The IAG is here to help Faculty!

There has been a lot of discussion around the university regarding accessibility, and the Instructional Accessibility Group (IAG) is here to support faculty! As one of the teams within the Center for Teaching, Learning and Design, the IAG provides live virtual trainings, guides on implementing accessibility, and Access Checks and Course Reviews to check course content accessibility.

• Visit the IAG Home Page to start or continue your proactive accessibility journey.
• Check out our Trainings and Review Services.
• For accessibility improvements a few minutes at a time, visit the Quick Tips page.
• Email the IAG with questions and to schedule a visit at your department meeting.
• Faculty should be familiar with the MSU Denver Digital Accessibility Policy.

Accessibility refers to proactively removing as many barriers as possible to provide inclusive experiences for a wide range of disabilities and abilities. In education, this often means designing spaces and courses so that as many students can be included and have equitable access to materials as possible, including digital spaces and materials. By proactively designing education to be accessible, faculty reduce the need for individual accommodations.

Accommodations are individual solutions to individual access barriers and are a reactive response to something that is inaccessible for that person. Generally, accommodations are for specialized adaptations that cannot be standardized. Accommodations are a secondary step to providing an equitable education for all.

As an example, accessibility includes faculty members ensuring all media includes captions and/or transcripts for all students. An accommodation might include the Access Center providing an American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter for all classes for a student. So accessibility lies with the instructor, and accommodations with the Access Center.

Want to investigate accessibility resources for your courses or department? The IAG is recruiting faculty to participate in the Fall 2025 Proactive Accessibility Liaisons cohort! The IAG facilitates a small cohort of faculty to work on individual or collaborative accessibility projects over one semester with an end goal of having information to share with their departments (and beyond, such as at conferences).

For PALs, the “liaison” aspect means that after completing PALs, the faculty member will be more comfortable in guiding their colleagues to the IAG resources and will participate in communication lines between the IAG and their department. PALs are not expected to act as an accessibility specialist, and interested faculty will need chair approval to ensure this is understood.

Upon completion of a deliverable by the end of the term, faculty PALs were earn a stipend of $800. The IAG understands that the deliverable might need furtherwork after PALs.

Interested faculty should visit the PALs website for more information and the Areas of Responsibility.