Quick Tips for Digital Accessibility Small changes that make a big difference

What is Digital Accessibility?

Digital accessibility ensures that everyone, including people with disabilities, can access and use digital content and tools. Building accessibility into websites, documents, and course materials from the start helps everyone. It reduces the need for last-minute fixes, improves usability across the board, and supports a wide range of users — including those with temporary or situational challenges. Accessible design is smart design.

 

Four Quick Tips

Are you looking for easy ways to improve your digital content today? Here are four quick tips that will help you improve your content's accessibility: 

  1. Include Alternative Text (Alt Text) to describe images for screen reader users. Find additional resources for Accessible Images here. 
  2. Use Headings (Heading 1, Heading 2) to create a clear structure rather than just bolding text in documents, presentations, myUMBC posts, and websites. Find additional resources for Accessible Documents and Presentations here.
  3. Provide descriptive link text (e.g., "Register for the Workshop") instead of vague phrases like "Click Here." Learn more about Website Accessibility here. 
  4. Ensure all videos have accurate captions. Utilize Video Resources and Audio Accessibility Resources. 

 

UMBC's Commitment to Digital Accessibility

Your Work Matters. Whether you are sending a newsletter, updating a website, or sharing a video, you are helping build a more inclusive UMBC. Accessibility is not just a technical checklist; it is a shared commitment to ensuring that every Retriever and guest can participate fully.

Together, we can build a more inclusive digital experience for everyone at UMBC. 

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To promote student success in gateway courses, five UMBC faculty recently concluded an 18-month Every Learner Everywhere grant, which was designed to enhance digital learning & equity. The UMBC instructors included Sarah Bass and Tara Carpenter (Chemistry) and Eric Anderson, Lili Cui and Cody Goolsby-Cole (Physics). 

Specifically, Bass and Carpenter focused on the use of open educational resources (OER) and students' time on task practice in CHEM 101 and 102. Anderson, Cui and Goolsby-Cole focused on providing timely feedback on low-stakes assessments. Findings from both departments’ projects included better student-instructor relationships in the face-to-face classes of spring 2022 compared to the previous year's online classes. Also, the results of student surveys showed positive changes in student perceptions of feedback. Finally, all projects adopted an approach that emphasized using open educational resources (OER), where possible, and supporting productive practice through adaptive learning and formative assessments.

Long term, the goal of ELE is to eventually use these approaches to inform redesign of large, introductory STEM courses that promote equity in achievement for all students. Toward this end, a preliminary analysis of the use of adaptive learning in CHEM 102 showed an overall 10% improvement in exam scores and a decrease in the score gap between white students and students of color.

Note: As an experiment, the first "draft" of this post was initially generated by ChatGPT, summarizing the full ELE project report to focus on UMBC participants, and then revised by John Fritz and Tom Penniston. 

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