University Communications and Marketing

MSU Billings staff member presents at national conference 

Web Assistant April Buscher represents MSUB in California

University Communications and Marketing, 657-2266

MSU BILLINGS NEWS — Montana State University Billings Web Assistant April Buscher recently gave a presentation on website accessibility at the 2019 OmniUpdate (OU) User Training Conference, held in Anaheim, Calif. on April 15 and 16.

OU Campus hosts an annual conference as well as workshops for content management system (CMS) users, communication content management, and web marketers from across the country.

Each year roughly 50 speakers are selected among staff from universities that utilize CMS. Those selected have the opportunity to share information, knowledge, and skills with their peers. Topics range from software strategy planning and code development to content management and best practices.

Buscher’s presentation focused on website accessibility and building quality websites that allow students to access web content regardless of the device used. The focus of the presentation was captioning videos due to the rapid use of video content on websites, specifically in higher education.

“Online use of video media limits accessibility for those that have language or hearing barriers which require translation or captioning,” comments Buscher.

Accessibility is a hot topic for many universities with the growth of multimedia, software, and web development, which Buscher highlighted in her presentation.

“To maintain properly accessible websites it is important to understand best practices, and how people use the website, including those with disabilities,” shares Buscher. “Every student matters and deserves the opportunity to receive the best education. To provide the best opportunity, it is important to make sure all digital and written content is accessible for everyone.”

For more information, contact Web Assistant April Buscher at (406) 657-2268 or april.buscher@msubillings.edu.