Digital Accessibility Standards & Resources

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The CU Anschutz standards for digital accessibility adhere to the FCC closed captioning rules. Visit the FCC website for closed captioning guidelines

Recommended Captioning Tools: Panopto (preferred), Anthology Ally, Zoom Captioning

For web-hosted videos, review the AtWeb guides on video captioning and creating accessible videos

For pre-recorded content, review the ODAI's guide to creating transcript files

CU Boulder Resources: Automated Captioning Tools, Live Captioning Tools, Creating Accessible Videos, and how to filter YouTube search results by captioned videos

Additional Resource: W3C Making Audio and Video Media Accessible

For instructors using Canvas, Anthology Ally helps improve the accessibility of course materials, ensuring that all students have equal access to learning resources.

The Office of Digital Learning offers live and on-demand training to sharpen your online teaching skills, including accessibility best practices. Designed for CU Anschutz faculty and instructional staff, these sessions focus on practical strategies, tools, and techniques to elevate digital learning.

Review teaching resources related to digital accessibility from ODAI, including tips for universal design for learning.

Use the Digital Accessibility Checklist for Faculty to help guide your accessibility efforts.

Additional Resources:

• The CU Boulder Digital Accessibility Office provides resources for instructors and additional help with Canvas accessibility.
• The CU Denver Division for Teaching Innovation and Program Strategy (TIPS) provides a variety of digital accessibility resources for faculty and staff.
• Creating Accessible Equations and Formulas

PDFs

• PDF Accessibility Guide

Word

• Understanding Word Accessibility (CU Boulder)
• Create accessible Word documents (Microsoft Training)

PowerPoint

• Understanding PowerPoint Accessibility (CU Boulder)
• Create accessible PowerPoint slides (Microsoft Training)

Emails

• Create Accessible Emails (CU Boulder)
• Create accessible Outlook emails (Microsoft Training)

Excel

• Create accessible Excel workbooks (Microsoft Training)

Forms

• Accessible Forms (State of Colorado OIT)
• Formstack Best Practices
• Qualtrics Recommendations (CU Boulder)
• Qualtrics Inaccessible Question Types (CU Boulder)

Review key guidelines for digital asset accessibility from the CU Anschutz Office of Communications.

The CU System eComm program offers tutorials and best practices for Marketing Cloud and Cvent. Visit the CU eComm Wiki for more information.

Additional Resources:

• Accessibility Best Practices
• Creating Accessible Content

All CU Anschutz websites are required to comply with WCAG 2.1 guidelines.

Members of the university web community can access tools and best practices for building accessible websites.

For support and guidance on web accessibility, contact the CU Anschutz OIT Web Services and Development team by submitting a help request or emailing [email protected].

To learn more about web accessibility, explore these recommended resources:

• Web Accessibility Laws & Policies
• WebAIM (Web Accessibility in Mind)