Results from the Summer 2025 Academic Technology Staff Workshops
Faculty President Dr. Jeff Wiegley suggested that the University work with staff in the various department offices to help reach our accessibility goals. From this idea, the Universal Design Center (UDC) developed a workshop just for academic support staff. The UDC launched the workshop in summer 2025 with four sessions.
UDC staff presented about the new workshop at the CSUN Assistive Technology conference in March 2026, where we made a surprising discovery:
Departments whose staff attended the new workshop saw their accessibility scores improve an average of two percentage points.
Now there’s no chance a 45-minute workshop for staff raised faculty scores like that.
Rather, this development highlights the critical role of staff in academic offices, the reach of their influence – and the insight of the Faculty President’s idea. By empowering staff with information, timeframes, and resources, the University is seeing real gains.
The workshop will be offered again each month this summer.
It focuses on the “what, when and who” of accessibility at the University:
- What is required
- What resources are available to faculty
- When do deadlines fall that affect accessibility
- Who at the University can help?
Unlike other accessibility workshops, the one for academic support staff does not address how to make content accessible. The new workshop was well-received and is now offered every semester alongside the rest of the accessibility series in addition to the summer dates.
UDC and CSU Community of Practice workshops
This workshop for staff in academic departments will help you help your faculty prepare. We’ll cover:
- Summary of the ADA changes
- S.M.A.R.T. accessibility goals for faculty
- How do you even know if a course file needs attention?
- University support and resources for faculty
- Cidi Labs in Canvas
- And more tools
Summer Academic Support Staff dates
CSU Community of Practice for faculty: Accessible Instructional Materials
For faculty, led by a CSU faculty member. Bring your questions about accessibility; share and learn from your colleagues. Agenda to follow. The CSU Community of Practice will host on the first Thursday of each month from 11:00 am to 12:00 pm.