4-12 Digital Content Accessibility Policy

Rationale and Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to ensure that all digital content created, maintained, or hosted (“digital materials”) by Greenville Technical College (GTC) is accessible to all college constituencies (students,  employees, guests, and visitors), including those with disabilities. This policy aims to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA standards. The college is committed to providing equal access to educational resources, ensuring that digital learning materials, websites, and other online content are usable for all individuals, regardless of disability.

Policy Statement

Users utilizing GTC’s information technology to post, distribute, or publish college content should aim to make such content conform to the Standards, to the extent technically feasible. In addition, instances of newly purchased, licensed, or internally developed technology are expected to conform to the Standards to the fullest extent possible at the point of rollout or implementation.

Scope

For the purposes of this Policy, the Digital Accessibility Standards (or “the Standards”) are The World Wide Web Consortium’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1, Level AA Conformance (WCAG 2.1 Level AA) for websites and web-based applications and services. Software and services that are not web-based should conform to WCAG 2.1 Level AA to the extent such guidelines may usefully be applied to improve the accessibility of these resources.

The Standards apply to all college digital content, whether it faces the public or requires authentication. Examples include but are not limited to websites, video and audio content, electronic documents, desktop, mobile, and cloud-based software applications, content and learning management system (LMS), tools and platforms, email and calendars, library resources, social media, digital content and all learning materials.

Roles/Responsibilities

The Director of Institutional Quality is responsible for oversight and implementation of the accessibility policy. All employees are expected to actively support and adhere to the accessibility policy.

Non-Compliance

Failure to comply with/follow this policy may result in disciplinary action up to and including termination.