The New Paltz campus strives to support faculty and staff in the creation of accessible content and resources through training and the purchases of tools for accessibility. The campus is also invested in providing tools that are available to all campus members in need of assistive programs for accessing content or resources. Please view the resources below for more information about training and resources currently available on the SUNY New Paltz campus.
Accessible Classroom Training for Faculty/Staff
“The Accessible Classroom: Faculty and Staff Toolkit” is a resource available to all current faculty and staff members. Faculty and Staff are automatically enrolled in this Blackboard community and they can utilize it to learn more about creating accessible content and resources. This is an asynchronous resource that faculty and staff can review at their own pace, or simply use as a reference guide to learn more about specific areas of accessibility.
Accessibility Software
Blackboard Ally
Blackboard Ally is a software plugin for the Blackboard Learning Management System. It automatically reviews documents, images, and rich text content written in Blackboard and assesses the accessibility of this content. Course instructors and leaders in communities can see the assessment produced by Ally and learn more about how to correct any accessibility issues that are reported. Ally also offers a full course assessment tool where instructors or leaders can run a report on their entire course or community to see what files have accessibility issues and to get suggestions for the best ways to approach remediating non-compliant content.
Read & Write
Read & Write is a screenreader tool for users who require textual content to be read aloud. This tool does require the user to visually select the text to be read, so it is not an appropriate tool for users who have visual impairments or who are blind.
Read & Write can be downloaded for free by any member of the New Paltz community with their username and password: learn more about downloading and using Read & Write.
EquatIO
EquatIO is a screenreader tool for users who require equations to be read aloud. This tool does require the user to visually select the text to be read, so it is not an appropriate tool for users who have visual impairments or who are blind.
EquatIO can be downloaded for free by any member of the New Paltz community with their username and password: [learn more about downloading and using EquatIO].
Accommodate
Accommodate is a software system used by the Disability Resource Center to manage student accommodation requests and communicate these requests to faculty.
Faculty can access the Accommodate system through my.newpaltz.edu and they should check their class listings throughout the add/drop period in case new students with accommodation needs are added.
Accessibility Hardware
Listening Devices
