February 20th Faculty Forum on Digital Accessibility; Preparing for Spring Quarter
Dear Faculty Colleagues,
On Friday, February 20th at noon (via Zoom), Academic Technology Services will be hosting a Faculty Forum on Digital Accessibility. We hope you will join us.
Our featured participant will be Brad Starkey-Owens, UC Davis Digital Accessibility Program Manager, who will join us for a conversation about the campus vision for digital accessibility, upcoming timelines, and preparations that faculty should be considering now, especially in
Hosted by Academic Technology Services, and with input from members of the campus IT Accessibility Policy Program (ITAPP) Committee, our forum will be collegial and supportive. We hope you will bring your questions, your experiences, and your stories from the classroom, as well as your preparations to make your Canvas class materials more accessible and inclusive for all relevant members of our campus community. Our forum will present us an opportunity to learn from one another while also better understanding expectations and resources.
Discussion topics will likely include the following:
- Campus accessibility resources
- An update on the pilot for YuJa Panorama, a tool that intended to help faculty improve the accessibility of our Canvas course documents and resources.
- Timelines and important deadlines
- A brief review of key concepts raised in recent Quick Access articles on The Wheel
All these discussions take place in the context of announced Department of Justice rules on accessibility of web content that we make available on our web pages and in our UC Davis Canvas course pages. Our Title II Accessibility Updates page puts it this way: “This new rule establishes a deadline of April 2026 for public agencies to be compliant. It provides deadlines and specific guidance for Accessibility guidelines that were already in place, specifically regarding web content and mobile apps. It codifies Web Content Accessibility Guidelines AA 2.1 (WCAG 2.1) as the official standard to which public entities must comply and provides some guidelines around when and where exceptions may be appropriate.”
As we have learned during this school year, digital accessibility represents both a pedagogical commitment and an institutional priority. This February forum will help all attendees move forward with greater confidence and clarity.
We hope you can also be in the Zoom room to overhear, or contribute to, the conversation! Please register now and add this event to your calendar.
See you on February 20th at noon. This event will be recorded with the video to be subsequently posted on The Wheel, the instructional technology blog of UC Davis.
Dr. Andy Jones
Academic Director, Academic Technology Services
University of California, Davis
Faculty Forum: Digital Accessibility; Preparing for Spring Quarter
Friday, February 20th at Noon via Zoom
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