University Presidents, Provosts, Vice Presidents, CIOs, Deans, Dept. Chairs, Unit Directors, etc. play a critical role in prioritizing and supporting digital accessibility efforts across campus. Those in leadership roles must ensure their staff prioritize the accessibility of Mason's digital resources as this is necessary for all members of the Mason community, including those with disabilities, to actively engage with the university's programs, services, and activities.
Responsibilities include:
Teaching faculty must ensure all students, including those with disabilities, are provided with access to the instructional resources in their courses. This includes, but is not limited to, your course videos, syllabi, publisher resources (e.g., Wiley, McGraw Hill, Hawkes, etc.), textbooks, discussion board, course site, etc.
Responsibilities include:
- Ensuring Word, PPT, and PDF course documents are available in accessible formats.
- Whenever possible, using course textbooks that are available in both digital and printed formats.
- When applicable, ensuring publisher resources comply with WCAG 2.1 AA opens a new window standards.
- Hosting course videos in Kaltura (i.e., Bb/Canvas); ensuring they are accurately captioned and transcribed; and, when necessary, audio described to support students who are blind/low vision.
- Hosting synchronous, online courses using accessible communications platforms like Zoom or MS Teams.
To learn more about the resources and supports in place to help you create and provide accessible instructional materials, visit Resources.
Web developers and web content authors develop and maintain the templates that many of our college, school, and unit/departmental websites are built on. As such, they lay the groundwork for units/departments to create accessible public-facing web resources that can be accessed by all members of the George Mason community, including those with disabilities.
Responsibilities include:
- Ensuring WordPress and Drupal web templates adhere to WCAG 2.1 AA opens a new window standards.
- Adding any college, school, unit, or departmental websites that you oversee to DubBot for ongoing automated accessibility testing and monitoring.
- Working toward achieving at least 95% accessibility compliance score for any websites that you oversee.
- Participating in regular web accessibility trainings/meetings.
- Web Content Authors: Requesting manual web accessibility testing opens a new window when major changes or updates are made to existing unit/departmental websites.
- Web Developers (OUB, ITS, Colleges/Schools): Requesting manual web accessibility testing opens a new window when major changes or updates are made to existing Drupal and/or WordPress templates.
Professional faculty and staff oversee critical university operations like the registrar, IT support services, parking and transportation, student health, counseling and psychological services, recreation, etc. To ensure equivalent access to these support services, it is important these units know how to comply with WCAG 2.1 AA opens a new window standards.
Responsibilities include:
- Ensuring online resources (e.g., forms, applications) are accessible to individuals with disabilities accessing critical unit/departmental supports and services (e.g., CAPS, Student Health, Registrar, Parking Services, etc.).
- Ensuring electronic documents (i.e., Word, PPT, PDF) adhere to WCAG 2.1 AA standards.
- Ensuring digital communications (i.e., newsletters, listservs, etc.) adhere to WCAG 2.1 AA standards.
- Participating in annual trainings (e.g., DAIC, document/web accessibility, etc.) opens a new window to stay abreast about latest digital accessibility-related changes/updates.
- Ensuring purchasing and procurement guidelines opens a new window.
Librarians oversee the largest and most comprehensive collection of digital resources on Mason campuses. They play a critical role in ensuring these resources (i.e., digital collections, databases, audio/video content, e-reserves, etc.) are accessible to all members of the campus community, including faculty, staff, students, and visitors with disabilities.
Responsibilities include:
- Ensuring the most heavily accessed library resources (i.e., library databases, LibGuides, etc.) adhere to WCAG 2.1 AA opens a new window standards.
- Ensuring online chat and scheduling (e.g., study spaces) solutions are accessible to faculty, staff, students, and visitors with disabilities.
- Working with ASRB to ensure the digital solutions going through the purchasing and procurement process adhere to WCAG 2.1 AA standards.
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The Purchasing Office oversees the procurement of goods and services by collaborating with units and communicating with vendors to ensure all Commonwealth and Mason policies are followed. From a digital accessibility standpoint, procurement officers ensure that technology purchases include guidance for vendors to provide tools that meet WCAG 2.1 AA opens a new window standards.
Responsibilities include:
- Ensuring RFPs, contracts, and purchasing agreements include accessibility language opens a new window referencing WCAG 2.1 AA standards and any relevant state and local digital accessibility-related laws.
- Collaborating with faculty, staff, and/or units to ensure technology vendors provide voluntary product accessibility templates (VPATs) and/or accessibility conformance reports (ACRs) as a part of any RFPs, contracts, and purchasing agreements.
- Collaborating with the ASRB to ensure all technology purchases are reviewed for, among other things, accessibility.
Students play a crucial part in raising awareness when they encounter digital accessibility-related issues when accessing websites, documents, videos, platforms (e.g., Canvas), supplemental apps used in class, etc.
Responsibilities include:
