The Digital Accessibility Office (DAO) at UNC-Chapel Hill is co-organizing a free accessibility conference for North Carolinians in higher education.
Back for its third year, the Join the Journey conference will be held on June 15, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m., via Zoom. Attendance is open to anyone in higher education in North Carolina — staff, faculty and students. Registration is free.
For everyone
Digital accessibility is the practice of making technology and digital content more accessible to people with a diverse range of hearing, movement, sight and cognitive abilities. The goal is to create an inclusive campus through the digital materials used in courses, on websites, and more. This goal aligns with the University’s strategic initiative to Build Our Community Together.
Chelsea Porter, Head of the DAO and event co-organizer, stressed that the conference, like digital accessibility, is for everyone. The conference is “great for newcomers to accessibility and for those who want a refresher,” she said.
One thing Porter has noticed in her years in the DAO is the value of a knowledge refresh. If it’s been a while since you’ve taken a training course, she recommends attending the conference, or another DAO training, to keep your skills sharp.
Join the Journey schedule
The conference features a full day of sessions and a keynote kickoff by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. The full slate of presentations includes:
- 9 a.m.; Keynote: U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights
- 10 a.m.; Inclusive communications: email, social media and more
- 11 a.m.; Accessible and inclusive instruction: getting started
- 1 p.m.; Accessible document essentials
- 2 p.m.; Ten questions to ask for accessible tools and procurement
- 3 p.m.; Accessibility checkers and strategies to ensure accessible digital environments
All sessions, except the keynote from the Office for Civil Rights, will be recorded and shared online roughly one week after the event. Porter encourages interested individuals to register for the conference to access the recordings. Registrants will be notified when the recorded sessions are available.
Past events a success
Attendees and organizers have called the past two conferences a success. Both years, more than 300 North Carolinians attended the conference, with Tar Heels representing the largest attendance from a single institution. Organizers expect many attendees to return, as last year, 72% respondents to the post-event survey said they would “definitely” attend again.
The North Carolina Higher Education Digital Accessibility Collaborative organizes the conference and members alternate hosting the event. NC State University is this year’s conference host. UNC CAUSE, an organization that encourages IT collaboration among UNC system schools, is partially sponsoring the conference. UNC-Chapel Hill is a founding member of the collaborative and hosted the inaugural conference in 2021.