We are all creators of digital content. It is essential that we keep digital accessibility in mind so that the documents, websites, readings, and media created by and shared with the community are accessible to everyone, including people with disabilities.  

Over the course of this academic year, we will invite you to various events and workshops and share recommendations for online resources to learn more about digital accessibility. We invite you to learn how to make your content accessible and how accessible content makes life better for everybody! 

Digital Accessibility Speaker Panel Discussion

Cultivating Classroom Respect and Inclusion with Digital Accessibility - A Multi-College Panel Discussion

This year, for the fourth annual digital accessibility speaker event, our faculty, staff, and student speaker panel will discuss digital accessibility, classroom respect, and inclusive practices with technology from instructor and student perspectives. We will also provide a takeaway resource of examples from the classroom. 

 

portraits of Jo Cannon, Shannon Audley, Jeffers Engelhardt, Susan May, & Ariana Ravitch

Pictured from left to right are Jo Cannon, Shannon Audley, Jeffers Engelhardt, Susan May, and Ariana Ravitch

Event details:

  • Tuesday, April 2, 2024, from 1-2:15 p.m., Lyceum building, CHI Think Tank meeting space, first floor
  • Light lunch will be served at 1 p.m., with the speaker event starting at 1:15 p.m. People are welcome to take food to go.  Vegan and gluten-free options will be available. 
  • The building entrance, restrooms, and the CHI Think Tank first-floor meeting space are physically accessible.  
  • Gender-inclusive restrooms are available. 
  • The location is the Aliki Perroti & Seth Frank Lyceum building, 197 South Pleasant Street, Amherst, MA, 01002. 
  • This event is also being offered as a Zoom webinar for those who wish to attend virtually.
  • Please get in touch with Susan May if you have event accessibility or other questions or need more information.
  • Examples from the Amherst classroom 

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Faculty panelists:

Student panelist:

  • Ariana Ravitch '24 - Amherst College Center for Teaching & Learning Student Fellow
    Ariana is a senior at Amherst College. She is currently working on a research project about merging movement and syntax in the second-language classroom.

Staff facilitators:

  • Jo Cannon - Smith College Associate Director of Class, Event, and Media Support 
    Joanne (Jo) has worked in educational technology for over 30 years.  Over the years, she has been consistently involved in efforts to move toward universal design and ensure learning spaces and technologies are accessible. Jo teaches courses in educational media and course design and facilitates online learning at the undergraduate and graduate levels.  She has taught face-to-face, hybrid, and online courses and specializes in flexible course design with an eye on accessibility and the varied needs of the learner in each of these environments. Previously Jo managed the Center for Foreign Languages and Cultures, working with faculty to create media-based learning tools and engage the student in the target language through media use and production.
  • Susan May - Amherst College IT Accessibility Specialist
    Susan has worked in information technology for 17 years and with web accessibility, assistive technology, and other aspects of digital accessibility, for more than 20 years.  She has been in her current role as the IT Accessibility Specialist in Academic Technology Services since April 2022. 
  • Skye Myerson - Mount Holyoke College Instructional Technologist for Quantitative Learning
    Skye collaborates with Mount Holyoke faculty and students across the college at the intersection of teaching, learning, and technology, with support for the analysis of quantitative data as a particular focus. They partner with colleagues on implementing and supporting new and existing campus technologies and participate in the Educational Technology team's day-to-day work, including supporting cross-campus multidisciplinary tools such as the LMS. 
Public parking is available: 
  • in front of Wilson Admission Center and Kirby Theater on South Amherst Drive, listed in GPS apps as 220 and 200 S Pleasant Street 
  • on-street parking on Woodside Avenue 
  • metered parking on South Pleasant Street and the Amherst town center
  • on-street parking on Hitchcock Road
Amherst College parking sticker parking is available: 
  • in the Alumni Gym parking lot and parallel parking in front of the Alumni Gym
  • beside and behind the Wilson Admission Center
  • in the Converse parking lot
  • in the Newport House parking lot
  • in the Scott and Smith House parking lots
Accessible parking is available: 
  • There is one accessible parking space at the Lyceum building. 
  • There are two accessible parking spaces near the Lyceum building at the Newport House building at 32 Northampton Road. A relatively flat, paved walkway connects the Newport House parking area with the Lyceum parking area and rear entrance.  Both the Lyceum and Newport House parking areas are accessed by automobile from Woodside Avenue. 

 

Learn About the Campus Resource Kurzweil 3000 - Text-to-Speech & More!

2 laptop computers showing Kurzweil 3000 in use for screen reading and making notes on a reading

IT-Academic Technology Services will offer an online information session via Zoom about how to access Kurzweil 3000 and provide an overview of the features available with Kurzweil 3000 on Tuesday, December 12, from 5-6 p.m.

The Kurzweil 3000 application can be used for academic productivity and as an assistive technology. Through a campus license, IT makes Kurzweil 3000 available for free to current students, staff, and faculty. This application offers text-to-speech, so you can listen to readings & study materials. Also, it offers more than text-to-speech with options for annotation,  studying, writing, & note-taking.