Instructors who use digital content in their courses, such as Canvas content, electronic documents, videos, and e-textbooks, need to make these digital course materials compliant with Title II regulations under the American with Disabilities Act to help improve the learning experience of all students.
These materials must meet regulations when made available to students, not just available upon request. This eliminates delays in access for people who require accommodations in order to interact with those materials. The goal of these regulations is to create more equitable learning environments, better supporting students’ varying educational needs. All digital course materials must be ADA Title II compliant by April 24, 2026.
Many instructors were never taught about digital accessibility, its benefits, or how to make digital content accessible, so they may feel ill-prepared to make these changes. UNL has created a variety of easy-to-use resources to assist instructors as we build a culture of accessibility at the university.
If you’re new to digital accessibility, here are some basic resources to get you started:
- Digital Accessibility Training on Bridge: this asynchronous training takes approximately 1.5 hours to complete and introduces instructors to the basics of digital accessibility in the most commonly used programs at UNL and principles of universal design for learning.
- Title II Training on Bridge: this asynchronous training explains the new ADA Title II regulations in more detail.
If you’re ready to start making your courses accessible, these resources will help you get organized and check your materials for accessibility.
- How to Approach Making a Course Accessible Resource guides you through a customizable step-by-step process to making a full course accessible.
- Accessibility Checklists help you check for accessibility in your course materials. Recordings from the Spring 2025 Building Inclusion through Digital Accessibility Workshop Series demonstrate how to find and fix each of the issues in the checklist (click on each of the dates to find the session recording and materials).
Additional targeted resources are in development and will be available soon, including guidance on math equations, graphs, diagrams, complex images, tutorial videos, and writing effective alternative text and long descriptions.
CTT instructional designers are also available for one-on-one consultations to help instructors navigate accessibility requirements and incorporate inclusive design into their course materials.
More details at: http://ada.unl.edu