Accessibility in Online Courses: A Review of National and Statewide Evaluation Instruments

Accessible online courses enable learning and promote equity. This paper reviews seven national and statewide online course design instruments and identifies 14 recurrent accessibility themes that occur in two to six instruments. This paper then discusses how these recurrent themes address the accessibility guidelines from the Office of Civil Rights, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), and the framework of Universal Design for Learning. This paper outlines research-supported design practices that promote accessibility and, in turn, increase learning, engagement, and equity