OPEN: Digital Accessibility Teaching Program

Accessible by Design. OPEN to All.

OPEN icon featuring the universal accessibility symbol in navy blue surrounded by a segmented circle in gold, pink, and blue

Over the past year, we've been talking with faculty across campus about accessibility and Title II, trying to make sense of what the requirements mean for everyday teaching, what they're supposed to do about it, what support exists, etc. And what we kept hearing was pretty consistent: instructors were feeling overwhelmed and alone. The awareness was there; what was missing was a way through, to go from awareness to action.

OPEN came out of those conversations. We wanted to build something that felt less like a training and more like having a knowledgeable colleague walk you through your course. It's a self-paced program for Berkeley community, built on bCourses, with four modules, each focused on one area of accessible course design. 

Open is built around Berkeley faculty voices. Throughout the program, you'll hear from four colleagues across disciplines who've been through this, made mistakes, and figured things out.

"You are not doing this alone. There are others around you. Everyone is being given this big scale task for the Title II accessibility [requirements]. [...] We're all going through the same thing, and the best thing we can do is just support each other on it."

— Austin Hedeman, Professor of Physics, UC Berkeley

OPEN stands for Organized, Perceivable, Enriched, and Navigable

Each module focuses on one area of digital course design. They're built to stand on their own, so you can start wherever your course needs the most attention right now.

O – Organized

This module focuses on your bCourses site structure: how students navigate it and what small changes make the biggest difference.

P – Perceivable

In this module you'll work through your documents, PDFs, and course pages and learn what makes them readable/accessible for all students.

E – Enriched

This module will help you "enrich" your multimedia materials and get them to a place where it works for everyone, in whatever context they're watching.

N – Navigable

This module covers presentations and slide decks; what makes them accessible and how to build that in from the start without rebuilding everything from scratch.

What to Expect

About 6 to 7 hours total

Four modules, roughly 50 to 70 minutes each.

Self-paced, asynchronous

There are no live sessions, you can work through it when it fits.

One semester to complete

The program is built for a single semester, you can complete at your own pace. 

Certificate of Completion

Faculty who complete all four modules receive a certificate of completion from the Division of Undergraduate Education. Higher education is moving toward accessible teaching, and by going through OPEN you'll be part of that shift at Berkeley. 

You Won't be Doing This Alone

One-on-one time with our ID team

As an OPEN participant, you have access to individual consultations with our instructional design team throughout the semester where you can work through your course materials.

Launch Timeline

OPEN will launch Fall 2026 with a small cohort of Berkeley faculty. We wanted to start with a group we could work closely with, learn what's landing, what needs adjusting, and make sure the program is everything it should be before opening it more broadly. 

Campus-wide enrollment opens in Spring 2027, and we can't wait to welcome more Berkeley faculty into it! Stay tuned!