#OpenEd21

During 2020, as virtual learning became a necessity, OER has become increasingly important for creating immersive and engaging course materials. However, students with physical or mental disabilities and marginalized communities have had significant challenges over the past year due to the lack of accessibility of these new course materials. There are several best-practice standards to keep in mind when creating OER, but many educators are unaware of them. Because of the short time span in which teachers were asked to create these new materials, time was not permitted to do significant research on how to make their content accessible to all, but now, entering year two of remote learning is a good time to evaluate some of the problems the last year as posed for OER. This presentation is designed for educators new to OER who wish to learn about the accessibility barriers certain types of content present and how to minimize these barriers.

After participating in this session, attendees will be able to:

• Gain knowledge of accessibility challenges presented by digital coursework
• Understand what it means to make course material "accessible" and "engaging"
• Learn about new tools and platforms for creating accessible and engaging course content