Aisha Haynes, Program Manager, Distributed Learning, University of South Carolina - Columbia
Christy Friend, Director, Center for Teaching Excellence, University of South Carolina - Columbia
Disability Area: Topic Area:
Length of Session (in hours): 1-hr
Format: Lecture
Expertise Level: Intermediate
Type of session: Not provided
Summary of Session
The University of South Carolina implemented a quality review process for all online courses. In order to successful pass the review, faculty must meet quality and accessibility standards. Campus partners work together to support faculty during the review process and beyond.
Abstract
Online and hybrid courses are becoming increasingly popular in educational institutions today. Accessibility becomes more important every year, as institutions of higher education extend their reach and course offerings to a variety of students near and far. Many students, including those students with disabilities, are opting for online versions of courses.
Educators may or may not know whether online students have disabilities, so it’s essential that courses are designed with accessibility in mind. Within this workshop, the presenter will discuss the University of South Carolina’s quality and accessibility review process, explain professional development opportunities for faculty, describe how campus partners work together to reach the University’s quality and accessibility goal and identify techniques that are used to create accessible courses.
Keypoints
The University of South Carolina’s quality review process.
Professional development opportunities on accessibility for faculty at the University of South Carolina.
Techniques that the University of South Carolina implemented to design accessible online courses.
Speaker Bio(s)
Aisha Haynes
Aisha Haynes is the Program Manager for Distributed Learning at the Center for Teaching Excellence, University of South Carolina - Columbia. She manages the design, creation, delivery, and ongoing improvement of distributed-learning delivery methods on the USC-Columbia campus and for the USC regional system. Aisha is a certified Quality Matters Peer Reviewer and has earned Online Teaching certifications from the Online Learning Consortium (formally Sloan C). She has been designing online courses for over 8 years. She teaches both graduate and undergraduate courses online, including Information Literacy, Computer Applications in Business and Technological Applications for Diverse Populations.
Christy Friend
Christy Friend is the Director of the Center for Teaching Excellence at the University of South Carolina and a professor in the English Department. She has worked in writing program administration at several institutions and most recently directed First-Year English at USC from 2008-2012. Her research interests focus on composition theory and pedagogy, and she is a co-author of several writing textbooks, including The Scott, Foresman Handbook for Writers.
