Accessibility in Digital Learning

This page serves as a starting point for guidance, tools, and resources to help you create usable, accessible, and legally compliant digital learning materials and experiences.

Accessibility applies to all forms of digital learning content—including courses, documents, videos, webpages, presentations, assessments, and third-party tools—regardless of instructional modality. Whether content is used in online, hybrid, web-enhanced, or face-to-face environments, accessibility helps ensure learners can effectively access and engage with digital resources.

What is Digital Accessibility?

Digital accessibility means designing and developing content so individuals with disabilities can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with digital materials and technologies.

The World Wide Consortium (W3C) defines web accessibility as ensuring that people with disabilities can use the web effectively. In digital learning environments, this includes creating materials that work with assistive technologies such as screen readers, captions, keyboard navigation, speech recognition tools, and alternative input devices.

Accessible design also improves usability, organization, and clarity for all users.

Why Accessibility Matters

Accessibility is an important part of creating effective digital learning experiences. Clear organization, readable content, captions, meaningful structure, and usable design practices improve the experience for all users—not only individuals with disabilities. Accessible content is often easier to navigate, understand, and use across different devices, technologies, and learning environments.

Accessibility is also a legal requirement for public institutions.

In 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice issued updated regulations under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) that clarify digital accessibility responsibilities for public colleges and universities. These regulations require web content and mobile applications to meet recognized accessibility standards.

Public institutions are expected to work toward compliance with the updated accessibility requirements by April 26, 2027

As a federally funded public institution, digital content should align with:

• ADA Title II (28 CFR Part 35)
• Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act
• Texas Administrative Code (TAC) 213

The standards we should comply with are the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, Level AA. These guidelines provide an internationally recognized framework for creating accessible digital content and are built around four foundational principles. Digital content should be:

• Perceivable – Users must be able to perceive the information being presented.
• Operable – Users must be able to navigate and interact with the content.
• Understandable – Information and functionality should be clear and predictable.
• Robust - Content should work reliably with current and future technologies, including assistive technologies.

Creating accessible digital content helps reduce barriers, improve usability, and support a more consistent learning experience across devices and technologies.

How to Use These Resources

The resources linked throughout this section are organized to support you at different stages of content creation and review. Whether you are developing new materials, updating existing resources, or learning accessibility concepts for the first time, these pages provide practical guidance and examples to help you make steady progress.

Accessibility is an ongoing process, and even small improvements can make a meaningful difference in how learners access and interact with digital content.