Over the past five years, colleges and universities across the country have experienced significant increases in students seeking accommodations for disability. To address this increase, the University of Minnesota governance recommended, and the University agreed, to implement a required, online, professional development course for all faculty and instructors on disability accommodations and inclusive course design on all five campuses.
The course, Fundamentals of Disability Accommodations and Inclusive Course Design, was created to provide faculty and instructors with foundational knowledge on reducing barriers in learning environments. This course introduces strategies to streamline the reasonable accommodation and inclusive design processes and support access and learning for students. The one-hour, interactive, highly accessible, course is required for instructors and faculty and is open to all University of Minnesota staff and students. Colleagues from other colleges and universities may access the course as well.
Webinar presenters will discuss the University of Minnesota’s shared governance process to gain University and Faculty Senate endorsement for the course, the importance of widespread consultation in course development and the critical nature of working with campus partners in launching the course. Presenters will share how participants may view the course as well as share links to course resources. Presenters will share how accessibility was built into the course, as well as next steps for supporting instructors.