Classrooms are changing – how do we adapt? In this session, Dawn Hunziker and Barbie Lopez from the University of Arizona will share best practices for creating an inclusive classroom. They’ll share tips they’ve learned from building accessible courses for the new era.

1. Accessibility for
Remote and
Hybrid Classes
Dawn Hunziker,
IT Accessibility Consultant, Sr.
Barbie Lopez,
Digital Accessibility Consultant
Disability Resource Center

2. The University of Arizona
• Pre-Covid
• 45,000+ students
• 3,000 students with disabilities
• DRC Staff – 40 staff members
• IT Accessibility Team – 2 staff members
• Our role on campus
• Our connections/partners

3. The beginning....
• Mid-March: Preliminary planning began for possible closure
• Disability Resource Center (DRC) included as a core member of the planning
and support team
• We moved to remote learning within days:
• Spring Break 2020 extended 2 days to provide instructors with time and
resources for moving to remote learning
• Webinars and live trainings/Q&A sessions held frequently (captioned and
recorded)
• Remote vs online terminology discussion

4. Moving to remote learning - our role
• DRC staff continued close collaboration with faculty development
office and academic technologies team
• DRC staff part of on-call support team, Slack channel, etc.
• Provided "just-in-time," basic, resources to instructors for accessibility of
course content and technologies
• Remained remote throughout summer with continual updates to
reflect changes
• Began planning for the fall

5. Fall Re-Entry Team Collaborations
• Seven Groups focused on campus re-entry as directed by the
President
• Group 3 "Teaching and Learning Re-entry Group"
• Faculty
• Faculty Development Leaders
• Office of the Registrar
• Vice Provost for Academic Affairs
• Assistant Vice President, Research Intelligence
• Principal Advising Officer
• Classroom Technology Support Manager
• 2 staff from Disability Resource Center (IT and Physical Accessibility focus)

6. Fall 2020 Class Modalities

7. Creating accessible class experiences
• DRC created specific resources for instructors in response to
remote/online campus environment:
• Inclusive Teaching and Accessibility Strategies
• Structured around the classroom components – keeping information simple, easy to
follow. Nudged visitors to more detailed information.
• Accessible Zoom meetings
• Provides accessibility and usability best practices in setting up and during meetings
• Accessible Presentation Techniques
• Modified to include the online presentation environment
• DRC specific COVID-19 page

8. Outcomes and trending
accessibility topics

9. Re-Entry Team results
• DRC involvement ensured accessibility considered in all aspects,
including classroom technology, layouts and outdoor tents
• Set new classroom capacities to ensure social distancing
• Planned physical access for hybrid classes
• Faculty Development center's Teaching Models site
• outlines four modalities and integrates accessibility information
• FAQ’s and webinars to support fall semester changes
• Suggested syllabus language (not policy)

10. Proactive actions from DRC involvement
• Monitored key sites to assure DRC resources were included
• "Inclusive Teaching Discussions"
• Microsoft Team channel used to informally connect instructors and academic
support staff in one space
• Actively participated in campus-wide meetings for IT Continuity
• Learned about new technologies being piloted/implemented for campus
• Online Proctoring
• DRC provided input on online proctoring changes and processes
• Encouraged alternative assessments strategies instead of high stakes exams

11. Captioning requests
• Many campus accessibility partners contacted us for captioning their
online courses and meetings (Yay!)
• IT Accessibility Captioning pages modified to reflect new trends
• Real-time/live captions vs machine generated, automatic captions
• Leveraging after-the-fact automatic transcripts created via recording to the
cloud with Zoom
• Proactively provided Real-Time Captioning
and ASL Interpreting services for President's campus-wide briefings

12. Accessible marketing to campus
• Collaborate closely with UArizona Marketing and Brand
Management COVID-19 marketing:
• Websites, messages, and directives
• Wildcat WellCheck and Registration for Anti-body testing
• COVIDWatch app
• University face coverings directive linked to face coverings and
accessibility guidelines information

13. Lessons learned
• Get out there and build those bridges
• Contacts reached out to us based on previous trainings/interactions/messages
• Reach out to volunteer for workgroups
• Create info and get it linked
• Easy to update/modify as things change (Zoom)
• Don't feel like you need to address everything – start with the basics and grow
• Nudge! Start with bite size pieces and let them learn more if they are
interested/have the capacity to delve in and research more
• Don't wait for decisions – build in flexibility
• Influence others that flexibility is needed because things change daily

14. Final Thoughts
• Fall 2020 has begun,
adjustments continue to be
made
• Planning for spring.... TBD
• Question and Answer