Course Accessibility Services for Faculty

The Office of Accessibility Services supports faculty both with implementing student disability accommodations and in making their courses accessible for the entire UVM community.

About Student Disability Accommodations

Implementing Student Accommodation Needs
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OAS assists faculty in understanding and implementing accommodations tailored to the unique needs of each student. Accommodations are determined on a case-by-case basis through an individualized and interactive process that considers the student’s specific needs and the essential requirements of the course.

Key areas of faculty collaboration include:

  • Interactive Process: Engaging with faculty to explore flexible and effective ways to implement accommodations while maintaining academic integrity.
  • Guidance and Resources: Providing tools, training, and strategies to ensure classroom materials, activities, and assessments are accessible.
  • Proactive Communication: Offering consultation to address potential barriers and develop proactive solutions that benefit all learners.

About The Interactive Process
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The interactive process is a cornerstone of OAS’s work with faculty. This collaborative dialogue helps:

  • Identify reasonable accommodations that align with the essential course requirements.
  • Ensure accommodations provide students with disabilities equal access without fundamentally altering the nature of the course.
  • Support faculty in balancing academic rigor with the legal and ethical obligations to provide accessibility.

Examples of accommodations may include, but are not limited to:

  • Extended time on exams or assignments.
  • Administering exams through the Exam Proctoring Center
  • Accessible course materials, such as captioned videos or text-to-speech-compatible files.
  • Note-taking assistance or the use of assistive technologies.

Faculty Engagement with Accommodations
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OAS welcomes inquiries, feedback, and requests for consultation. Faculty are encouraged to:

  • Contact OAS early in the semester to discuss potential accommodation needs for their courses.
  • Provide input during the accommodation planning process to address course-specific considerations.
  • Share any concerns or suggestions to enhance accessibility and inclusivity in their teaching practices.

About Course Accessibility

Course Accessibility Standards

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All course materials at UVM are required to meet the standards for digital accessibility laid out in Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). UVM is committed to meeting these standards as a campus by April 2026. 

The standards for digital accessibility for course materials corresponds with the WCAG 2.1 AA-Level standards. These include:

  • Human-edited captions for all videos that include dialogue
  • Audio description or expansive text description for all videos that don't have dialogue
  • Transcripts for all audio files
  • Use of headings on webpages, on Brightspace pages, and in documents
  • Meaningful alt-text for all images
  • Robust color contrast
  • Not using color alone to indicate meaning
  • Fully accessible documents

More information about the WCAG 2.1 AA-Level standards is available at this website: WCAG in Plain English.

For most faculty at UVM, digital accessibility is a growth area. Technology -- including technology used at UVM -- has evolved rapidly, and we are all just now understanding how, without care and attention, it is excluding people with disabilities. This includes UVM students, staff, and faculty. But now that we know better, we can do better. Here's how it works.

Meeting Course Accessibility Standards

Brightspace Tools
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As you create and manage courses in Brightspace, you have an accessibility checker at your disposal: Ally. This tool measures the accessibility of the materials you create and post, and offers tips for improving the accessibility of your course materials.

It's important to note that Ally and all other automated accessibility checkers will only pick up 25-30% of digital accessibility errors. It is up to individual faculty to make sure materials and courses are fully accessible.

The Center for Teaching & Learning

The Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) is an invaluable resource for faculty wanting to learn more about working directly with Ally in Brightspace.

Accessibility Services from OAS
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The Office of Accessibility Services currently provides a number of digital accessibility services free for UVM faculty. These include:

Accessibility Consultations

If you are interested in a one-on-one consultation about accessibility, or have specific digital accessibility questions, please email UVM Web & Digital Accessibility Specialist Audrey Homan at choman@uvm.edu, or reach out using our online contact form.

Accessibility Workshops
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Beginning in late Fall 2026, the Office of Accessibility Services will begin scheduling workshops for faculty on digital accessibility. These will include, but are not limited to:

  • All About Alt-Text
  • Understanding Color Contrast
  • Word Document Accessibility
  • PowerPoint Accessibility
  • PDF Accessibility
  • Accessible Multimedia: Yours and Other People's

To be informed as soon as these workshops become available, please subscribe to the OAS Newsletter, via our contact form.

Log into the myACCESS Faculty Portal

View current accommodations, schedule exams, and upload exam materials.

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