Institutional Readiness for the Digital Age: Accessibility

Digital accessibility in higher education has entered a new phase. With the Department of Justice’s April 2024 update to ADA Title II, public colleges and universities now have imminent mandates for the accessibility of their digital programs and services. For many institutions, this moment can feel daunting. For academic leaders, however, it also presents an opportunity to strengthen instructional quality, support faculty, and create more resilient learning environments.

At Six Red Marbles, we work alongside provosts, centers for teaching and learning, instructional design teams, and faculty leaders to translate accessibility requirements into practical, sustainable practices within courses and programs. Our focus is not enterprise IT remediation. It is learning design: how courses are built, maintained, and experienced by students over time.

From Reactive to Proactive Accessibility

Historically, digital accessibility in higher education was often addressed reactively: a student disclosed a need, an accommodation was made, and the course moved forward largely unchanged. While accommodations remain essential, the DOJ’s updated rule signals a shift toward proactive readiness. Institutions are now expected to ensure that their digital environments are accessible by design, not by exception.

When accessibility is framed as an instructional pillar rather than a legal obligation, it becomes easier for faculty and academic leaders to engage. Accessible courses tend to be clearer, more navigable, and more flexible. They support students with disabilities, students who use mobile devices, multilingual learners, and students balancing work and family obligations. In practice, accessibility and good pedagogy reinforce one another.

The Broader Compliance Landscape

While this guide focuses on instructional readiness, it’s helpful to understand the DOJ compliance deadlines.

These timelines matter—but they don’t require institutions to remediate everything at once. Academic leaders make the most progress by focusing first on the learning environments students interact with every day.

Toward Accessibility Readiness: A Practical Model

Accessibility readiness is not a single project or deadline-driven sprint. Institutions that succeed should approach accessibility as a sustained practice embedded into academic workflows.

The work often begins with understanding which courses and programs carry the greatest enrollment, risk, or student impact. From there, leaders can plan intentionally, identifying which courses should be addressed first and what kinds of support faculty will need to succeed.

Over time, accessibility becomes part of routine course preparation rather than an emergency response.

This approach emphasizes progress over perfection and prevents the accumulation of “accessibility debt” that creates pressure later.

What to Remediate First

For academic teams, accessibility readiness begins where students spend most of their time: in courses. Learning management system content, syllabi, lecture slides, videos, PDFs, and instructional images all shape the day-to-day learning experience. These materials must be structured so that assistive technologies—such as screen readers or captioning tools—can interpret them accurately.

The updated standards also apply to new social media and web content used to support instruction, as well as to third-party tools and materials adopted for teaching. While the scope of the rule is broad, institutions make the most progress when they prioritize high-impact, student-facing materials first, rather than attempting to remediate everything simultaneously.

This course-first focus allows academic teams to make meaningful progress while respecting faculty workload and institutional capacity.

Supporting Faculty in Realistic Ways

Faculty are under extraordinary pressure. New technologies, evolving student needs, and increasing expectations all compete for limited time. Accessibility initiatives that succeed are those that acknowledge this reality and aim to reduce friction rather than add new burdens.

When faculty are given clear guidance, practical tools, and support that fits into their existing workflows, accessibility becomes manageable. Simple practices—using heading styles in documents, providing captions and transcripts, writing clear and descriptive links—have outsized impact for students and are achievable when expectations are well framed.

Most importantly, when faculty see how accessible design improves learning for all students, accessibility shifts from a mandate to a shared commitment to teaching excellence.

Responsible AI-Expedited Accessibility

AI has become a powerful tool for scaling accessibility work, particularly for time-intensive tasks such as drafting alternative text or generating transcripts. Used well, these tools reduce manual effort and help institutions move faster.

However, accessibility remains an instructional responsibility. AI outputs are starting points, not finished pedagogical artifacts. When paired with subject matter expert review, AI supports both efficiency and instructional integrity by preserving the human judgment that effective teaching requires.

What Success Looks Like Over Time

Institutions building real readiness begin to notice tangible shifts. High-enrollment courses are accessible at the start of term. Faculty rely on shared templates and standards. Students encounter fewer barriers navigating course materials. Accessibility becomes part of how quality is defined, rather than a separate initiative.

These outcomes do not require perfection. They require consistency, clarity, and a willingness to treat accessibility as a shared academic practice.

A Calm Path Forward

The 2026 and 2027 deadlines are real, but they do not require institutions to overhaul everything at once. By focusing on courses and programs, academic leaders can make steady, visible progress while supporting faculty and improving the student experience.

Accessibility readiness is ultimately about care for students, for faculty time, and for the integrity of academic programs. With the right framing and support, it becomes not just a requirement, but a foundation for stronger teaching and learning in the digital age.

Six Red Marbles is here to help guide that work calmly, practically, and in partnership.

How Six Red Marbles Supports Instructional Readiness

Six Red Marbles works as an extension of academic teams, supporting accessibility readiness through course design and program development. Our role is to help institutions move efficiently while protecting instructional quality and faculty time.

We don’t replace faculty expertise; we reinforce it with structure, support, and scalable processes.