FAQ for Faculty about ATI and Instructional Materials
What is ATI?
How does ATI apply to faculty?
What are instructional materials?
What makes instructional materials accessible?
What do faculty need to do?
How does getting book orders in early help students with disabilities?
If I use Blackboard Vista, are my course materials accessible?
What resources are available to assist faculty with this work?
Are stipends, grants or release time available for faculty to comply with ATI?
What are the deadlines according to ATI for instructional material accessibility?
Who will make sure that faculty-created materials are accessible?
What is ATI?
The Accessible Technology Initiative (ATI) reflects the California State University's (CSU) ongoing commitment to provide access to information resources and technologies to individuals with disabilities. This commitment is articulated in Executive Order 926 (EO 926), the CSU Board of Trustees Policy on Disability Support and Accommodations:
"It is the policy of the CSU to make information technology resources and services accessible to all CSU students, faculty, staff and the general public regardless of disability."
The Accessible Technology Initiative's:
- Vision: To create a culture of access for an inclusive learning and working environment.
- Mission: To help CSU campuses in carrying out EO926 by developing guidelines, implementation strategies, tools and resources.
- Principle: To apply universal design, an approach to the design of products and services to be usable by the greatest number of people including individuals with disabilities.
- Strategy: To stimulate collaboration to effect changes that will ultimately benefit all.
For more information:
Visit the Chancellor's Office ATI Site
Watch the ATI Video (MOV file, requires Quicktime)
Visit the CSU, Chico ATI site
How does ATI apply to faculty?
One of the three priorities of the ATI is to ensure that all students have access to instructional materials, as specifically stated in Chancellor's Office Executive Order 926:
"To the extent possible, instructional materials, including online course materials must be available to students with disabilities at the same time it is available to any other student enrolled in a course."
It is the responsibility of our faculty to use the learning management system, accessible document formats, and accessible instructional strategies within their own courses to meet this directive, supported by campus and CSU resources and training.
The other two ATI priorities are University Web sites and campus technology purchases (procurement). Teams are working to address each of these priorities on our campus as well.
For more information:
Read the CSU, Chico ATI site
What are instructional materials?
Any informational content, independent of source or delivery location, that is required as a component for participation in curricular activities; the basis for most assigned readings, discussions, activities and examinations; effectively the raw material for curricular learning. Examples:
- Paper based print materials (books, reader packets, reserve readings, lab manuals, handouts, written exams)
- Electronic print materials (web-based and LMS-based content; electronic reserves, book bundled e-text, computerized exams)
- Multimedia materials (web-based video/audio, commercial DVDs, materials bundled with books, photographic slides or lab samples)
What makes instructional material accessible?
Features of an accessible material:
- Perceivable: Users are able to access the information contained in the materials by modifying its presentation.
- Operable: Users are able to interact with and manipulate the content.
- Understandable: Users are able to receive the content in a comprehensive manner.
- Robust: Users are able to transform the content into formats that are more compatible with assistive technology.
How these are features are achieved can vary depending on the material. In general, the use of electronically accessible formats such as Word, HTML, tagged PDF, and structured PowerPoint are preferable to printed materials or inaccessible formats. Textbooks may be available in an accessible electronic format from the publisher, or the Disability Support Services (DSS) office can create them from paper texts as necessary.
There are exceptions, of course - certain instructional software and core concepts cannot be made to exhibit the above features of accessibility. Faculty should consult the DSS office for assistance with a particular part of a course's instructional material which is difficult to make accessible.
What do faculty need to do?
There are several main things that faculty should do:
- Order textbooks at least six weeks before the start of the semester through the AS Bookstore.
- Have course packs duplicated through the AS Bookstore in association with the Print Shop, which can create accessible electronic versions of your course packet for a student who needs one. Off-campus duplication vendors do not produce accessible versions.
- Starting with your course syllabus, ensure that all instructional documents (Word, PDF, PowerPoint) are created or converted using the accessibility features of the format. Learn more.
- Use Blackboard Vista accessibly to convey course material whenever possible. Learn more.
- Use accessible instructional strategies such as Universal Design for Learning to design your curriculum. Learn more
- Get all videos captioned and audio media transcribed for students with disabilities.
How does getting book orders in early help students with disabilities?
The ATI requires us to have alternative format materials available at the same time they are available for non-disabled students. The alternate format conversion process is complex and time consuming. On the average, DSS needs 4-6 weeks to produce a text in alternate format. Even if DSS receives a book in electronic format from a publisher, it will likely need to be edited and converted to a format usable by a student. This is why timely adoption of text books is essential to the process.
If I use Blackboard Vista, are my course materials accessible?
It depends. Vista is generally accessible, although TLP has recommendations of ways that you can organize your Vista course to make it much more accessible. The problem arises when documents are uploaded to Vista without considering the accessibility of the document to students with disabilities. MS Word, PowerPoint, HTML and Acrobat PDF files can each be made accessible using features of the programs which create them. The process of taking a file and adding these accessibility features to it is not difficult, and TLP has resources to assist faculty doing this.
For more information:
Watch demos and use a checklist to make your Vista course more accessible.
Get tutorials about creating accessible materials with Word, PowerPoint, and PDF.
What resources are available to assist faculty with this work?
The Technology and Learning Program offers workshops and technology tutorials to assist faculty converting and creating new instructional materials which are electronically accessible, such as your course syllabus and any other Word, HTML, PDF or PowerPoint document.
TLP's Instructional Technology Consultants are available to help faculty consider the principles of Universal Design for Learning in their curricula as well as considering the wise use of the Blackboard Vista learning management system.
Disability Support Services (DSS) can help faculty find accommodations for particular instructional components or events which can not be converted or replaced with an accessible version, such a video which needs to be captioned.
For more information:
Register for a TLP Accessibility workshop.
Get tutorials about creating accessible materials with Word, PowerPoint, and PDF.
Contact DSS about video captioning or audio transcription.
Are stipends, grants or release time available for faculty to comply with ATI?
Neither Executive Order 926 nor ATI provide stipends, release time or other compensation for faculty to make these changes to their course materials. Compliance going forward is a legal requirement of the way CSU, Chico executes its educational mission in accordance with the University's values.
What are the deadlines according to ATI for instructional material accessibility?
The CSU, Chico ATI Instructional Materials Accessibility Plan is a phased, multi-year plan.
In 2008-2009, the priority is to make sure that all course syllabi are accessible. New courses designed during this time should also be built using accessible tools and strategies.
The following years will involve converting the bulk of the University's course materials. Proactive video captioning is at this time a last priority because it requires resources which aren't yet available to faculty who do not have a student with specific need for that accomodation.
For more information:
Read the ATI IMAP (Instructional Materials Accessibility Plan) Year 2 Report (Microsoft Word format)
Who will make sure that faculty-created materials are accessible?
If you have a disabled student in your class, the student and the DSS office will evaluate all aspects of the course to ensure the success of the student. TLP consultants are available to help you think about what technology and pedagogy changes you may need to make in your course to achieve a greater degree of accessibility. But there is no easy answer when it comes to compliance enforcement. sThe answer to this question and others continue to be discussed by the ATI Committees on all CSU campuses, as well as at the Chancellor's Office.