Section Navigation

AP 3-125g Web It Accessibility Plan

Arapahoe Community College
Series 3 - College Personnel
AP 3-125g Web-IT Accessibility Plan

Originated: December 31, 2014

Revised: July 2016; September 2018; August 2020

Effective: December 31, 2014; July 2016 September 2018; August 2020

References: BP 3-125; BP 3-120; BP 19-60; SP 3-125g

Approved:

Diana M. Doyle, Ph.D.
President, Arapahoe Community College

PURPOSE

This Procedure contains pertinent information affecting employees, current through the date of its issuance. To the extent that any provision of this Procedure is inconsistent with State or Federal law, State Board for Community Colleges and Occupational Education Policies (BPs) or Colorado Community College System President’s Procedures (SPs), the law, BPs and SPs shall supersede and control. BPs and SPs are subject to change throughout the year and are effective immediately upon adoption by the Board or System President, respectively. Employees are expected to be familiar with and adhere to the BPs, SPs as well as College directives, including but not limited to this Procedure.

Nothing in this Procedure is intended to create (nor shall be construed as creating) an express or implied contract or to guarantee employment for any term. The College reserves the right to modify, change, delete or add to this Procedure as it deems appropriate.

SCOPE

This procedure applied to employees.

PROCEDURE

To ensure official college web-based information conforms to the most current Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) – Level AA.

College Implementation and Support

All faculty and staff play an important role in ACC’s success to ensure the goals of Web Accessibility are met in a timely manner. Each department contributes by implementing web accessibility best practices or supporting other departments as they train, assess, remediate, and create accessible web content. ACC will make their top priority systems visible to the most users with highest regard given to public-facing systems and student-facing systems. The lowest priority will be those systems which are being phased out in the near future. 

The following have been identified as areas of concentration related to the implementation of WCAG standards:

  1. ACC Website
  2. Training
  3. Course Materials and Documents
  4. Technology and Software

The ACC Accessibility Task Force will conduct an annual review at the end of each fiscal year on the status of conformity completion. This review will be submitted to ACC and CCCS governing bodies.

Vendor Agreements

ACC shall purchase from vendors who conform to WCAG as appropriate for the services they provide unless an extraordinary circumstance exists. Any purchase from a vendor not in conformance with WCAG must submit a request for an exception to the CCCS System President, or his or her designee. Any current agreements already in existence with a college or CCCS are exempt from this procedure. 

Revising this Procedure

ACC reserves the right to change any provision or requirement of this procedures at any time and the change shall become effective immediately.

APPENDICES

Appendix A - Areas of Concentration: Items to be Considered

  1. ACC Website (www.arapahoe.edu)
    1. Address and fix structural accessibility conformity issues within the website
    2. Update website page content (this includes written copy, video, audio, images, etc.) for accessibility
    3. Caption/transcribe multimedia content
    4. Ensure documents on the website meet accessibility standards
    5. An audit will be conducted of www.arapahoe.edu to determine conformity issues
    6. Website updates will be monitored for accessibility standards (this includes all documents that are available within the site)
    7. Research of accessibility standards and best practices for utilization
    8. Review and remediation of all web-based documents for accessibility conformity
  2. Partner and Associated Websites
    1. Partner and associated websites will be reviewed for WCAG standards
    2. Accessibility plans will be request of all current partners/associated website vendors
    3. Future partners will be contractually required to provide conformity within their products
  3. Training
    1. Conduct personalized trainings on making instructional material accessible
    2. Conduct regular workshops/webinars on making instructional materials accessible
    3. Design and create or purchase self-paced course for Universal Design for Learning (UDL) training course in D2L
    4. Develop and implement website accessibility best practices and provide training for website content liaisons
    5. Design and create or purchase self-paced course for making multimedia accessible in D2L for students
    6. Design and create or purchase self-paced course for making course documents accessible in D2L for students
    7. Provide training for new employees
  4. Course Materials and Documents
    1. Review and assess online course document accessibility
    2. Remediation of course documents on a case by case basis
    3. Ensure new online course materials meet accessibility standards
    4. Caption/Transcribe multimedia (video and audio files)
    5. Assist with remediation recommendations, training and testing on a case by case basis
    6. Update all employment documents and forms
  5. Technology and Software
    1. Analyze faculty software requests for accessibility and notify faculty if there are potential concerns with an application they may want to use in the classroom. If faculty believe it is the only application that can meet the need yet it is not accessible, some consideration would need to be paid to making the same content available through other mediums
    2. Analyze applications requested by faculty and staff for accessibility components. If components are missing and not available for that product, the requesting party will be notified and an alternate route may be suggested or advised
    3. Work with 3rd party companies like Lynda.com to request development of accessibility videos for commonly used programs
    4. Provide support to the extent that software installation assistance and configuration is needed on College-owned equipment