Accessibility Training Opportunities

Faculty Training

Faculty are responsible for making their instructional materials accessible. Anything posted on a website or on Moodle must be accessible. To assist faculty with this task, the LSU Online and Continuing Education team is excited to offer a faculty professional development course titled Designing and Teaching Accessible Courses. This course will be offered in both a blended format and a fully online format. For more information and to register, visit the training website.

Website Training

The Division of Strategic Communications offers accessibility trainings for website content managers. The training is customized for individuals managing content within the university website content management system (WCMS), OMNI CMS. However, the information presented will be helpful to users managing website content through other platforms. The training includes the following:

  • What is online accessibility and why it's important
  • Governing legislation
  • Benchmarks for accessibility
  • Equally Effective Alternate Access
  • Creating and maintaining accessible content in OU Campus
  • Publishing checks
  • Accessibility resources for pdfs, pptx, doc, etc.
  • Video, social and email accessibility

Register to attend website accessibility training.

Document Accessibility Training

LSU Strategic Communications and Information Technology Services offer supplemental training one Tuesday each month at 11 a.m. These trainings are not required and are not substitutes for the required OMNI CMS Dashboard and WCMS Online Accessibility trainings for web content managers. However, any faculty, staff, or student worker can take these trainings.

One of these training sessions is solely on PDF Accessibility. LSU has purchased an enterprise license for Adobe Creative Cloud, which includes Adobe Acrobat Pro. Active faculty and staff now have access to download this service. Please download Adobe Acrobat Pro DC prior to attending the training.

This training will review the following:

  • Exporting a file as a PDF
  • Creating an accessible PDF
  • Remediating a PDF
  • Common errors

To register for this training, visit the Supplemental Training webpage. If no PDF accessibility training is available, please contact Lori Martin at lkemp1@lsu.edu for more information. 

Mandatory Annual Training

LSU is requiring that each classified employee, professional employee, faculty (including emeritus and Gratis), other academic, contingent/transient, graduate/teaching assistant, WAE position, and student worker complete the Digital Resource and Content Accessibility Awareness training each calendar year by December 31. As there are many unique classifications of faculty and staff, the unit head has the discretion to determine if a position is entitled to an exemption. Exemptions should be based on whether a position creates or disseminates digital content.

Trades positions, custodial staff, and students (who are not employed by LSU) are exempt from this training. 

To satisfy the requirement, LSU has created the e-course, Digital Resource and Content Accessibility Awareness. This course will teach the LSU community about the federal statutes and institutional policy governing digital resource and content accessibility, and the tools available to ensure the proactive accessibility of digital resources and content. To take this course, visit the Digital Resource and Content Accessibility Awareness Community Moodle page.

Click "Enroll me" to self-enroll in this Community Moodle course. Once enrolled, click on the link in the left hand portion of the page that says 2021 Training Course & Certificate. Then, click the link titled "2021 Course - Digital Resource and Content Accessibility Awareness". After completing the e-course, you will be able to print out a certificate of completion for your records. Please keep this certificate and follow your department's instructions for reporting and compliance.

Quick Facts about Act 103 of the 2022 Louisiana Regular Legislative Session

What is Act 103?

Act 103 provides guidance for the development and implementation by state agencies of policies, training, and reporting relative to compliance with requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Who has to take the training?

Any LSU employee who has duties as a supervisor is required to take the training. This includes persons assigned to supervisory roles over currently vacant positions. Act 103 defines a supervisor as “a public employee or an elected official responsible for overseeing the productivity, work behavior, and attendance of other public employees of the agency”. 

What is the training requirement?

For persons currently assigned to supervisory roles, a minimum of 1-hour of training must be completed by November 15, 2022 and every three years thereafter.  Henceforth, all new hires into supervisory roles or current employees who assume supervisory responsibilities must complete the training within 90 days of the hire or promotion/job change, and then every three years thereafter.

Where can I access the training?

Persons who are identified as having supervisory roles in Workday have been loaded into a training course within Moodle.  Users should login with their LSU A&M credentials (for those who may hold dual appointments). The course is titled State of Louisiana ADA Compliance Training.  For users not pre-enrolled, the course is set to allow for manual enrollment by clicking "enroll me in this course" when first attempting to access it. Should a user experience a barrier due to a disability or have trouble accessing the course, they should contact HRMTRAINING@LSU.EDU.

Why do we have to take the training?

Louisiana requires the training and reporting of training to provide uniform guidance for all supervisors regarding the application of and adherence to ADA guidelines across all state agencies. 

Why is the initial time to completion so short?

The date was set within the legislation and is not an institutionally chosen date. After the training is initially completed, individuals need only repeat the training once every three years thereafter. The module is pausible and can be completed in smaller portions.

What happens if I don’t take the training?

Each state agency must report annually to the State ADA Coordinator regarding their compliance with this training requirement.  Act 103 renders each individual’s record of compliance, or non-compliance, a public record in accordance with Public Record Law. Failure to complete this or any required training should be noted on annual job performance reviews.