AccessFest 2025 Brings Hands-On Support and Campus Collaboration to Digital Accessibility
On Friday, Nov. 7, instructors from across NC State gathered at the D.H. Hill Jr. Library for AccessFest — a day-long, drop-in event dedicated to improving the accessibility of digital course materials. Hosted by DELTA’s A11Y team and University Libraries with support from the Office of Information Technology and the Office of Equal Opportunity, the event offered a practical, welcoming environment for faculty, instructors and teaching assistants to strengthen their materials with real-time support.
Unlike a traditional workshop, AccessFest was intentionally designed as a flexible, “work-at-your-own-pace” experience. Attendees brought a wide range of materials – from Moodle course spaces and PDFs to slide decks, websites and multimedia – and worked directly with specialists to remediate accessibility issues.
Throughout the day, volunteers from DELTA, the Libraries and NCStAC (NC State Accessibility Collaborative) were on hand to answer questions, offer individualized guidance and demonstrate how small adjustments can significantly impact students’ learning experiences.
Many participants came as representatives of their entire program or department, and had solicited questions and examples from their colleagues ahead of time, and then reported back to their colleagues after exploring those issues with the event volunteers.
“At the registration desk, we chatted with attendees as they were leaving and everyone was so happy that they had come and felt better about their ability to make their content more accessible,” said Beth Ashmore, University Libraries, who emphasized the event’s focus on meeting participants wherever they were in their accessibility practice. “We also stressed that their number one takeaway should be that they aren’t alone in this process. All of the event sponsors and volunteers are here to help.”
Many attendees noted how valuable it was to sit side-by-side with experts during the event and receive immediate feedback tailored to their specific materials.
The ability to bring together volunteers with different expertise to solve an issue in the moment was extremely beneficial for event attendees. For example, an instructional designer could be discussing a problem with a faculty member that requires information technology expertise, and the issue could be addressed in real time. “In some cases, a conversation that began as one-on-one grew to be three or four people all contributing to the same topic, which allowed us to get so much further towards solving their issues than we would with a traditional consultation,” says Caitlin McKeown, DELTA instructional designer and award-winning accessibility team member.
AccessFest also helped instructors get more out of the tools they already use daily. Specialists demonstrated accessible workflows in Moodle, Google Docs, Microsoft Office, Panopto and other common platforms – empowering attendees to build accessible habits directly within their existing course creation processes. Participants were also introduced to accessibility tools like Brickfield, PopeTech and Grackle that will find and fix accessibility errors in their content.
“This event gave us a better understanding of the current tools that faculty are using and what the potential accessibility barriers are in their courses. In some cases, we – as volunteers – walked away with more questions or homework that we needed to investigate further on our end, but that allows us to build our expertise in the areas where faculty really need support, and tailor our resources and workshops accordingly,” adds McKeown. “In these cases, AccessFest was just the beginning of an ongoing conversation with faculty, and even whole departments, to help us support their work”.
The atmosphere throughout the event was collaborative and energizing, with colleagues from across the university sharing questions, solutions and new ideas. Attendees enjoyed Howling Cow ice cream, trivia, custom button-making, swag giveaways and a special appearance by Mrs. Wuf. As a fun bonus, attendees were entered into raffles throughout the day, including the Apple AirPods 4 grand prize drawing.
AccessFest reflects DELTA’s ongoing commitment to supporting high-quality, innovative instruction and ensuring that all learners can fully engage with course materials. By creating a space for hands-on practice and expert collaboration, the event reinforces the university’s shared responsibility in building a more accessible NC State.
Did you miss this year’s event? Visit DELTA’s Accessibility website to explore tools, guides and upcoming opportunities to strengthen digital accessibility in your courses – and save the date for Spring AccessFest – March 25th at Hunt Library.
Related Workshops:
- Categories:
