Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google


OER Initiative Offers Tools to Expand Awareness of Digital Accessibility

Teach Access

Teach Access, a nonprofit focused on digital accessibility skills education, is launching a collection of free online teaching resources designed to help faculty teach accessibility across a range of computer science, technology, and design programs. Built in collaboration with iDesign, the Teach Access Curriculum Repository provides more than 250 open educational resources to help students better understand digital accessibility as they learn to design, develop, and build new technologies.

"At a time when technology touches nearly every facet of our daily life and experiences, digital accessibility and inclusion is an education, civil rights, and an economic imperative," explained Kate Sonka, executive director of Teach Access, in a statement. "This is about not just teaching students about the importance of accessibility — but equipping those future graduates to put the principles of accessibility and inclusion into practice as they look for internships and jobs."

To put together the collection of resources, instructional designers from iDesign collaborated with faculty experts on digital accessibility and inclusion to review hundreds of faculty-submitted teaching resources and learning objects for courses such as Human Computer Interaction, Computer Science, Web Design & Development, UX Design, Visual & Graphic Design, Instructional Technology, Game & Interactive Media Design, Robotics, Technical Writing, and Psychology, according to a news announcement. The repository "provides faculty with the support to build accessibility concepts into courses and teach practical applications of accessibility to learners in their classrooms," the announcement said.

"Accessibility can't be an afterthought. It needs to be woven throughout the very design and engineering processes used to create and build technology in the first place," commented Whitney Kilgore, co-founder and chief academic officer of iDesign. "This is about ensuring that the next generation of developers, designers and engineers are equipped to create technology that is responsive to the needs of every individual."

Access the Teach Access Curriculum Repository here.

About the Author

Rhea Kelly is editor in chief for Campus Technology, THE Journal, and Spaces4Learning. She can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • abstract quantum computing glowing circuits

    Nvidia Unveils 'Ising' Quantum AI Model

    Nvidia has announced a new family of open source AI models, dubbed "Ising," designed to accelerate quantum computing by improving calibration and error correction.

  • Dana Brunson facilitates a roundtable discussion with research and higher education IT leaders

    Internet2: Closing the Access Gap for Research Cyberinfrastructure

    Internet2's Research Engagement Team brings CIOs and other campus technology leadership together with research computing and data facilitators, forming a community that enables research cyberinfrastructure at institutions of all types and sizes.

  • Digital cyberspace with particles and Digital data

    Report: AI Is Moving Faster than Data Trust

    AI agents are already in use or pilot at most organizations, but data visibility, governance and precision recovery capabilities have not kept pace, according to Veeam's new Data & AI Trust Gap report.

  • Abstract futuristic digital network with glowing padlock icons

    Microsoft Intros New Agentic AI Security Multi-Model Defense System

    A new multi-model agentic AI security system built by Microsoft's Autonomous Code Security team helped researchers find 16 new vulnerabilities across the Windows networking and authentication stack, the company anounced in a recent security blog post.