Deadlines

• Submit textbook orders early to allow time for alternate formats (e.g., Braille, digital) for students with disabilities.
• Requisitions are due when the semester schedule is finalized.
• Syllabi, handouts, and exams can also be produced in alternate formats. Plan ahead, and get accessibility training and consultation from the Distance Education team

Textbooks in Electronic Formats

• Open Educational Resources (OER): Instructors using free eTextbooks or OER must verify accessibility with the publisher. Ask for an Accessibility Conformance Report (also known as a complete Voluntary Product Accessibility Template, or VPAT).
• Online/Hybrid Courses: Instructors teaching courses that are 51%+ online must consult with the Instructional Technology and Accessibility Specialist during accessibility reviews.
• OER Accessibility: The Textbook and Instructional Resources Committee is developing solutions for OER accessibility reviews.

The Disability Resources Department Resources for Faculty page provides guidance on:

• Confidentiality
• Teaching students with disabilities
• Suggested syllabus statements
• Universal design for learning
• Classroom safety

Disability Accommodations in Online Classes

Accommodations Guide: Visit DRD's What Are Accommodations? page for descriptions and applications in online learning.

• Distance Ed's Web Accessibility Site: Offers instructions for making online academic materials accessible.
• Legal Compliance: SRJC online and hybrid courses must follow Section 508 laws and WCAG 2.1 (Level A and AA) standards as part of Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). DE offers a checklist for reviewing your Canvas site accessibility.
• Accessibility Reviews: The Distance Education Instructional Accessibility team reviews all courses due for compliance.

Accessibility for Online and Hybrid Courses

Board Policy 2.17: All online content (websites, LMS, platforms) must be accessible and comply with WCAG standards (Quick Ref).

Review Process: Distance Education contacts instructors for scheduled accessibility reviews and provides training and support.

Course Management Systems (Canvas)

Built-in Accessibility: Canvas includes basic accessibility features, but instructors should follow best practices to enhance accessibility.

Common Issues: The Canvas Accessibility page outlines common accessibility barriers and solutions.

Multimedia & Zoom Accessibility

Policies: Distance Education provides guidelines for captioning, transcripts, and DECT grants for video captioning.

Third-Party Media: Instructions available for linking/embedding non-captioned videos and creating instructor-made media.

Resources: 

• Multimedia Accessibility site (DE)

Consultations and Review Cycle

Support: The Instructional Accessibility Specialist is available for consultations and reviews of new online materials.

Review Cycle

All online/hybrid instructors are contacted every 6 years for review.

First-time online instructors must meet for review before teaching.

Resources

• Distance Education Policies
• Distance Education Web Accessibility Site

Web accessibility is a shared responsibility. The college has a legal responsibility to meet WCAG 2.1, Level A and Level AA (Beginner and Intermediate Standards) for digital communications via web and mobile applications. It applies to all web content — including electronic documents in Word, PDF or other formats.

Why it matters:

• Ensures your site is usable for all visitors, especially those with disabilities.
• Improves search engine visibility.
• Reduces legal risks.

Key facts:

• 1 in 5 adults lives with a disability—visual, hearing, cognitive, or physical.
• Up to 20% of internet users face accessibility barriers online.

How we support you:

• Training and assistance is available from the Online Accessibility Microsoft Office Accessibility Checker in the Word, PowerPoint, Excel and Outlook applications that you can use to 
• The college provides Siteimprove’s Accessibility tool to scan your site for WCAG 2.1 and Section 508 compliance. This helps you identify and fix accessibility issues efficiently.
  Note: As a content editor, you’ll only need to address a limited set of these issues. Contact Dana Throckmorton on the Web Services team if you need training on how to use this tool.

Documents should be Screen Reader compatible: Ensure that Word docs, PowerPoint presentations, Excel spreadsheets and PDFs are accessible to all. Check your work for common accessibility errors, including structural errors (e.g., inaccessible headings or tables) or missing alt-text for graphics.

Tools:

• Microsoft Office: Includes an accessibility checker in Word, PowerPoint, Excel and Outlook.
• Adobe Acrobat Pro: Offers a Web Accessibility Wizard for PDFs.

Resources:

• Creating Accessible Word Documents
• Creating Accessible PDF Documents

As a Drupal content editor for the college, you play a critical role in maintaining the accuracy, accessibility, and usability of our websites. Your responsibilities include:

Quality & Accessibility

• Fix or remove broken links and misspellings (via Siteimprove reports).
• Repair accessibility issues (e.g., missing alt text, poor contrast) flagged in weekly reports.
• Ensure all content follows WCAG 2.1 AA standards.

Content Maintenance

• Update or remove outdated content (e.g., old events, expired announcements).
• Verify all links (internal/external) work correctly.
• Unpublish/delete obsolete pages (e.g., replaced forms, outdated policies).

Siteimprove & Compliance

• Check weekly Siteimprove reports and resolve issues promptly.
• Use Siteimprove analytics to monitor traffic and improve content.
• Comply with college policies and legal requirements (e.g., ADA, FERPA).

Communication

• Notify us if:
  • Site responsibility transfers to a new staff member.
  • Additional team members need Siteimprove access.
• Request training or support from Web Services for unresolved issues.

We have on-demand video tutorials available for most common tasks. If you don't find what you need, contact the Web Team—we offer group and 1:1 trainings. 

Getting Set Up with Siteimprove

If you’re the contact person for your website and not receiving Siteimprove reports, reach out to Dana Throckmorton on the Web Services team to be added as a user.

• You’ll receive a login email from Siteimprove (check your spam/junk folder if you don’t see it).
• Move the email to your inbox and follow the steps to set up your password.
• Once logged in, you’ll be responsible for:
  • Maintaining and updating your pages.
  • Monitoring weekly Siteimprove reports (sent every Monday).

Need help? 

• The Web Team is available to assist, and on-demand training is available on the Siteimprove website.
• Siteimprove training and help is also available in the Resource Center, available in the top right hand corner on most pages within the tool. Look for the question mark icon.

• Questions about Siteimprove can be answered by the Open Resource Center at the top right hand corner on most pages within the tool. Look for the question mark icon.
• You can also request help from Web Services at any time.