Accessible Course Materials Guide
A practical reference for faculty and course authors preparing accessible documents, recorded media, and assessments. Use its examples to improve structure and instructions, then route specialist questions to the appropriate local role.
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Built for: Higher education · Community colleges · K–12 education · Professional and continuing education
Overview
The Accessible Course Materials Guide is an intranet reference for faculty and course authors preparing teaching materials. Its examples focus on three practical areas: using built-in heading styles and a logical hierarchy in documents; reviewing recorded media for caption accuracy, speaker changes, meaningful non-speech audio, and essential visual information; and making assessment tasks, steps, and response requirements explicit. A worked example shows how an author revises a fictional two-page field-observation handout by replacing visual-only headings, surfacing the deadline, and explaining a diagram.
Use this page while creating or revising course resources, or as a shared starting point when an author is unsure what to check before materials are shared. It also explains when to route a question: authors identify the access problem, campus accessibility or academic support roles handle appropriate access questions, and responsible domain owners guide work involving regulated, safety-critical, or sensitive content. The example identifies Campus and Academic Operations as the owner, while instructing adopters to confirm their own owner and correction route.
This is not a compliance certification, local policy, automated accessibility checker, or substitute for specialist review and individual learner support. It does not decide eligibility or guarantee that a format meets every learner’s needs. Adapt the examples to local tools and approved processes, and do not treat illustrative photographs as evidence that a document or recording has been checked.
Standards & compliance context
- Treat the guide as practical authoring advice, not as a legal determination, compliance certification, or replacement for applicable institutional requirements.
- Have qualified local roles identify which accessibility laws, standards, and institutional policies apply to each course and material type.
- Use the appropriate campus accessibility or academic support route for access questions and learner-specific requests; this page does not determine eligibility or resolve individual needs.
- For regulated, safety-critical, or sensitive information, consult the responsible domain owner and follow approved local materials and procedures.
- Keep the intranet page itself accessible by using meaningful headings, descriptive link text where links are added, and suitable alternative text for informative images.
General regulatory context for orientation only — verify current requirements with counsel or the relevant agency before relying on this template for compliance.
What's inside this template
Prepare course materials students can use
This introduction sets the guide’s scope and explains that the fictional examples support practical authoring rather than establish local policy.
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Northstar Learning Network is a fictional, multi-campus example. This guide helps faculty and course authors make course resources easier to navigate, perceive, and use. It offers practical examples, not local policy.
Give documents a clear structure
The contrasting handout examples show why semantic heading styles matter for both scanning and navigation.
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Use the document's built-in structure so readers can scan and navigate it. Use a real heading hierarchy In a sample course handout, the author applies the document editor's Heading 1 style to “Week 3: Field observations,” then Heading 2 styles to “Before class” and “Submit your notes.” The outline and reading order are clearer, and headings can be found with navigation tools. Keep headings in a logical order. Use built-in heading styles rather than styling text by appearance alone. Avoid bold text as a heading substitute In the contrasting draft, “Week 3: Field observations” is merely bold and enlarged. It may look like a heading, but the document structure does not identify it as one, making navigation and scanning harder. Apply a heading style to each section title. Check the document outline after editing.
Use examples to guide a closer check
These illustrative images provide context, while their captions clarify that accessibility features must be checked in the actual materials.
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Printed documents on a desk. The photograph is illustrative; it does not show heading structure, contrast, or reading order. Evaluate those features in the actual document. A training session in progress. The photograph does not show captions or a transcript; review the actual media and its accompanying text.
Prepare media and assessment materials
These checks help authors make recorded information and assessment instructions available in clear, usable forms.
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Make essential information available in useful ways and keep instructions explicit. For recorded media Review captions for accuracy, speaker changes, and meaningful non-speech audio. When using a transcript, check that it conveys the information learners need rather than relying on visuals or sound alone. Check a sample from the beginning, middle, and end of the recording. Describe important visual information in narration or another appropriate text format. For assessments State the task, required parts, and how students should present a response. Keep instructions distinct from background context so the action is easy to locate. Use a numbered sequence when learners must complete steps in order. Do not rely on color alone to distinguish answer choices or indicate meaning.
Worked example: revise a handout before sharing
The before-and-after example demonstrates specific edits and identifies when specialist or domain-owner review is still needed.
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A Northstar course author reviews a two-page “Field observation notes” handout. The original uses bold, enlarged text for section titles, places the submission deadline in a paragraph of background text, and refers to a diagram only as “the image below.” The author applies heading styles to the section titles, moves the deadline into a clearly labeled “Submission” section, and explains what the diagram communicates. The author also checks reading order and makes sure the diagram's essential information is described in nearby text. Review decision: These edits improve structure and instructions, but do not settle local requirements or an individual learner's needs. If the diagram contains specialist, regulated, safety-critical, or sensitive information, the author asks the appropriate trained campus or domain role to review the approved source material before sharing it.
Coordinate specialist review when needed
This handoff sequence distinguishes an author’s initial question from the local support and domain roles that may need to respond.
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Use the relevant local support route; responsibilities and processes vary by organization and campus. Identify the review question Note which essential information, format, or instruction is difficult to make accessible with the tools available. Faculty or course author Route to the appropriate role Ask the campus accessibility or academic support role about access questions or coordinated responses to learner-specific requests. Campus accessibility or academic support role Use approved domain material For regulated, safety-critical, or sensitive content, consult the responsible domain owner and follow that owner's approved local materials and procedures. Responsible domain owner
Scope, ownership, and review
This section clarifies the guide’s audience, example owner, correction route, and triggers for updating the page.
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This guide is for faculty and course authors preparing teaching materials. It does not establish policy, determine eligibility, or replace specialist or subject-matter review. Example owner: Campus and Academic Operations. For a correction or review request, use your organization's established support route to reach the designated content owner. Review the page when local guidance, tools, or the responsible support route changes.
How to use this template
- Confirm the local content owner, correction route, and campus accessibility or academic support contact before publishing the guide.
- Replace the fictional Northstar framing only with verified local guidance and approved support routes, keeping the page’s limits explicit.
- Ask the faculty member or course author to inspect the actual source document, recording, or assessment and identify the specific access question.
- Check document heading styles and outline, review media captions and essential visual information, or clarify assessment steps and response requirements as relevant.
- Route unresolved access questions to the designated campus support role and regulated, safety-critical, or sensitive material to its responsible domain owner.
- Update the guide when local guidance, authoring tools, or support routes change, and correct or remove examples that no longer match approved practice.
Best practices
- Apply built-in heading styles to section titles and inspect the document outline instead of relying on bold or enlarged text.
- Check a recording at the beginning, middle, and end, and review captions for accuracy, speaker changes, and meaningful non-speech audio.
- Describe essential visual information in narration or an appropriate text format rather than assuming a nearby image is self-explanatory.
- State assessment tasks, required parts, and response format distinctly from background context.
- Use numbered steps when learners must complete assessment instructions in order, and do not use color alone to convey meaning.
- Evaluate the actual document or media; illustrative photographs do not demonstrate heading structure, reading order, captions, or contrast.
- Route questions that exceed the author’s expertise through the confirmed local support path, and use the responsible domain owner for sensitive or safety-critical material.
What this template typically catches
Issues teams running this template most often surface in practice:
Common use cases
Frequently asked questions
Who is this guide for, and what materials does it cover?
It is for faculty and course authors preparing teaching materials. Its examples cover document heading structure, recorded media, and assessment instructions. It is a practical reference, not a policy or a determination of whether a specific learner’s needs have been met.
How often should we review the guide?
Review it when local guidance, the tools authors use, or the designated support route changes. The template does not prescribe a fixed review interval. The example assigns ownership to Campus and Academic Operations, but your organization should identify its actual content owner and correction route.
Who runs a review of course materials?
Faculty or course authors can check document structure, media, and instructions as part of preparing materials. When questions need specialist input, the guide routes them to the campus accessibility or academic support role. Regulated, safety-critical, or sensitive content also calls for the responsible domain owner and approved local materials.
Does following this guide establish compliance with accessibility laws or standards?
No. The page offers practical examples and explicitly does not establish local policy or replace specialist review. Organizations should have the appropriate qualified roles determine which legal, regulatory, and institutional requirements apply. Do not describe a material as compliant based on this guide alone.
What should an author do if a diagram or other content is difficult to describe?
Identify the essential information that may be difficult to access and ask the relevant local support role for guidance. If the material is regulated, safety-critical, or sensitive, consult its responsible domain owner and use approved source material and procedures. Do not assume that a nearby caption or a general description resolves every specialist or learner-specific need.
Can we customize the examples for our campus?
Yes. Replace the fictional Northstar examples with confirmed local support roles, correction routes, and approved guidance. Keep the distinction between general authoring suggestions and binding local requirements clear. Avoid adding eligibility rules, approvals, or policy claims unless your organization has confirmed them.
Does this template connect to document, captioning, or learning-management tools?
The page contains static examples and guidance, not connected tools or automated checks. It does not scan files, verify captions, or create review requests. Authors need access to their actual source materials and tools, and should test the finished content in its intended format.
How should we roll this guide out to course authors?
Publish it in a recognizable faculty or course-author resource area and confirm the local owner and support route before sharing it. Introduce it alongside existing approved guidance, making clear that it is a practical reference rather than policy. Ask authors to use the worked example and route unresolved specialist questions through established local processes.
Why use this guide instead of ad-hoc reminders?
The page brings document structure, media checks, assessment instructions, a worked handout example, and specialist-review routing into one reference. That makes the practical checks and limits easier to find than scattered reminders. It still needs a confirmed local owner and should point readers to authoritative local guidance where applicable.
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Rolled out to every employee at AutoZone (125,000), PetSmart (50,000+), A.S. Watson and Raley's (20,000) — and at larger retailers we are not permitted to name.
