In April 2024, the Department of Justice finalized a rule under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to ensure that digital content and mobile applications are usable and inclusive for individuals with disabilities. However, accessibility in education is not just about compliance, it is about fostering an inclusive and equitable learning environment, ensuring that every student has a fair chance to succeed. Feel free to check out one or more of these short videos if you would like to learn more about why accessible courses matter:
Dhruv, older adult student who is deaf (3 min),
Stefan, student with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and dyslexia (3 min),
Ian, data entry clerk with autism (2 min 50 sec).
By prioritizing accessibility, we’re not only meeting the legal requirements but also enhancing the learning experience for everyone at U-M Dearborn!
While accessibility initiatives are gaining traction, many faculty members may still see them as additional burdens, often met with frustration or resistance. It is understandable, adapting to new guidelines can feel overwhelming, and the benefits may not seem immediate. However, accessibility is not just about accommodating students with disabilities, it is about fostering an environment where all students can thrive. Starting from simple adjustments and small steps, such as using high color contrast text, providing captions for videos, and ensuring digital content is screen-reader friendly, could benefit a wide range of learners, including those with temporary impairments or non-native English speakers, making a significant impact on student success and engagement.
Campus leadership recognizes the vital role faculty play in advancing accessibility and appreciates your efforts in making courses more inclusive. To support this work, various incentives and resources are available to help faculty integrate accessibility effectively at UM-Dearborn campus. Meaningful progress comes when accessibility is approached proactively and with intention. Instead of viewing accessibility measures as extra requirements, faculty can see them as opportunities to enhance the learning experience for all students.
To assist faculty in this transition at University of Michigan-Dearborn, our campus provides a range of resources, including a self-paced Digital Accessibility (DAC) Course (please enroll with this join link), where the first 250 faculty members (tenure track faculty or lecturers at UM-Dearborn) who complete all modules and earn the badge are eligible for a $200 completion incentive. Additional support is available through synchronous Zoom training sessions in the Digital Accessibility (DA) series, which cover eight digital accessibility topics. Asynchronous recordings can also be accessed on the UM-Dearborn Digital Accessibility Channel.
Faculty also have the opportunity to hire student assistants to support the implementation of accessibility practices in their courses. We understand that making content accessible can take a significant amount of time, especially for courses which use a lot of images, graphs, equations, or handwritten materials. To help with this effort, we are offering 250 small grants that allow instructors (tenure track faculty and lecturers) to hire a student in their discipline to assist with this work. The grants cover up to $450 of pay for the student assistant and are limited to one per instructor at this time. Priority will be given to courses where materials are reused, in order to maximize the long-term impact of this program. For more information, please refer to the email and complete the grant application form if you are interested. The goal of this initiative is to equip instructors with practical strategies and easy-to-apply solutions, making accessibility an integral part of course design while also simplifying their workload.
Additionally, while machine-generated captions are automatically added to all video content, we are aware those captions can have accuracy issues, especially for instructors with an accent or for courses with a lot of discipline-specific terminology. If you have video content in MiVideo/Kaltura that is used on an ongoing basis and has substantively incorrect captions currently, you can request human-generated captions for those videos via the human-generated caption request form, which should be much more accurate. This one-time funding opportunity will prioritize asynchronous videos that are reused across multiple semesters. Once funding for this initiative runs out, instructors will be responsible for reviewing and correcting machine-generated captions for all video in their courses.
Our campus has recently launched a faculty-led learning community on digital accessibility, supported by one-time funds. This initiative provides a dedicated space for faculty conveners and participants to connect, explore, share strategies, and apply digital accessibility principles in their courses. You can find more information through the doc.
We invite faculty to join the conversation, ask questions, and share best practices. Accessibility is a shared responsibility, and by taking proactive steps today, we can build a learning environment that reflects the values of equity and inclusion tomorrow. Let’s move forward together—embracing accessibility not as an obligation, but as an opportunity to enhance the educational experience for everyone at UM-Dearborn!
If you’re interested in learning more or need support in implementing accessibility practices in your courses, visit or reach out to our accessibility team at umdearborn-de-accessibility@umich.edu. Let’s make accessibility a priority, because when education is accessible, everyone benefits.