Lauren Lee | June 3, 2025 - Atlanta, GA
As part of our ongoing commitment to fostering accessible educational environments, the Center for Inclusive Design and Innovation (CIDI) is actively exploring new ways to support faculty in developing accessible courses.
The landscape of higher education is continually evolving, but one thing that will never change is our need to make it accessible for students with disabilities. CIDI has over 20 years of experience providing accessibility services and is positioned to be a unique one-stop-shop for accessibility.
CIDI is building on that strong foundation to expand support to faculty. CIDI recognizes the vital role faculty play in creating inclusive learning environments, and is currently exploring best ways to help them integrate accessibility into all aspects of their teaching and course design.
As our first step in this new direction, we are partnering with the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) to help Georgia Tech faculty make the classroom accessible for all kinds of learners. This collaboration brings together CIDI’s deep expertise in accessibility and inclusive design with CTL's extensive experience in pedagogical support and faculty development.
Together, CIDI and CTL will provide a three-part webinar series designed specifically for Georgia Tech faculty. With new accessibility requirements from ADA Title II updates on the horizon, this series will also help faculty align with upcoming legal requirements.
In these webinars, Georgia Tech faculty will learn strategies to support many students with a variety of needs, including:
- students who are blind who use screen readers
- students with learning disabilities
- students with ADHD
- students with low vision
- students with motor disabilities
- students who are deaf or hard-of-hearing and need captioned media
Georgia Tech Faculty, save the date for the following free trainings!
- Webinar 1: Designing Accessible Presentations with Microsoft PowerPoint—July 8 at 10 AM ET
- Webinar 2: Creating Accessible Documents using Microsoft Word—July 29 at 10AM ET
- Webinar 3: Making Data and Tables Accessible in Microsoft Office Applications—August 5th 10:00 am ET
Additionally, the experts at CIDI will hold office hours to help with individual faculty members’ accessibility questions.
Looking ahead, CIDI plans to expand its offering to include other universities and their faculty. This broader vision aims to share CIDI’s expertise with a wider academic community, fostering greater inclusivity in higher education.
“While our immediate focus is on Georgia Tech, our vision extends beyond our campus" says Dr. Zerrin Ondin-Fraser, Interim Executive Director of CIDI. "We believe our unique one-stop shop approach to accessibility can benefit broader higher education community, and we are eager to share our expertise with universities nationwide in the future”.
Would you like to be sent the registration when it becomes available? Please email Norah Sinclair to be placed on the reminder list. Registration is open only to Georgia Tech faculty. If you are from another college or university and are interested in trainings, please contact Lauren Lee with the button below.
