A variety of trainings, workshops, webinars and meetups are happening at the UW on a regular basis throughout the year. For upcoming options, see our Events page. A few specific training and professional development opportunities, hosted through multiple offices, are described below. If you know of additional trainings that we should consider including on this page, please contact us with the details.
The UW’s IT Accessibility Task Force has compiled and organized available trainings into three categories, as described in the following table. Details about specific trainings are provided below the table.
Accessibility trainings in three categories
| Basic Trainings | Modular Trainings | In-depth Trainings | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Goal | To raise awareness about accessibility and provide resources for learning more | To provide basic foundation skills in specific functional areas | To build on foundation skills and develop solid digital accessibility skills |
| Length of trainings | Short sections integrated into existing trainings | Short trainings that can be completed in a single session (a few minutes to 1 hour) | Longer trainings that typically require several sessions (hours, days, or weeks) |
| Target audience | All UW employees | UW instructors and employees, based on job functions | Members of the IT Accessibility Liaisons network |
| Example topics | Basic information about disability and accessibility | Introductory trainings in specific topics such as accessibility of websites, documents, videos, and online courses. | Same as Modular Trainings, but more advanced. |
| Existing trainings | Cultivating Community at UW: Anti-racism and DEIB in the Workplace |
Basic trainings
Cultivating Community at UW: Anti-racism and DEIB in the Workplace is a baseline training, designed to educate on a range of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEI&B) topics such as racism, disability and accessibility, and LGBTQ+ identities, and to highlight how these issues affect colleagues and students at the University of Washington. This required course is designed for staff, faculty, and other academic personnel.
Modular trainings
Accessible Technology Webinar Series
UW-IT Accessible Technology Services (ATS) offers a monthly series of webinars on a variety of topics, such as teaching an accessible online course, web accessibility, document accessibility, video accessibility, testing with screen readers, and accessibility in procurement. For a list of upcoming webinars, see our Events page. Recordings of past webinars are available from the Accessible Technology Webinar Series page.
Deque University
Deque University is a library of online digital accessibility courses and on-demand reference materials for every level and every area of expertise in digital accessibility. It is freely available to anyone with a UW NetID. For more information and login instructions, see Deque University for UW users.
Designing an Accessible Syllabus
This workshop, offered by UW Learning Technologies (LT), explores ways to construct syllabi that adhere to accessibility standards and promote inclusive, equitable syllabus design practices. For upcoming dates and to register, see the Learning Technologies Workshops website.
Teaching Online 101
Teaching Online 101 is an 8-week, fully-online, asynchronous short course designed to enhance educators’ digital course design and digital pedagogy skill sets. Along with tutorials on how to build course elements and use tools in Canvas, the course shares strategies to help learners more easily access content and interact with others in online learning environments. Though not focused exclusively on accessibility, it includes accessibility-related content. The course is open to UW faculty, staff, and graduate students on any of the three campuses. For additional information, see Teaching Online 101 on the Teaching@UW website.
In-depth trainings
Accessibility 101
Accessibility 101 is a self-paced learning course, hosted in the UW Bothell instance of Canvas. The course covers disability concepts, accessibility versus accommodations, accessibility best practices, Universal Design (UD), Universal Design for Learning (UDL), creating accessible web content, Microsoft Office documents and slides, and advocacy. In addition, there is optional content on PDF remediation, creating accessible spreadsheets, web accessibility standards and testing, accessible teaching, presentations, events, and incorporating accessibility in the curriculum.
International Association on Accessibility Professionals (IAAP) Certification Courses
The UW is an institutional member of the IAAP, and has a limited number of seats available for members of the IT Accessibility Liaisons network. Among other benefits, this provides access to their in-depth online courses that are designed to prepare individuals for IAAP certification exams, including the Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies (CPACC), Web Accessibility Specialist (WAS), and Accessible Document Specialist (ADS). The UW does not centrally cover the cost of exams, but members receive a $100 discount. If you are an IT Accessibility Liaison and are interested in being added to the UW’s IAAP membership, please send an email to Terrill Thompson (tft@uw.edu) with your name and affiliation.
LinkedIn Learning
LinkedIn Learning is an on-demand video learning platform to help you develop and enhance skills, and is available for free to all UW students, staff, and faculty. Their library of courses includes a wide variety of courses on digital accessibility. For direct access, login to LinkedIn Learning with your UW credentials then search for “accessibility”. For additional information, see the UW LinkedIn Learning page from the Career & Internship Center.
Other trainings
Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL)
The UW Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) addresses accessibility in all of its workshops and programs.
Custom Trainings and Workshops
UW-IT Accessible Technology Services is available to offer trainings or workshops on any aspect of digital accessibility for UW groups. To request a training, tell us a bit about your needs in an email to help@uw.edu, or submit your request via the Accessibility Consultation Form (requires a UW NetID).