In May, Chancellor DiStefano informed you about an inquiry from the U.S. Department of Justice requesting information about CU-Boulder’s compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Then in August, Vice Chancellor Robert E. Boswell and Associate Vice Chancellor Larry Levine provided an update about the steps taken by the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Services and Applications Accessibility Project team to improve the accessibility of CU-Boulder’s digital environment.
Since that time, the project executive team, steering team, working group, and the four project core teams--comprised of CU-Boulder faculty as well as staff from Disability Services, the Office of Information Technology (OIT), Human Resources, Procurement Services, Legal Counsel, University Communications and other units on campus--have been hard at work advancing the goals identified in the project charter.
Outside Expertise
To help us meet our goals, the university has contracted with the Paciello Group (TPG), an accessibility agency with expertise in helping organizations achieve end-to-end accessibility for all digital information.
“After a review of the leaders in this area, and following interviews with three of the consultancies, TPG was selected for its experience, longevity, former and current clients, knowledge of the field and previous successful engagements,” said Larry Levine, Associate Vice Chancellor for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer.
Levine explained that TPG offers the university broad services, from helping us form an overall strategy to services such as assessing and auditing specific IT applications and working with vendors.
TPG spent a week on campus in August conducting interviews and assessments with many of the university’s key stakeholders, including campus leadership, service owners and managers, faculty, student alumni, administration and campus user community representatives. TPG will present their report to the executive team, who will then work to include TPG’s assessments and recommendations into the project plan. This work will help the university understand how digital accessibility of university information and communications technology can be improved to enhance the experience of those with and without disabilities.
Collective Wisdom from Peer Universities
In addition to seeking expertise from industry experts, CU-Boulder has also reached out to leaders in ICT accessibility at peer universities. Last month, CU-Boulder hosted an Information and Communication Technology Accessibility Symposium. Participating universities included the University of Washington; Temple University; University of California, Berkeley; North Carolina State University and University of Montana.
This two day gathering provided a collegial forum for the exchange and discussion of ideas among attendees, all of whom were chosen for their commitment to fostering institution-wide cultures of inclusiveness and digital accessibility at their respective schools.
Addressing Accessibility Issues
Project teams are collectively working together to ensure they are meeting the goals laid out in the project charter. One of the goals was to ensure that accessibility considerations for IT services are documented and available to the campus community. So far, documentation is available on the OIT website for CU-Boulder’s enabled Google Applications, Turnitin, and VoiceThread. Desire2Learn accessibility information will be available at the beginning of December. In addition to documentation, a campus IT Accessibility website is currently in development. When complete, the site will provide updates about the university’s efforts to make its IT services accessible to all who come here, as well as best practices and resources.
The project team is currently auditing digital signage across campus and is reaching out to departments who own digital signs. If your department manages digital signage on campus, or if your department is planning on installing new digital signage, please contact 303-735-4357 (5-HELP from an on-campus phone) so that the project team may contact you.
Clemith Houston, senior project manager for the ICT Services and Applications Accessibility project, says that the project working group and the four core teams have worked together effectively to meet project objectives and milestones.
“With the governance structure and project organization we have in place, we will be able to continue our steady progress and fulfill the specific objectives and deliverables identified in the project charter. This includes the continued investment in broad and effective digital accessibility support services as well as a communications program that demonstrates and further fosters the commitment to accessibility at the CU-Boulder campus.”
Larry Levine further emphasizes that while progress toward these specific milestones is important for the university, the bigger picture is even more important.
“This initiative is dedicated not merely to meeting legal requirements,” says Levine. “Even more importantly, we are working to help change CU-Boulder’s culture of inclusivity and accessibility for all.”