Biography

Dr. Thompson is the Program Director for the Information Accessibility Design & Policy program (IADP) and Assistant Director of Teaching & Learning Experiences with the Center for Innovation in Teaching & Learning at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. For more than 35 years, he has taught at the university level and has over 20 years of experience teaching online courses and providing online teaching instruction. In addition to his teaching experience, he has a background in web design, instructional media, and web-based learning platforms. He is the accessibility liaison for the Center for Innovation in Teaching & Learning at the University of Illinois and has presented at a number of workshops and conferences on the teaching of accessibility and universal design for learning, creating accessible course content, and the accessibility of web conferencing systems and learning management systems. Dr. Thompson is a member of the Teach Access Universities Task Force and has partnered with Microsoft on several educational initiatives, including their Accessibility Lighthouse Program. His book chapter entitled "Three Approaches to Teaching Accessibility & Inclusive Design" was published March of 2023, in A Guide to Digital Accessibility: Policies, Practices, and Professional Development.