Accessibility
TxVSN Course Review Accessibility Statement:
The iNACOL National Standards for Quality Online Courses, Technology (Section D) Standard #10 states, "The course must meet universal design principles, Section 508 standards and W3C guidelines to ensure access for all students." TxVSN Course Review will apply these guidelines in determining whether a course provider has met its obligation under iNACOL's National Standards.
TxVSN, with input from multiple stakeholders, has defined a set of guidelines to satisfy the above-stated National Standard criteria (see link to "The Guidelines" below). Courses that follow these guidelines will be regarded as having met accessibility obligations. Beginning January 30, 2012, all courses, including courses submitted by new TxVSN provider applicants and existing TxVSN course providers, must meet all TxVSN Accessibility Guidelines prior to approval for the TxVSN course catalog.
TxVSN Accessibility Guidelines:
The Guidelines
TxVSN Accessibility Checklists:
The following checklists may be used as a tool to check a course for accessibility. The intent of these documents is to allow TxVSN course providers the opportunity for a peer team to review a course for accessibility. The checklists cover most of the types of documents that may be contained in an online course. They do not address content outside the Learning Management System such as websites and resources that are not created by the course provider. It becomes the responsibility of the course provider to ensure websites and resources not created by the course provider follow the accessibility guidelines or provide an alternate means of instruction. The checklists below will not be used by Course Review to conduct random audits. However, elements from the checklists will be incorporated into Course Review's Accessibility Rubric, which will be used to conduct accessibility audits.