Creating and Sustaining an Effective Campus-wide Accessible Course Development Program

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Jim Stachowiak

Accessible Technology

Strategy and Operations Lead

Northwestern University

1

Approach

2

Start with Canvas content

Focus on high impact issues

Don’t overwhelm

Educate

Make it easy

Seven Core Accessibility Skills

3

Headings

Links

Alternative Text

Color Contrast

Lists

Tables

Video and Audio

Visual Brand

• Developed by NUIT Communications
• Reminder of the seven core skills
• Used in messaging
• Used on laptop stickers
• Helped make the project feel official

4

Create and Cultivate Partnerships

5

Involve Stakeholders & Supporters

6

Developed the CAP Brains Trust

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• Informal advisory board
• Meets when there’s ideas
• Offers feedback
• Increases reach
• Add new members consistently

Brains Trust Representative

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• Weinberg
• Medill
• Engineering
• Chemistry
• Medical School
• Law
• Orthotics and Prosthetics
• Theatre

Support

7

Trained TLT Staff

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• 3 took the U of Illinois certificate course
• 4 trained via WebAIM training
• Staff used for consultations and individual work in group sessions

WebAIM Trainings

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• 5 offered so far
• Open to all staff and faculty
• Aimed at Canvas support
• 100+ have currently participated

Seven Core Skills Website

• Impact
• How To
• Things to Avoid
• Going Forward
• Make an Impact in Five Minutes

8

www.northwestern.edu/accessibility/digital-accessibility/seven-core-skills/

Templates

• Developed several accessible course templates
• Full course
• Syllabus page
• Assignment
• Template with explanations
• Made available via Canvas Commons
• Created school specific templates

9

Pope Tech Accessibility Dashboard & Guide

10

Phase I: Self Identification�(April 2023 – April 2024)

Phase I: Key Strategies

12

Mass Communication

Individual Tracking and Follow Up

Recognition

13

Tracking

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Tracking - PowerApp

• Instructor enters courses they are working on
• Instructor enters progress
• Reminder emails are automatically sent
• Project staff supports and verifies

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15

Wall of Fame

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Mission: Accessible Stats

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120 instructors completed the challenge

12 of 12 Northwestern schools were represented in the challenge

213 classes successfully completed the challenge

Phase II: Working with Units�(December 2023 – Present)

Phase II: Key Strategies

19

Outreach Directly to Associate Dean

Individual Unit Workshops and Support

Data Tracking and Usage

Document Remediation

Medill School of Journalism Partnership

20

Goal

Work with Medill associate deans, instructors, and librarians to make Medill a model school for digital accessibility in the learning environment.

Winter 2024

• Identify 10 classes with most issues
• Invite instructors to in-person workshop (with food) to learn and address issues
• Follow up with individual consultations
• Present project at Medill faculty meetings

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Spring 2024

• Identify instructors who did not teach in the Winter and invite to Medill specific workshop
• Follow up with Winter instructors
• Begin remediating documents for courses that passed M:A
• Hosted a celebration for removing errors

Results

• There were 0 accessibility errors in Medill classes in Spring 2024 (alerts were also reduced)
• Accessibility errors remained at 0 for Fall 2024 and Winter 2025
• Significant sustainable learning occurred
• New accessibility evangelists developed

Medill Spring 2024 Scan

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Spring 2024 - Present

22

Data

Medill Success

Partner Units

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Communication Sciences and Disorders

Legal Reasoning

Law School

Foreign Languages

Spanish

IEMS

Engineering

Orthotics and Prosthetics

Global Health

Future Partners

24

History

Theatre

Weinberg Deans Office

Computer Science

Math

Chemistry

Radio, Television, and Film

Document Remediation

25

Hired 2 Document Accessibility Specialists

in March 2024

Over 50 classes have had a total of 2000

documents completely remediated

Phase III: Main Offenders�(September 2024 – Present)

Phase III: Key Strategies

27

Outreach Directly to Classes with High Numbers of Specific Issues

Work with High Enrollment Classes

Data Tracking and Usage

Document Remediation

Main Offenders Emails

28

Process

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• Identified top 10 courses with specific issues
• Emailed instructors directly with brief video on how to address the identified issue

Results

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• 46% ignored the email
• 34% got better
• Staff typically made the corrections
• 20% got worse
• Only a few confrontational responses
• Some positive responses, but no action

Next Steps

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High Enrollment Classes

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• Identified top 100 enrollment classes for Winter and Spring
• Direct outreach on issues
• Offer to address documents

Pope Tech Reminder

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• Working on a message to pop up to use Pope Tech every time a page is saved

Day of Action

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• Considering a group effort to reduce Canvas issues around Global Accessibility Awareness Day

Results

Accessibility Errors Per Course

31

?

Errors Per Course - Schools

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Errors Per Course - Schools

33

Errors by School

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Errors by School

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Errors by School

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Mission: Accessible’s Impact

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Most Common Errors

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Most Common Errors

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Most Common Alerts

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Most Common Alerts

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Lessons Learned

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1. Make it easy as easy as possible.

2. Partnerships are key. Invest in those who are interested.

3. Data opens doors, shows success, helps build support.

4. Associate Deans are key.

5. Mass communication & general workshops have limitations.

5. Celebrate success

Questions?��Email: james.stachowiak@northwestern.edu