In April 2024, the Department of Justice mandated that all state and local programs, including Penn State, must make their web and mobile applications accessible to individuals with disabilities by April 2026. This means our online course content must be fully accessible by then.
To help faculty and staff build the skills to make their course content fully accessible, we built an Accessible Skills Email Challenge to help you learn the basics. Join the Accessible Skills Challenge to master the essential skills needed to make your course content accessible and stay ahead of the curve!!
How Does it Work?
Email Prompt
For 8 weeks, participants receive an email asking them to perform a single accessibility task in their course. These tasks focus on core elements of content that can then be applied across their entire course.
The email:
- Explains why the task is important.
- Outlines what exactly you should do. The task should take approximately 15 minutes to complete each week.
- Will include at least one “how-to” resource for completing the task
Resources
You can find other resources on the Accessible Skills Challenge FAQ page: Level 1 or Level 2 (coming soon!)
Teams
Once you have completed the task, you should visit your cohort’s Teams space (This link will take you to your list of Teams. You will need to find the Accessible Skills Challenge team from the list.)
In the Teams space, you will find questions that help you reflect on the task that you just completed. Typically, these questions ask what was easy/difficult about the task, what you found surprising, how it applies to your specific course, and what recommendations you would tell other faculty doing the task.
Instructional designers will be in the Teams space, as well. So, if you have questions about the task, you can ask it there. Depending on how deeply you decide to dive into your course materials, you may want to reach out to your local instructional designer.
Completion
You can pick and choose which tasks you want to complete. A badge will be provided for those who complete 6 of the 8 weekly tasks. Feel free to pick and choose which prompts you’d like to try!
You will receive 1 email per week during the challenge, but you will have until the end of the semester to complete the tasks. We know how hard it is to engage in faculty development when you are teaching!
Fall 2025 Dates
There are two levels of the challenge. The Fall 2025 challenges will run from September 15 until November 9, 2025. You can participate in both challenges concurrently, if you’d like.
For a list of topics covered in each level of the challenge, check out the list below:
Level 1
- Canvas navigation
- Anthology Ally Course Accessibility Report
- Image alt text and long description
- Heading structure
- Links
- Lists
- Table Structure
- Audio description: Practice describing visual elements in your lecture
Register for the Fall 2025 Level 1 Accessible Skills Challenge!
Level 2
- Color Contrast
- PowerPoint Outline View
- PowerPoint Slide Titles
- PowerPoint Reading Order
- PDF OCR
- PDF auto tagging
- Video captioning
- Third-party tools
Register for the Fall 2025 Level 2 Accessible Skills Challenge!
Join in the experience and prepare your courses for next semester!!