Classroom and Online Instruction

UB is required to provide students with disabilities with access to our courses and programs. Designing courses with accessibility in mind is critical to ensuring that everyone can participate and learn.

Classroom Instruction

Instructors may incorporate accessible PowerPoint presentations, slides, handouts and other visual information as part of courses. Increasingly, instructors are incorporating clickers, videos and other technology to enhance instruction. It is essential that every student in the class can access this content. Ways to achieve this include:

  • Individual accommodation. Under UB’s Reasonable Accommodation Policy, UB must provide necessary academic adjustments and auxiliary aids to allow students with disabilities to access course materials. These may include, but are not limited to, interpreters, technological aids, providing course materials such as PowerPoint slides in advance, and notes.
  • Universal design. Creating access to materials for individuals with a wide range of abilities and learning styles can often reduce or eliminate the need for individual accommodations.
Learn more about universal design in instruction.
Need help designing your courses?
  • UB's Office of Curriculum, Assessment and Teaching Transformation offers resources about developing your courses, including ensuring your course content is accessible.
  • Refer to the Documents section of our website for information on creating accessible Word Documents, PDF and PowerPoint Presentations.

Hybrid Courses

Hybrid or blended courses incorporate both traditional classroom instruction and elements of online learning. Online activities are intended to supplement and enhance classroom instruction and interaction. Examples of hybrid courses can include:

  • The instructor lectures and facilitates discussion in the classroom. Students complete online assignments based on these classroom activities and post them to asynchronous discussion forums for online discussion.
  • Students view an instructor's lectures online with voiceover PowerPoint or streaming media and then use these materials in class to engage in face-to-face small group activities and discussions.
  • The instructor assigns small group projects online. Students post their projects to online discussion forums for debate and revision. They will later present them in class for final discussion and assessment.

Instructors must ensure that any students in the class who have impairments can access the course materials. This requires special attention to any online content and exchanges through discussion boards.

Online Courses

The content of online courses must be accessible to individuals with disabilities in order to ensure that they have equal access and opportunity. This requires careful planning when creating course content and structure.

Consider the following when developing your online course:

  • Is the content management system used to create the course accessible with the use of a screen reader?
  • Can navigation be achieved through a keyboard, or is it dependent upon the use of a mouse?
  • If the course includes PDFs, are these stored as images, or can they be read as text with a screen reader?
  • Do tests and quizzes allow for extended time when these are required as accommodations?
  • Are videos captioned? Is the visual information presented in videos described well enough to convey its content to individuals with visual impairments?
  • Does the course use online discussion boards and/or chat features? If so, are these accessible with a screen reader?

Follow these tips to help improve the experience for all learners:

  • Present content in multiple ways (a combination of text, images and audio/visual content).
  • Provide alternative text for images.
  • Caption videos. This is helpful not only for individuals with hearing impairments but also for anyone who cannot use speakers due to technological or situational reasons.
  • Minimize the use of PDFs, or offer documents in multiple formats (ex. Word and PDF).
  • Understand that users will have a range of technological skills.
  • Keep navigation and format simple, to the extent possible. Although more complex designs and layouts may seem more visually appealing, they are more likely to create confusion and be inaccessible. 
  • Use bold fonts and color combinations that are high contrast.
  • Structure content with logical headings.
  • Ensure that individuals with disabilities have options for communicating and collaborating with others.