Tips for Accessible Classrooms
Accessibility is an important part of inclusive teaching. While individual academic accommodations address disability-related barriers for specific students, faculty can also proactively reduce barriers through thoughtful course design, accessible materials, and flexible teaching practices.
Accessible course design complements—but does not replace—individual accommodations. Even thoughtfully designed courses may present disability-related barriers for individual students, and faculty remain responsible for implementing accommodations approved through Disability Support Services (DSS).
Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is an approach to teaching and course design that considers accessibility and learner variability from the beginning, rather than responding to barriers only after they arise. UDL practices can benefit students with disabilities while also making courses clearer, more flexible, and easier to navigate for all students.
Three core UDL principles encourage faculty to provide:
- Multiple means of engagement – Offer different ways for students to participate, connect with course material, and sustain engagement.
- Multiple means of representation – Present important information in different formats, such as text, audio, visuals, demonstrations, or examples.
- Multiple means of action and expression – Where appropriate to the course learning objectives, provide different ways for students to practice skills, participate, or demonstrate what they have learned.
UDL does not mean changing essential course requirements or providing unlimited flexibility. Instead, it encourages faculty to consider whether course practices create unnecessary barriers that can reasonably be reduced.
When applying UD principles, remember these 3 essential components:
1) Represent info for your audience through multiple modes (i.e., audio, visual, text, graphics)
2) Allow your audience to use multiple means of expression/response (i.e., virtual, phone, live)
3) Encourage engagement with choices (i.e. hands-on, group work, resources for further study)
If you are interested in learning more about UDL approaches for your course, the following resources may be a good starting point:
Practical Strategies for Accessible Teaching
Small changes in course design and instruction can make a significant difference in student access.
- Post course materials electronically. Whenever possible, upload handouts, readings, slides, and other materials to Moodle so students can access them using assistive technology and revisit them outside of class.
- Create accessible documents and presentations. Use clear headings, readable formatting, sufficient color contrast, descriptive links, alt text for meaningful images, and accessible PDFs. Avoid scanned documents that cannot be read by screen-reading or text-to-speech software.
- Provide important directions in writing. Accompany verbal instructions with written directions for assignments, activities, due dates, and multi-step tasks. Keep this information available in Moodle when possible.
- Caption audiovisual materials. Videos used for instruction should include accurate captions. Faculty should also verbally communicate important visual information that is necessary to understand the course content.
- Organize Moodle consistently. Use predictable headings, labels, and module structures so students can easily locate readings, assignments, deadlines, and other course materials.
- Provide materials in advance when possible. Making slides, readings, complex instructions, or other materials available before class can allow students to prepare and access materials using assistive technology.
- Provide opportunities to revisit important course content. Depending on the course, this might include posted slides, notes, summaries, transcripts, or recordings when appropriate.
- Build flexibility into course design where appropriate. Choices in topics, activities, participation methods, or assignment formats can increase access when those choices do not alter the essential learning objectives of the course.
- Consider accessibility when designing assessments. Exams and assignments should measure the skills or knowledge identified in the course learning objectives without introducing unnecessary barriers unrelated to what is actually being assessed.
Mindful & Anti-Ableist Engagement
Accessibility is not limited to course materials or formal accommodations. The ways faculty communicate about disability and interact with students can also contribute to—or create barriers within—an inclusive learning environment.
Faculty are encouraged to:
- Discuss individual accommodations privately rather than identifying or singling out students in front of classmates.
- Avoid asking students to disclose diagnoses or other disability information that is not necessary for implementing an accommodation.
- Avoid describing accommodations as an advantage, special treatment, or a lowering of academic standards.
- Avoid assumptions about what a student can or cannot do based on a known or perceived disability.
- Be mindful of disability-related terminology and avoid using disability terms as insults, jokes, or negative metaphors.
- Recognize that preferences for person-first and identity-first disability language vary among individuals and communities.
- Encourage students to communicate about access barriers without requiring them to publicly disclose disability information.
Many phrases and terms that were once commonplace are now recognized as outdated, inaccurate, or ableist. The National Center on Disability and Journalism (NCDJ) Disability Language Style Guide provides helpful guidance and historical context regarding disability-related language and terminology: Disability Language Style Guide
Disability Justice-Informed Approaches
At Trinity, we encourage faculty to view accessibility as an ongoing component of inclusive teaching rather than solely as a response to individual accommodation requests.
A disability justice-informed approach recognizes disability as an important dimension of human diversity and encourages us to consider not only how individual accommodations provide access, but also how barriers within our courses can be proactively reduced, both before accommodations are needed and in coordination with approved accommodations.
This approach can include accessible course design, flexibility where appropriate, respect for student autonomy, consideration of different ways of participating and communicating, and ongoing reflection on classroom practices that may unintentionally exclude students with disabilities.
DSS coordinates formal student accommodations through the interactive process, while faculty play an important role in creating learning environments in which accessibility, inclusion, and academic rigor can coexist.
Below are some helpful resources outlining anti-ableist and accessibility-minded frameworks and content for review.