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 a Professor of Practice and former Director of Writing at Tulane University. My research focuses on rhetoric and composition, specifically disability studies and pedagogy. Feel free to mail me (Awomack1@tulane.edu) if your university is interested in a professional development workshop. Follow me on twitter @amwomackdr.
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, 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 pedagogy sites, including Academic Ableism, Bryn Mawr, Boise State University, Central Michigan University, DO-IT, DePaul, Duke, Humboldt State, Innovative Course Learning Group, Johns Hopkins, Metropolitan State University of Denver, Mount Holyoke, Ohio State, Penn State, Polk State College, Portland Community College, Rochester Institute of Technology, Saint Cloud State, San Francisco State, SETDA EdTech Update, Stetson, University of Buffalo, University of California Berkeley, University of Houston, University of Colorado, University of Missouri, University of Texas, University of Vermont, and Wake Forest. (Updated 5-2018)
Faculty Development Workshops (Past & Upcoming)
National Humanities Center, Graduate Student Summer Residency, July 6-17, 2020
University of Alabama, Inclusive Pedagogy Speaker Series, January 2020
Edmonds Community College, Professional Development on Equity and Inclusion Series, January 2020
Louisiana State University, Secondary Education Program, February 13, 2019
Curry College, Writing Program, May 23, 2018
Supported By
Tulane Center for Engaged Learning and Teaching (CELT)
Newcomb College Institute, Collat Media Internship Program