Accessible Technology Initiative (ATI)

Instructional Materials

 

Introduction

The CSU is committed to ensuring that all campus Information Resources and Technologies are fully accessible for persons with disabilities. This commitment reflects a goal to provide the most effective learning environment for all students--rather than simply to ensure compliance with various federal and state laws.

Instructional Materials (IM) are considered to be forms of communication and must therefore be delivered in a manner that is equally effective for persons with disabilities. Communication is considered to be equally effective when it is:

  • comparable in quality to those received by students without disabilities
  • comparable in timeliness of delivery and availability
  • provided in a manner and medium appropriate to the significance of the message and the abilities of the person receiving the material

Policy Development

Each campus is directed to adopt and submit an Instructional Materials Accessibility Plan (IMAP) no later than June 15, 2007. The plan should address, at a minimum, the specific actions to be taken by the campus for the following areas:

  • Timely adoption of textbooks by faculty
  • Ensuring textbook selection/ordering for courses with late-hired faculty
  • Early identification of students with disabilities who require modified instructional materials
  • Use of the campus learning management system both for delivering technology-enabled course content, and for posting syllabi and instructional materials in both traditional and hybrid courses
  • Incorporation of accessible E&IT procurement requirements when purchasing instructional materials (e.g. transcripts for audio, captions for videos)
  • Alignment of academic technology resources to assist faculty in the creation of technology-enabled courses
  • Communication and training processes to educate students, staff, and faculty about the campus IMAP
  • Identification of specific roles and responsibilities for responsible parties
  • Identification of an evaluation process (including milestones and timelines) to measure the effectiveness of the plan

A comprehensive set of IMAP guidelines will be developed in consultation with IM campus representatives during Winter, 2007 and released in early Spring, 2007. These guidelines will provide greater clarification on scope of coverage, technical standards, and recommended procedures/tools. In the interim, campuses are encouraged to consider the following factors when developing their IMAP:

  • Consider each of the unique activities associated with accessible instructional materials (procurement, authoring, delivery, modification, delivery)
  • Consider the unique accessibility issues associated with various IM formats including, but not limited to paper-based resources (e.g. textbooks), electronic resources (e.g. Learning Management Systems files), and multimedia (e.g. streaming audio/video).
  • Consider the communication issues associated with coordinating the procurement, authoring, and delivery of IM across diverse campus groups (e.g. Faculty, IT staff, Library staff, support staff, vendors).
  • Consider the capacity-building issues associated with training large numbers of people on your campus--including the issue of wide variations in technical interest and background.
  • Consider the manner in which the campus will address significant differences in financial and technological resources between State and non-State entities (University foundations, contractors, vendors, etc.)

Timelines

June 15, 2007: Draft submission of the campus Instructional Materials Accessibility Plan (IMAP)

July 1, 2007: Campuses will implement the IMAP provisions related to timeliness of alternate formats for print-based instructional materials such as those reflected in points #1 to #4 of Coded Memo AA-2007-04. These provisions should impact the timeliness of materials for the first academic term of Calendar Year, 2008.

Fall Term, 2008: New courses  and new course content, including instructional materials and instructional websites, will be designed and authored in a manner that incorporates accessibility. If incorporating accessibility is not possible or would constitute an undue burden, then a plan to provide an equally effective alternate form of access must be developed, documented, and communicated. Existing course content will be made accessible at the point of course redesign or when a student with a disability enrolls in the course.

June 15, 2007: Final submission of the campus Instructional Materials Accessibility Plan (IMAP)

Fall Term, 2012: Instructional materials and instructional websites for all course offerings will be accessible. Once again, undue burden plan requirements (as described above) apply.