What are the new Title II regulations?
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has issued new accessibility regulations in Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to help improve the learning of all students. Public universities such as UNL are required to make all digital content and tools, including internal and external websites, digital documents, and mobile applications, compliant with the WCAG 2.1 AA standard. The University must comply with this new rule by April 24, 2026.
What does this mean for faculty?
All digital content that faculty post is expected to meet digital accessibility guidelines before being posted. This includes course materials posted on Canvas or shared electronically, websites, content from 3rd party vendors like textbook companies, and other learning applications used by instructors. Because the work to make new and existing content accessible may be substantial, it is important to begin work on learning and remediating now rather than waiting for the compliance date. Almost all courses at UNL will require revisions to be compliant.
Why is this important?
It improves student learning! These new regulations provide for more equal access to educational materials because they provide a clear standard and reduce delays due to on-the-fly remediation. The standards also improve learning for a wide variety of students.
What steps should faculty take?
- Step 1: Learn about accessibility basics
- For a basic overview, there is an online training (go.unl.edu/learn-accessibility) or a Canvas resource (go.unl.edu/learning4all)
- Step-by-step instructions for how to make documents accessible (go.unl.edu/howtoaccessibility)
- Step 2: Take an inventory of your courses and make a plan (go.unl.edu/courseinventory)
- Step 3: Check and make your course materials accessible
- Use the Accessibility Checklist provided by the CTT (go.unl.edu/accessibilitychecklist). The step-by-step instructions mentioned in Step 1 explain how to correct each item in the checklists.
- Use the accessibility checker in programs and use Anthology Ally (coming soon) to check Canvas course materials
If you get stuck or have questions at any step of the process, contact your instructional designers (go.unl.edu/contactid).
