This website is dedicated to helping instructors build a syllabus that plans for diverse student abilities and promotes an atmosphere in which students feel comfortable discussing their unique abilities. Countless instructors complain that students don’t read the syllabus. We believe students would use the document more effectively if it were designed more accessibly.
Accessibility is necessary for all learning, and disability studies provides a key lens through which to question our classroom practices and resources. To create more inclusive teaching, instructors must plan for diversity in the classroom and adapt to the immediate needs of students.
Accessible design is an ongoing process. We welcome collaboration and critique.
Please contact us at accessiblesyllabus@gmail.com or join the conversation with #accessiblesyllabus.
Our Team
Anne-Marie Womack, Creator: I’m the Director of Writing at Tulane University. My research focuses on rhetoric and composition, specifically disability studies, critical thinking, and women’s and gender studies. Follow me on twitter @amwomackdr and email me (Awomack1@tulane.edu) if your university is interested in a professional development workshop.
Annelise Blanchard, Project Manager: I’m a psychology student at Tulane University. In addition to editing Accessible Syllabus, I work as a research assistant in a social perception lab at Tulane. I’m also fluent in French.
Cassie Wang, Web Developer: I’m a student at Tulane University in the School of Science and Engineering. My majors are computer science and math. I am fluent in English and Mandarin and proficient in Cantonese and Japanese.
Mary Catherine Jessee, Proofreader Copy Editor: I graduated with my Neuroscience degree from Tulane University Class in 2016. When I’m not working in the lab, I enjoy listening to and creating music.
Awards
Best Webtext of 2017, Kairos: A Journal of Rhetoric, Technology, and Pedagogy, June 2017
MERLOT Classics Award for Exemplary Learning Material-Teacher Education, presented at the Online Learning Consortium Conference, April 2017
Publicity
“Now is the Time to Think about Accessibility” Chronicle Vitae, 8 August 2017.
“Make a More Inclusive Syllabus with Tulane’s Accessible Syllabus Project” The Chronicle of Higher Education, Prof Hacker, 24 June 2016
“From the Archives: Preparing for the New Semester” The Chronicle of Higher Education, 16 August 2016
“Tulane’s Accessible Syllabus Site” Peer Reviewed by MERLOT, California State Digital Resources Database
Featured on university teaching center websites and disability sites, including DO-IT, Wake Forest, UC Berkeley, Penn State, Johns Hopkins, University of Texas, University of Houston, University of Vermont, University of Colorado, University of Missouri, Boise State University, Ohio State, San Francisco State, Mount Holyoke, St. Cloud State, DePaul, Stetson, Rochester Institute of Technology, Humboldt State, Polk State College, Central Michigan University, Metropolitan State University of Denver, Portland Community College, Innovative Course Learning Group, Academic Ableism, and SETDA EdTech Update. (Updated 5-2018)
Faculty Development Workshops
Curry College writing program, May 23, 2018
*Contact Anne-Marie Womack at Awomack1@tulane.edu to schedule a workshop
Supported By
Tulane Center for Engaged Learning and Teaching
Newcomb College Institute Collat Media Internship Program