{"id":106580,"date":"2026-02-02T15:55:25","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T15:55:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/?p=106580"},"modified":"2026-02-02T17:10:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T17:10:14","slug":"helping-all-students-succeed-course-accessibility-resources","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2026\/02\/helping-all-students-succeed-course-accessibility-resources\/","title":{"rendered":"Helping All Students Succeed: Course Accessibility Resources"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>Feb. 2, 2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dear Faculty,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>New legal requirements introduced by the U.S. Department of Justice that define the technical standards digital content must meet to comply with Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act\u2014WCAG 2.1 AA\u2014go into effect on April 24, 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the University of Rhode Island, our commitment to accessibility goes beyond meeting legal requirements to reflect our dedication to equity, inclusion, and academic excellence. By designing courses that align with accessibility standards, we ensure that every student has a meaningful opportunity to engage, learn, and thrive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is an important reminder that digital course content must be accessible to the greatest extent possible. This includes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Images: Alternative Text<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Audio\/Videos:Captions and transcripts<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Proper heading structure for screen-reader navigation<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Adequate color contrast and readable fonts<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Accessible file formats (PDFs, Microsoft Word docs, PowerPoints, spreadsheets, etc.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a><\/a>Support and Training Available<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>ITS Teaching &amp; Learning Services (TLS) has training and support available:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Walk-in computer stations and TLS team support: Library room 227, 8:30-4:30 M-F\u202f<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Find\u202f<a href=\"https:\/\/its.uri.edu\/tls\/edtech-pd\/\">training<\/a>\u202feither by \u201cTraining by Topic\u201d or \u201cTraining by Month\u201d\u202f<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>TLS\u202fBrightspace Improvements\u202f<a href=\"https:\/\/its.uri.edu\/training-and-support\/\">virtual Q &amp; A<\/a> every 2nd Monday and 3rd Thursday\u202fthrough October 2026<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/rhody.service-now.com\/sp?id=sc_cat_item&amp;sys_id=681efea087576e90df552f07cebb35d6&amp;sysparm_category=8c65618897e0a910662ff7021153af2e\">Request<\/a>\u202fgroup training perhaps for departments and colleges<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>View <a href=\"https:\/\/its.uri.edu\/tls\/ada-compliance-in-edtech\/\">accessibility resources<\/a> on the TLS EdTech page. \u202f<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Feb. 2, 2026 Dear Faculty, New legal requirements introduced by the U.S. Department of Justice that define the technical standards digital content must meet to comply with Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act\u2014WCAG 2.1 AA\u2014go into effect on April 24, 2026. At the University of Rhode Island, our commitment to accessibility goes beyond [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1866],"tags":[1857,1858],"class_list":["post-106580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-911±¬ΑΟ-message","tag-audience-faculty","tag-audience-staff"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106580","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106580"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106580\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":106594,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106580\/revisions\/106594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}