Digital Course Content Accessibility

Dear colleagues, as you are likely aware, UTA has been working towards increasing the accessibility of its online resources including the materials provided in our Canvas courses. This push is in response to both campus need and the implementation of new Americans with Disabilities Act (A.D.A.) regulations by the Department of Justice (28 C.F.R. 35 – Subpart H). Those regulations will go into effect April 24, 2026, and it is UTA's goal to be fully compliant on or before that date.

To help in reaching that goal UTA faculty have access to the Canvas Ally tool to aid in identifying course materials needing remediation to comply with the regulations. While Ally is a good tool, it is not infallible and may over report accessibility issues either because it encounters issues as an automated system that a human user would not or because it lacks the ability to identify which materials might qualify for an exception under the regulations. The goal is full compliance with the regulations, not necessarily 100% Ally scores.

While faculty should strive to, where possible, get their course scores to 100% so that they can be as certain as possible that their materials are fully accessible, those having trouble reaching that goal can take the following steps. Instructors should address issues flagged as Severe or Major on their Ally reports as soon as possible. Other issues may be addressed over the course of the semester as instructors have time and become more familiar with the remediation process. Faculty can find resources to support their accessibility efforts on the CRTLE website and should also consider contacting the Libraries for assistance in identifying and procuring alternate materials. There are some materials that cannot be made accessible due to their nature but are still essential to the objectives of the course. Faculty who believe they have such materials in their Canvas courses should submit a request for an exception through Service Now.

The following are FAQs the Office of Legal Affairs and the Office of Information Technology have received, which may be helpful to better understand how to comply  with the new regulations. Additional questions may be sent to crtle@uta.edu.

Digital Course Content Accessibility FAQs

As stated above, the goal is full compliance with the law which may or may not be reflected by a 100% score on Ally. While removal of all course content from Canvas would likely result in a 100% Ally score it is unlikely to best serve the instructional goals of a course. It is the University’s hope that instructors will take the rest of the semester to become familiar with the common issues in their materials and become adept at correcting them or selecting equivalent accessible materials so that the task of compliance is much less onerous in the future. Additionally, faculty should keep in mind that the regulations apply to any digital content delivered via internet, including by email. Thus, while removing all materials from Canvas might result in a 100% score on Ally the need to proactively make those materials accessible remains if they will be provided digitally.

Yes, the accessibility requirements apply to all web content, anything delivered via the internet, UTA “provides or makes available” regardless of its audience. While public facing materials may have a higher possibility of scrutiny, internal content must still be accessible. There is an exception for certain password protected documents, but class materials do not fulfill the exception’s requirements.

The 99% standard is applicable in the media broadcast industry and while a worthy goal it is not necessarily transferable to the higher education context. Our courses have significantly fewer expected viewers than most broadcast media and our students have a greater ability to interact with their instructors than an average viewer would have to interact with the producer of a particular piece of media. Thus, UTA believes that recordings with a confidence score of 95% in Echo360 will be in compliance. However, faculty should keep in mind that technical terms are more commonly mis-transcribed and should be ready to make additional edits to their captions should they be made aware of issues after first posting a video.

You are likely familiar with other A.D.A. regulations that require that UTA provide reasonable accommodations to students with a disability in order for them to fully participate in educational programs. Certain buildings have ramps and elevators regardless of whether a wheelchair user is known to be part of the group the building is intended to serve. The new Subpart H regulations are structured so that materials are already accessible for all individuals, without requesting an accommodation. UTA and other entities subject to the regulations are required to meet the WCAG 2.1 standards as a baseline for all web content and mobile applications used in their services, programs, and activities.

In the Subpart H regulations, the Department of Justice chose to focus on digital content. This may lead to some incongruity between in person and online delivery. However, faculty should keep in mind that the design parameters required under the regulations generally increase the ease of reading in both print and digital formats.