The digital accessibility requirements in Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (2024) are broad and impact digital files shared across campus. Given breadth of these requirements, accessibility will become part of our daily work. As we advance in our accessibility compliance efforts, it will be essential for those of us creating shared documents, recording videos, and managing websites to understand the guidelines for producing accessible content.
At UIS we are fortunate to have many resources for learning to include accessibility considerations in our work. In addition to workshops through campus units and written guides to assist you in making your documents accessible, UIS faculty and staff may take instructor-led accessibility classes from ION Professional eLearning. These stackable courses earn participants professional certificates and badges.
Digital Accessibility Certificate & Courses
The courses in the digital accessibility certificate were developed with higher education professionals in mind. The courses explain why and how to make common document types accessible with software that is available at UIS. Technical IT jargon is not used. Learn more about this accessibility certificate. The skills taught satisfy current WCAG standards upon which U.S. accessibility laws are based.
Two courses in the certificate that will be especially useful for UIS faculty and staff are Creating Accessible Documents (Word, PowerPoint, and Excel) and Creating Accessible Videos. Each course is short -- only 4 weeks! -- and the instructor will guide you and give you feedback as you work to improve the accessibility of your own documents and videos. Register now for upcoming terms!
4-Week ION Courses Courses
Creating Accessible Documents
- October 14, 2024
- February 10, 2025
Creating Accessible Videos
- November 11, 2024
View the ION course schedule. To register, follow the steps to Create Your ION Self-Service Account.
Be sure to enter the UIS membership code to take the courses at no cost.
What is ION?
ION Professional eLearning Programs offer asynchronous online courses taught by highly qualified instructors on topics relevant to higher education professionals. The award-winning unit was founded at the University of Illinois System Offices in 1997 and moved to UIS in 2017. The program offers dozens of individual courses that may be stacked into certificates and badges.