote learning systems have established digital technology as a prominent player in every educational environment. The growth of digital technology highlights the need for digital accessibility that ensures all students have access to the same educational resources. However, the breadth of digital educational resources in higher education can make ensuring accessibility a complex task. Building a digital accessibility committee is a foundational step toward ensuring compliance and fostering inclusivity. This guide thoroughly examines the importance of a digital accessibility committee for college campuses and how to fill vital roles so you can meet your digital accessibility goals.
Why Your Campus Needs a Digital Accessibility Committee
Like physical accessibility, digital accessibility ensures all students can access everything a college campus offers to gain an equal opportunity to succeed. Educational facilities have an ethical responsibility to create an accessible learning environment for students with a wide variety of needs.
Equal access for students is more than an admirable mission. It’s the law. Federal law requires reasonable accommodations for accessing educational spaces.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires public entities (including higher education institutions) to provide people with disabilities equal access to services, programs, and activities. The act outlines requirements for physical accessibility and assistive design elements, but protections also include digital accessibility.
Recent updates to the ADA require all HHS-funded programs and activities to adopt advanced technological standards that ensure digital platforms are fully accessible to individuals with disabilities. Updates to Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 introduced a final rule with similar requirements to advance digital accessibility.
The new rule mandates that organizations must ensure all web content adheres to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines WCAG 2.1.
Regulations include:
- Using text alternatives for users with visual impairments
- Providing keyboard accessibility for those with cognitive disorders
- Maintaining an optimal contrast ratio between text and background for visually challenged users
Digital accessibility resources on a college campus cover learning materials like websites, mobile apps, and digital textbooks. However, building up your digital campus inclusivity and accessibility efforts can (and should) also cover tools that remove physical barriers. Digital tools like interactive maps can display and showcase resources, making them easier to find and use.
Achieving successful digital accessibility requires collaboration between teaching faculty and staff members who develop course materials and students and staff members who need accessible features. A dedicated committee can centralize efforts, reduce silos, and provide consistent oversight to develop comprehensive digital accessibility that evolves with new resources.
Key Roles and Stakeholders for an Effective Committee
An effective committee will be representative of all the stakeholders on campus. Essential roles for committee members include faculty members, student advocates, compliance officers, web designers, an accessibility champion, and an IT representative. Each member will have distinctive responsibilities.
For example, an accessibility champion supervises the effort by communicating with different groups and sharing critical needs and ideas. Student advocates represent the student perspective and provide valuable insight into existing challenges and potential solutions. Faculty members also have a dual role in representing staff members’ accessibility needs and identifying faculty concerns surrounding changing materials. Experts (web designers, IT representatives, and ADA coordinators) can then resolve technical concerns. They can also identify ways to achieve comprehensive digital accessibility.
Choosing a diverse group of team members is essential to ensure a broad representation of staff and student body on campus. Recruitment efforts should work to get the word out and engage inherently qualified members. Begin by contacting campus accessibility allies to inquire about potential recruits for committee roles. Student engagement tools can help inform students of your efforts to recruit members that will accurately represent a diverse student body.
Defining the Committee’s Mission and Goals
Achieving and maintaining digital accessibility on a college campus is a monumental task with many requirements. The committee will need clear insight into all relevant materials and the changes that are needed most. Laying the groundwork for success will help you create an effective mission statement and actionable goals that will guide your policies.
These actions will help your committee define the scope of requirements and establish a plan.
- Conduct accessibility audits. Checking which systems and resources comply with ADA and WCAG regulations will allow your committee to identify where work needs to be done.
- Implement training for staff and faculty. Comprehensive training for faculty and staff will teach them the basic principles of digital accessibility and practical steps for developing accessible digital coursework.
- Develop an accessibility roadmap with timelines. Understanding the student journey and potential challenges will help you recognize where change is needed most. Once you can prioritize tasks, the committee can create a roadmap with timelines for reaching specific goals.
Building Momentum With an Initial Action Plan
An early action plan will help you launch your digital accessibility efforts and take action to address the most immediate needs. So, within the first 90 days of creating a digital accessibility committee, complete these three steps:
- Plan to schedule a kickoff meeting.
- Conduct a digital accessibility needs assessment.
- Prioritize immediate tasks.
Kickoff Meeting
The first meeting should clarify the roles of each team member and identify the most immediate challenges to implementing digital accessibility. For example, decentralized systems or outdated equipment can make it difficult to identify all relevant systems and programs and make comprehensive updates. The kickoff meeting is also the ideal setting to outline criteria for a needs assessment.
Digital Needs Assessment
A digital accessibility needs assessment will be one of the first tasks to be completed and will define the scope of the work ahead. Investigate the student journey, starting with how students gather information about your institution and following the journey through acceptance paperwork, orientation, classes, and available resources. When evaluating each touchpoint, consider if all the materials, including articles, emails, blog posts, social media, and videos, are in accessible formats.
Priority Tasks
The committee will make the most progress during the first three months by prioritizing and completing immediate tasks, like reviewing high-traffic web pages and digital tools and addressing digital accessibility related to events. Cornell University offers several checklists to help accessibility committees address common issues.
Engaging the Campus Community
Engaging students, staff, and other key players is essential to getting buy-in and vital information for effective planning. Using a variety of techniques to raise awareness and get feedback will help you raise awareness and gather relevant data. So, consider these strategies for community engagement.
- Host workshops and webinars. Group gatherings are a great way to spread information and engage students and staff in contributing to accessibility efforts. You can also double the effectiveness of these meetings by requesting feedback through surveys and questionnaires.
- Collaborate with student organizations. Communications with various student organizations allow you to reach a diverse range of students. These groups provide inclusive environments where students may feel more comfortable sharing ideas.
- Communicate through campus-wide emails and social channels. Emails and social channels are ideal platforms for starting conversations and requesting feedback. Use them to share information and ask for ideas.
- Create feedback channels for responses from students, staff, and faculty. Gathering feedback is a vital part of creating an effective digital accessibility plan. Also, creating multiple feedback channels encourages student participation and feedback from stakeholders in the know.
Sustaining Long-Term Success
Technology is constantly evolving, and your digital accessibility efforts must be updated frequently to sustain long-term success. However, accessibility shouldn’t be reactive. By incorporating accessibility goals into the institution’s broader strategic plan, your committee can maintain ongoing efforts that go beyond compliance to create equal education opportunities for all students.
Then, maintain the committee’s momentum by providing ongoing training to keep up with evolving accessibility standards and regularly updating leadership on progress and outcomes. As you develop and implement a comprehensive accessibility program, it’s not enough to assume the committee’s efforts are providing the anticipated results. Measure impact through surveys that use specific metrics to measure improved accessibility.
Getting the Assistance You Need for Effective Digital Accessibility
Digital accessibility is an essential part of creating equal learning opportunities for all students. It is a vital part of creating an equitable and inclusive environment. It’s also essential for maintaining regulatory compliance with ADA and Section 504 regulations. Creating a digital accessibility committee sets the stage for a more equitable and accessible campus for all. When you have a team dedicated to meeting student, staff, and guest needs, your efforts are stronger.
Digital accessibility on college campuses spans a range of spaces and needs, presenting a complex undertaking for your committee. Working with various partners and organizations can help you achieve your goals. Concept3D offers an array of accessibility features that can complement your efforts. Our digital tools include accessible campus maps and calendars that provide solutions to meet various accessibility requirements. Schedule a demo to learn how Concept3D can help your digital accessibility committee develop goals and achieve long-term success.