Accessibility is a team effort
Accessibility work is often framed as an individual responsibility, which can make it feel heavier than it needs to be. Actually, some of the most sustainable progress happens when faculty share resources, coordinate efforts, and learn from one another. When accessibility becomes a team effort, it reduces duplication, saves time, and builds consistency for students across courses.
Do one thing:
Choose one way to share the work — by exchanging a resource, coordinating with a colleague, or using existing college supports.
- Reach out to your instructional design or accessibility team early.
- Attend a short workshop or office hour instead of troubleshooting alone.
- Ask which tools are institution-supported (and which aren’t).
- Keep a list of questions rather than trying to solve everything immediately.
- Share strategies with colleagues teaching similar courses.
- Share one accessible resource you’ve already created with a colleague or department repository.
- Coordinate with colleagues teaching the same course to divide tasks (e.g., one person captions videos, another reviews documents).
- Ask if your department already has templates, examples, or shared materials you can reuse.
- Set aside 15 minutes in a department meeting to exchange accessibility tips or tools that worked.
Accessibility improves quickest when it’s distributed, collaborative, and supported. Sharing the work helps everyone, including future instructors and students.
Reach out to your local Center for Teaching and Learning and to the College Digital Accessibility Committees for tools, techniques, and support in sharing the work across courses and departments.
MCLI has developed resources to help you improve your course accessibility. Please visit our Digital Accessibility webpage to learn more about these resources.