Accessibility is both a legal issue, and a human one. On the one hand, there are laws in place that require educational providers to create materials such as websites, informational documents, and technology tools that are accessible to all students, or else risk being fined or sued. On the other hand, accessibility is also an important human issue in that it is about giving all students the same access to succeed in higher education.
For online and technology-enhanced higher education, extra steps must be taken to ensure that course materials, learning management systems, websites, social media, and other digital and interactive tools have been designed in a manner that allows all students with a variety of different abilities to utilize them. The resources that we have provided here will help you and your institution set your students up for success by providing learning materials in formats that are accessible to all learners.
Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash

WCET Resources
Frontiers Blog
Webcast Archives
- Accessibility in the New Normal of Online/Remote Course Delivery - June 2020
- Web Accessibility: Trick or Treat? - October 2018
- Accessibility in Courses and Services: The Exploration Begins - March 2018
- Enabling Accessibility in Learning Technology - March 2017
- Accessibility for Edtech Across the Campus - September 2015
- Promoting a Culture of Accessibility for Online Students - September 2015
- Video Captioning: Features, Costs, Good Practices - September 2015
Media
- Managing Accessibility for Course Conversion in response to COVID-19 - April 2020
- Accessibility in Online Courses - Trends, Tips & Tools - Updated January 2018
- WOW Award Winner 2018: The Open SUNY Course Quality Review (OSCQR) Rubric, Dashboard, Resources - Open SUNY
- WOW Award Winner 2017: Blackboard Inc. - Blackboard Ally
- WOW Award Winner 2017: UDOIT: Universal Design Online content Inspection Tool - University of Central Florida
Talking Points
External Resources
Additional Resources
- Digital Accessibility Law and Regulation: Current Status and What to Do About It - EDUCAUSE
- 2018/2019 State and Federal Accessibility Guidelines (updated) - cielo24
- Accessible Campus - Council of Ontario Universities
- Access and Equity for All Learners in Blended and Online Education - iNACOL
- World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
- WebAIM
- Accessing Higher Ground - AHEAD
- Section 508
- Student Accessibility Services - University of Central Florida
- The National Center on Disability and Access to Education (NCDAE)
- Higher Education Accessibility Online Resource Center - National Federation of the Blind
- Accessibility - University of Montana