Meeting Accessibility Requirements
Creating accessible digital content allows all university community members to access our educational materials and participate in campus life. The Department of Justice mandates that all university content must be made accessible by April of 2026. Learn more about the rule. Given this, any Spring 2026 course that will still be meeting in April 2026 must be compliant.
All digital content produced by the college, including instructional materials in courses, department web pages, faculty web pages, social media content, podcasts, videos, and more must be made accessible.
What is digital accessibility?
Digital content includes everything we create that is distributed digitally, including PowerPoint slides and PDFs in courses, websites that represent our departments, social media content, podcasts, and more.
Accessible content conveys its message to all users, including those with disabilities. Alt tags on images, properly structured PDF documents and data tables, appropriate color contrast, and video captions are a few features that make content accessible to all users.
Resources
The Office of Digital Accessibility maintains this accessibility toolbox with up-to-date resources and guides. The following tools may be especially helpful.
- Accessibility Cheat Sheats - Check out these one-page quick start reference guides for the most common best practices for Word, PowerPoint and Modern Campus CMS.
- Blackboard Ally Quick Start Guide - Learn how to check the accessibility of your course content.
- CTE’s Accessible Syllabus and Schedule Templates - The Center for Teaching Excellence has created accessible syllabus and weekly schedules for instructors. Download what you need – then edit the boilerplate language while keeping the file formatting.
- Gamecock Accessibility Checker - This Google Chrome extension allows you to diagnose accessibility challenges on sc.edu web pages.
- Making accessible documents - Discover accessibility tools built into the software you use to create documents, from your CV to your new presentation slides. There are even ways to make scanned documents more accessible.
USC’s Digital Accessibility Support Offices
The Office of Digital Accessibility and the Student Disability Resource Center serve as consultants to faculty, staff, campus partners and students on issues related to accessibility and accommodations. They provide guidance and resources to help with digital accessibility.