Organizational Documentation

In an effort to keep our community informed on what ISKME and our collaborators are doing to support accessibility, we have compiled some helpful information on the various accessibility supports available throughout the OER Commons platform. Below is a list of ISKME’s accessibility policies and supports, as well as platform improvements and outreach efforts to strengthen accessibility efforts across our Open Education community. 

ISKME has issued a statement on our ongoing work to ensure that our evolving OER Commons platform remains accessible to all learners: ISKME Statement on Accessibility on the OER Commons Platform


ISKME’s OER Commons Accessibility Policy follows the best practices based on federal requirements and the World Wide Web Consortium: OER Commons Accessibility Policy


ISKME developed the Accessibility in OER Hub to support our community in the development and evaluation of resources for accessibility. In the Hub you will find openly licensed materials for professional learning that provide guidance on the remediation of OER for accessibility: Accessibility in OER Hub


ISKME’s OER Commons Help Article on Open Author Accessibility Best Practices Support highlights the features built into our OER authoring tool, Open Author, that can support authors in creating accessible OER: Open Author Accessibility Best Practices Support


Tools and Checklists for Resource and Hub Review & Remediation:

  • ISKME’s Characteristics of Accessibility Tool was developed for our community to evaluate OER for key features related to accessibility, to identify the strengths and areas of improvement of a resource: Characteristics of Accessibility Tool

  • ISKME’s created a Hub Accessibility Checklist to help Hub Administrators identify any accessibility errors in the various sections of their Hubs on OER Commons: Hub Accessibility Manual Checklist


Resource Providers’ Accessibility Statements & Collection:


Partner Support & Outreach: Coming soon!

  • For Microsite administrators, ISKME has updated Open Author .csv data exports with relevant contact information

  • ISKME is creating a step by step guide for our community to review and remediate resources and web content for accessibility

  • ISKME is developing an email template for partners to remix for their accessibility outreach efforts

  • ISKME is facilitating Accessibility-focused Communities of Practice for our Hub and Microsite partners 


Recent Accessibility Improvements to our OER Commons platform:

  • Open Author software updates:

    • Header Settings: Open author titles are now labeled as H1 headings, section titles are H2 headings, and the heading level options in the Main Content windows start as H3 headings to provide correct structure information to screen readers.

    • Accessibility acknowledgement checkbox that authors review and select prior to submission and publishing of resources to OER Commons.

  • Support widget:

    • We've added a new dropdown for "accessibility issues" in the dropdown menu of the support widget.

    • You can also use the "report a resource" option to flag a resource for accessibility review.

    • You can find the support button traveling along the right side of the site as you scroll. 

If you have any questions or suggestions about our accessibility efforts:

  • contact our support desk by emailing info@oercommons.orgor 

  • submit an accessibility request via the support menu