When preparing material for courses we need to be cognoscente of the different means student will use to access them.  According to UDL-Universe:  "Accessibility is a general term used to describe the degree to which a product, device, service, or environment is available to as many people as possible."¹  When developing courses this means being deliberate about format and delivery method to work with assistive devices and being fully accessible for as many people as possible.  While making those adjustments meets a specific need for students with disabilities, it also generally benefits learns without disabilities.  The University of Washington has developed several resources on making your course accessible, which are available below: 

• Creating Accessible Documents  (University of Washington)
• Creating Accessible Videos  (University of Washington)
• Captions: Improving Access to Postsecondary Education  (University of Washington video, 7:42 long)
  • Use YouTube to Add Captions 
  • Use Camtasia to Add Captions 

The University of Washington has created a comprehensive check list to achieve the success criteria of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG ) 2.0 at Level AA.  This check list can be particularly helpful to instructors working in a Canvas environment and also in online courses to assess how perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust content and controls for all users.   

WSU Resources

• Student Disability Services (SDS)
• SDS Assistive Technologies 

¹Christie, B. (n.d.). UDL-Universe: A Comprehensive Universal Design for Learning Faculty Development Guide. Retrieved March 31, 2017