Library: Buffalo State University EIT Accessibility Five-Year Plan: Digital Content Accessibility Standards (DCAS) Goals & Assessment

2.1 Infrastructure (DCAS)

Objective/Milestone	Plan Year	Activity/Steps	Resources/Materials	Status Check	Outcome
Identify roles and responsibilities of key stakeholders involved in creating digital content	1	Identify key stakeholders Identity departmental resource faculty Generate list of assigned roles per stakeholder	See list that follows chart.		List of roles and responsibilities per stakeholder.
Revise/review roles and responsibilities as needed	2-5	Review existing roles/responsibilities Revise as needed	List of roles & responsibilities		Revised listing of roles/responsibilities per stakeholder
Review process for captioning videos	1-5	Review current process for requesting caption Identify funding for captions that is sustainable Review process as needed	Current process History of cost		Approved process Approved funding

2.2 Communication (DCAS)

Objective/Milestone	Plan Year	Activity/Steps	Resources/Materials	Status Check	Outcome
Establish modes of communication designed to raise awareness of EIT accessibility to all University personnel who	1-5	1. President discusses EIT initiative as part of State of the College address and ties it to community engagement	Dates for each event		Evidence that information was shared such as
Objective/Milestone	Plan Year	Activity/Steps	Resources/Materials	Status Check	Outcome
develop, select, and maintain electronic information		Provost introduces EIT initiative & expectations at Welcome Back Event Include EIT initiative as an annual agenda item at School and VP level meetings Include EIT initiative as an agenda item at one department meeting per semester Include EIT initiative in new employee/faculty orientation Maintain continuous communication about EIT initiative through Daily, emails, websites	Prepared message for these events from EIT Coordinators		agenda, handouts, video recording, etc.
Develop resources regarding adoption of accessible textbooks accessibility	1	Establish standards to use when ordering/adopting textbooks Work with bookstore to include textbook accessibility information in textbook ordering emails Create a checklist for faculty to ensure textbook is accessible when talking with venders	https://www.pcc.edu/ins tructional - support/accessibility/pub lishercontent/		Website/handout for faculty
Establish process/procedures of communication about accessibility of digital content to student with disabilities	1	Develop standardized syllabus statement SAS – communication to faculty and students (Accommodations letters)	Student Accessibility Services Academic Affairs/Deans & Associate Deans Chief Diversity Officer		Memo from Academic Affairs for communication of syllabus statement Documentation of communication to faculty and students from SAS

2.3 Training/Resource Allocation (DCAS)

Objective/Milestone	Plan Year	Activity/Steps	Resources/Materials	Status Check	Outcome
Identify training resources specific to digital accessibility	1-5	Identify specific modules from Deque University that address content creation and gather pricing information	Deque University Evaluation tool		List of modules Communication to campus about specific modules
Evaluate accessibility training	2-5	Create an evaluation tool based on campus needs to ensure the best training resources for the campus	Evaluation tool/survey of resources Faculty/staff feedback on Deque Resources		Report from evaluation
Develop repository of digital accessibility resources	1-5	Identify person/position responsible for overseeing repository Choose platform and structure for repository (website or TD)	Staffing Platform		Name of person/position responsible for accessibility training & resources Repository and resources
Identify funding needed to support accessible content within the departments	1-5	Identity departmental resource faculty Possibly hire student workers to fix or work with faculty on accessibility content Identify necessary content specific software for creating accessible content Identify necessary training resources			List of faculty from each department

2.4 Monitor Compliance (DCAS)

Objective/Milestone	Plan Year	Activity/Steps		Resources/Materials	Status Check	Outcome
Develop a plan to monitor compliance	1 - 5	1. 2. 3.	Procure accessibility testing tool within LMS Renew license each year Identify how reports can/should be utilized for continuous improvement, training opportunities, etc. for data driven decision making	Funding Ally Reports		Purchase of compliance tool Funding source allocated Report of how reports will be utilized within yearly evaluation of how the data was used and what decisions were made with the data
Revise annual report to include faculty reporting and analysis of ALLY accessibility results	1-2	1. 2.	Discussion with Academic Affairs and Institutional Effectiveness for Annual Report Communicate new portion of annual reporting	Annual Reports Resources for faculty on Ally report		Faculty reports that include Ally score
Develop procedures/process for handling digital accessibility content complaints	1-2	1.	Discussion with Student Accessibility Services for how students should make a complaint and how that complaint will be communicated with appropriate people involved (faculty member, person responsible for training faculty)	Website Student Accessibility Services Dean of Students Associate Deans Chief Diversity Officer		New website Documented process
Objective/Milestone	Plan Year	Activity/Steps		Resources/Materials	Status Check	Outcome
		2. Update https://suny.buffalostate.edu/acce ssibility

2.5 Roles & Responsibilities (DCAS)

Content creator is responsible for making their content accessible.
Content creators are responsible to attend needed training.
Identify departmental faculty resource person who will be responsible to communicate information to department.
Professional development team to design and provide necessary training, support and resources.
EIT officer communicates with UUP and faculty governance explaining new expectations and legal requirements.
Students should report any issues with digital content accessibility to faculty member.
Department faculty responsible for reporting ALLY accessibility results as part of annual report.
Provost approves modified annual report template to request faculty self-assessment of accessibility of digital materials.
Identify a person who coordinates faculty resource people for the purposes of standardizing information, identifying a common focus for each semester (i.e. fall – images, spring – headings, fall – PDF files, etc.), and gathering feedback on progress and on additional faculty needs.

2021 (DCAS) SUNY EIT Report Challenges & Barriers

What are the challenges/barriers to Digital Content: Digital Content Accessibility Standards (DCAS) plan implementation?

Outreach & Education: The campus typically tends to be primarily focused and engaged in building and delivering course content. While pedagogy is extremely important, some may tend to overlook accessibility due to lack of awareness and/or lack of technological skills to deliver accessible digital content. Additionally, accessibility workshops have been poorly attended due to time constraints and challenges created by the pandemic.

Maintaining Consistency in Accessibility Across Multiple Departments: Creating a consistent message of accessibility across multiple departments and including all stakeholders has been difficult.

Time & Resources: The pandemic has created multiple challenges that has made it difficult to identify the status of accessible course material. Additionally, creating a baseline of accessibility for course materials has been difficult during remote phases of work.