Who can teach ASP courses?

Accessibility Studies is an interdisciplinary field requiring expertise from all academic disciplines. Faculty interested in teaching any ASP courses are invited to contact professor Naomi Petersen. The structure of the courses and the program will be of interest to anyone wishing to teach.

How are the courses organized?

The four core courses are offered online via Canvas with standard modules addressing the outcomes, listed below. They are intended to be interactive with the instructor facilitating a vibrant learning community among the participants. The course activities are intended to provide opportunities for students to apply key concepts to their own environments. The assignments include short and long writing exercises, projects and investigations, discussion board responses, and quizzes.

Instructor autonomy is respected within the context of a fairly well-defined master syllabus that does specify required texts. These texts constitute an ‘ASP library’ which students are expected to use across all four courses. For instance, chapters from one book may be assigned in three different courses. We hope to achieve an economy for the student as well as a more thoughtful and deep integration of resources that will be useful when the student applies all the learner outcomes to the capstone project.

When are the courses offered?

Core Courses
The core courses are sequential but may be overlapping.

• ASP 305 Accessibility & User Experience - no prerequisites for the first course.
• ASP 325 User Experience may be taken at the same time as ASP 305, but not before.
• ASP 435 Accessible Information Design may be taken at the same time as ASP 325, but not before.
• ASP 485 Accessibility Capstone may be taken at the same time as ASP 435, but not before.

Elective Courses
Two content courses and two field experience courses are also available through Accessibility Studies. Elective courses can be used to satisfy the five (5) credits required for the Accessibility Studies Minor in addition to the four core courses.  Students may propose courses from their majors to satisfy the elective requirement as well. The two field experiences are arranged individually (See Professor Petersen).

There are no prerequisites for ASP 365 Assistive Technology: Tactile Graphics or ASP 496 Special Topics in Accessibility Studies.