The Tech Faculty Imperative: Leading with Inclusive Design and Dual Title II Compliance

This article was written in collaboration with:

Michele Kelmer, MS Ed.
Director of Faculty Engagement and Outreach
UITS Learning Technologies

Michael Mace, MS Ed.
Manager
UITS Assistive Technology and Accessibility Centers

Cara Reader, PhD
University ADA Coordinator
Director of Compliance, Training, and ADA
Indiana University – Office of Civil Rights Compliance

As technological advancements reshape education, faculty in computing, engineering, data science, and information technology sit at the intersection of innovation and inclusion. But with this influence comes a responsibility: ensuring the digital environments we create are accessible for all learners.

This is more than compliance—it’s about shaping a future where every student, regardless of ability or background, can thrive. Two federal statutes—Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Title II of the Higher Education Act (HEA)—along with recent executive orders provide a powerful framework for technology faculty to lead transformative change in education.

Why Accessibility? Because There Are Students in Your Classes with Disabilities.

The data makes this clear:

  • According to 2022 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), around 28% of the US public reports having one or more disabilities, including physical, mental, and emotional disabilities. This includes 23.8% of individuals ages 18-44 and 34% of military veterans.

  • In a 2019-2020 survey of college students by the National Center for Education Statistics, 21% of undergraduates and 11% of graduate students reported having a disability. These percentages were similar for traditional and adult students and across disciplines of study, and they increase each year.

There are four main reasons why you may not know who your students with disabilities are:

  1. Most disabilities are invisible. You can’t always look at someone and know they have a mental health, learning, chronic health, physical, hearing, vision, or neurological disability.

  2. Students don’t disclose. Less than 50% of students report their physical disabilities, and less than 30% report mental health, learning, or neurological disabilities. Most students who do not disclose cite the fear of stigma from peers, pushback on accommodation requests by instructors, and the general hassle of documentation.

  3. Students may have a disability but don’t have documentation. They may not have been formally diagnosed due to the cost of testing, lack of adequate health care, or cultural norms. ADHD and autism, for example, can be diagnosed later in life.

  4. Students with new acute or chronic health conditions or injuries may not consider themselves as having a disability, even if it impairs their learning for a semester or more. Being diagnosed and treated for conditions like cancer, multiple sclerosis, or major injuries can significantly impact a student’s ability to manage coursework.

Based on 2024 data, any given 100 college students could include:

  • 30% diagnosed with anxiety and/or depression

  • 20% with sleep difficulties like insomnia or sleep apnea

  • 12% attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

  • 10% who experience migraines or other severe headaches

  • 4% with specific learning disabilities including dyslexia and dyscalculia

  • 4% with autism

  • 2% who are blind or have low vision

  • 2% with a trauma-related disability including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

  • 2% who are Deaf or hard of hearing

It’s common for people to have overlapping disabilities, so while this isn’t to say everyone has a disability, the point is that it’s extremely unlikely that no one in your classes has a disability.

Understanding Title II: ADA + HEA

Accessibility isn’t just the right thing to do for your students; digital accessibility, like physical accessibility provided by ramps and curb cuts, is now the law.

Title II of the ADA (1990, updated 2024): Prohibits discrimination by public entities, including public colleges and universities. In April 2024, the Department of Justice released new rules requiring digital content and services to be accessible to people with disabilities. This includes:

  • Course content in Canvas (your Learning Management System (LMS))

  • Department websites and internal platforms

  • Educational technologies used in class

  • Videos, documents, and simulations

  • Social Media Posts

Key Deadline:

April 2026 for institutions serving >50,000 

The purpose of this update is to help ensure that people with any of a wide range of disabilities can easily access the same web content and online services provided by state and local government and public educational institutions that those without a disability can. Your online courses and anything you put within your LMS are considered web content.

This web content must meet the new accessibility standards if:

  • students or the public can access it online,

  • it’s currently being used (not archival content), and

  • it’s part of the work you do for your institution.

For something to be considered accessible, it must be:

  • Equally integrated: provided at the same time and not separate.

  • Equally effective: provides equal opportunity or outcome.

  • Substantially equivalent in ease of use: should not be more difficult.

According to the Title II update, content in Spring 2026 courses and beyond must be accessible, whether or not you have a student with an accommodation request. There will no longer be an option to wait for an accommodation request to make your course site meet basic accessible guidelines. Accommodations apply when the basics of accessibility are insufficient to meet the specific need of the student. You will still receive accommodation requests for extended time on assessments or specialized accommodations such as a sign language interpreter, a Braille textbook, or tactile graphics as needed.

Title II of the HEA: Requires teacher preparation programs (and increasingly, faculty across disciplines) to use evidence-based pedagogical practices and report on outcomes like teaching effectiveness and alignment with workforce demands.

What Tech Faculty Can Do: Inclusive Teaching in Action

Here’s how you can align your pedagogy with Title II ADA, Title II HEA, and federal priorities—with real-world examples to guide you.

  1. Design Digitally Accessible Content from the Start

  • Use alternative text (alt-text) for all images, charts, and graphs:

  • Example: In a software engineering course, use: “UML diagram showing user login process, including ‘Enter Credentials’, ‘Verify’, and ‘Authenticate’.” This applies to images embedded in presentations, documents, and web pages.

  • Caption all video and transcribe all audio content:

  • Example: A data structures professor records weekly screencasts with auto-captioning, edited for accuracy and posted with transcripts on Canvas. For students who are deaf or hard of hearing, this is essential. Providing a full transcript also benefits students who prefer to read or who need to quickly search for specific information within the content.

  • Structure documents for readability and navigation: When creating lecture notes, assignments, or syllabi in Word, PowerPoint, or PDF, use proper heading structures (e.g., H1, H2, H3), bullet points, and numbered lists—not just bold or color. This allows screen readers to navigate the document logically and helps all students process information more easily. Avoid using color alone to convey meaning (e.g., “red text indicates a critical warning”) as this can be inaccessible to color-blind individuals.

  • Use accessibility checkers in Word, Adobe Acrobat, or Google Docs. IU recommends this practice across all digital materials.

  1. Evaluate the Accessibility of Tools and Platforms

  • Check for WCAG 2.1 AA compliance before adopting new software, simulations, or online learning platforms:

  • Example: Before adopting a new online code editor, the faculty requests a VPAT (Voluntary Product Accessibility Template) and only proceeds after reviewing it with IT accessibility staff. If a vendor cannot provide evidence of compliance, consider alternative solutions or work with your institution to ensure reasonable accommodations can be made.

  • Test for keyboard navigation and screen reader compatibility:

  • Example: In a web development course, the professor makes part of the final project require full keyboard navigation and ARIA labels.

  • Leverage built-in LMS accessibility tools like Canvas Accessibility Checker or Anthology Ally.

  • Example: When uploading a new module to Canvas, a professor runs the accessibility checker to identify any images without alt-text or poorly contrasted text, rectifying these issues before publishing.

  1. Implement Inclusive Pedagogical Practices (Title II HEA + ADA)

  • Use Universal Design for Learning (UDL) to offer multiple means of engagement and representation: Provide information in various formats (e.g., video, text, simulation) and allow students to demonstrate their learning in diverse ways (e.g., flexible assessment like a prototype + presentation or GitHub repo + write-up).

  • Example: In an IoT capstone project, students can present via slide deck, interactive demo, or video walkthrough—with guidelines for accessibility built into the rubric. This accommodates different learning styles and abilities.

  1. Track Outcomes and Improve with Data

  • Align assignments to real-world certifications (e.g., AWS, CompTIA, Python Institute), and track student success to inform redesigns.

  • Use learning analytics in GitHub, Jupyter Notebooks, or Canvas to see where engagement or comprehension gaps occur.

Moving Forward: Build a Culture of Accessibility

Implementing Title II effectively isn’t a one-time project; it’s an ongoing commitment that requires a cultural shift towards proactive accessibility. For technological faculty, this means:

  • Continuous Improvement: Regularly audit your courses with accessibility in mind each semester. Ask students for anonymous feedback on digital barriers.

  • Collaborate: Partner with your institution’s accessibility services office and instructional designers. Join or form a cross-departmental working group on inclusive STEM teaching.

  • Educate Yourself and Others: Complete self-paced training or attend workshops on accessibility and UDL. Share accessible templates with your colleagues.

Tech Faculty: You Are Equity Catalysts

By aligning your teaching with Title II of the ADA and HEA, you’re doing more than following the law. You’re building a future where every student—regardless of disability, background, or learning style—can succeed in STEM and computing fields.

Additional resources:

IU Knowledgebase documents:

IU Expand Training Courses

Web resources

Integrating metacognitive and student engagement strategies into your practice

The article, “How Changes in K-12 Schooling Hampered the Preparation of College Students” Published last month in the Chronicle of Higher Education,  explores how reforms in K-12 education, combined with broader societal changes and disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic, and teacher shortages have affected the academic habits and preparedness of today’s college students, particularly Generation Z. When examining how test-based accountability has impacted curriculum design, policies such as “No Child Left Behind” have prioritized short-term performance over long-term learning.

Teaching became narrowly focused on test-taking skills, such as answering multiple-choice questions and writing formulaic essays, leaving students unprepared for broader academic tasks. “The [K-12] curriculum has been narrowed to mirror standardized tests. Students work on short passages to develop specific skills. Every class has a lesson, and every lesson has an assessment plan and an outcome. So when students arrive at college, they are conditioned to expect that same level of guidance. Ethan Hutt [an associate professor of education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill], would like to give an assignment that goes like this: Pick a topic, write an essay, and say something interesting. But he finds he can’t — not even with his doctoral students”.

The article argues that, as a result, Students struggle with tasks like reading long texts and writing analytical essays because of a curriculum that favored short passages and responses. The shift away from holistic learning resulted in “atomized” education, where students are conditioned to expect detailed rubrics and granular guidance for assignments. Professors find that students enter college unprepared for the skills that are expected of them. Students often struggle with open-ended assignments, critical thinking, and engaging deeply with academic material. The article concludes that while K-12 reforms and the pandemic have played significant roles in shaping current students’ academic habits, broader systemic and cultural factors must also be addressed. Higher education inherits these challenges and must adapt to better support students’ academic and social transitions.

Based on the content of this article it may be helpful to integrate student engagement and metacognitive practices into first and second year classes such as integrating the Student Engagement Roster into your classroom practice:

SER Roster: The early feedback tool that allows faculty members to communicate with students about how they are doing in a class and make recommendations to improve or deepen their learning. SER also allows instructors to meet two faculty reporting obligations at IUB: Attendance verification and early evaluation grades. More information on those topics is available in the Help and Resources section.

Next week (1/20/2025) Submit SER with Attendance/Participation Feedback for:

  • Anyone not attending

  • Anyone already struggling to turn in work

  • Anyone doing a great job participating

Metacognitive Strategies

 

Think Aloud Exercises:

Anytime you can talk out loud (‘think aloud’) about how you view a document or a picture or programming an assignment, or share your thinking processes with students you are helping them become more metacognitive in their own approaches to the subject.  Once you have modeled for them how you would solve a problem or interpret a piece of writing, have students work in pairs to talk out loud as to how they are thinking about an assignment piece of homework or an assignment.

Concept Mapping: 

Learning benefits can be derived from instructor-led or student-constructed concept maps of the connections and key ideas from a course or class. It is best that the instructor demonstrate how to design a concept map of a class or course before students are asked to do the same. Show students how the readings, videos, assignments and activities are connected to the course learning outcomes and other courses.

Design a brief or detailed concept map of the course or sub-components of the course and share with students. Then later on in course students can form small groups and build a concept map as a review activity before a mid-term or as a review of a portion of the course. Students can do for homework or they can do in class and share with each other explaining the interrelationships between each component. Ask the students to draw all the ‘cross-links’ and label them as they see the components connecting fully or partially.

Guided Notes

Guided notes are structured outlines provided by an instructor that include key concepts, ideas, or topics, with spaces for students to fill in additional information during the lecture or while engaging with course content.

  • Lecture Notes: An instructor provides an outline of the lecture with prompts for students to add definitions, examples, or connections.

  • Reading Notes: A guided framework for analyzing a reading or resource, directing students’ attention to specific questions or themes.

  • Problem-Solving Frameworks: In mathematics or sciences, guided notes might include partial steps of a problem-solving process, leaving students to complete the solution.

This technique aligns with various teaching strategies, including scaffolding and universal design for learning (UDL), as it helps to bridge the gap between independent learning and instructor support.

More strategies and resources available here.

Incorrect Assumptions about Student Learning Behaviors

In an article on inclusive teaching strategies by Saunders and Kardia, the authors share that instructors can hold incorrect assumptions about student learning behaviors and capacities. When faculty hold such views, the authors argue, a negative learning environment can result, and student learning is undermined. Some of the incorrect problematic assumptions listed include:

  • Students will seek help when they are struggling with a class. 

  • Poor writing suggests limited intellectual ability. 

  • Older students or students with physical disabilities are slower learners and require more attention from the instructor. 

  • Students whose cultural affiliation is tied to non- English speaking groups are not native English speakers or are bilingual. 

  • Students who are affiliated with a particular group (gender, race, ethnic, sexuality) are experts on issues related to that group and feel comfortable being seen as information sources to the rest of the class and the instructor who are not members of that group. 

  • All students from a particular group share the same view on an issue, and their perspective will necessarily be different from the majority of the class who are not from that group. 

  • Students from certain groups are more likely to be argumentative or conflictual during class discussions or to not participate in class discussions or to bring a more radical agenda to class discussions. 

In addition to assumptions, the article includes strategies to address the assumptions as well how you might learn more about your students through the process of addressing these types of assumptions. Because developing an inclusive classroom climate is an ongoing process, faculty should consider and reconsider their assumptions before the course begins, during the course, and after the course ends (Garibay 2015). 

Universal Design: Implications for Computing Education

The article, Universal Design: Implications for Computing Education https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2037276.2037283 provides examples of the strategies that apply UD to instruction and assessment in the context of a computer science classroom and recommends topics for future research. The examples include:

  • Select printed materials and prepare a syllabus early to allow students the option of beginning to read materials before the course begins and allow adequate time to arrange for alternate formats, such as books in audio format or in Braille.

  • Include a statement in her syllabus inviting students to meet with her regarding learning challenges, disability-related accommodations, and/or computer and technology lab access issues.

  • Provide a comprehensive syllabus that includes learning objectives, a grading rubric, course assignments and deadlines, test dates, and student resources.

  • Arrange seating to ensure each student has a clear line of sight to her and visual aids and allow room for wheelchairs in multiple locations.

  • Give students scaffolding tools such as outlines, graphic organizers, and copies of projected materials with room for note taking.

  • Use large, bold fonts on uncluttered overhead displays.

  • Speak aloud content presented with visual aids.

  • Face the class, speak clearly, make eye contact with all students, and refer to students by name.

  • Incorporate background and contextual information.

  • Present content in a logical order, summarize what has been covered periodically, and emphasize major points.

  • Avoid unnecessary jargon and complexity; define new terms and acronyms.

  • Provide multiple examples of specific concepts to make them relevant to individuals with diverse characteristics with respect to gender, ethnicity, race, socioeconomic status, age, ability, disability, interest, and life experiences.

  • Repeat questions asked by students to ensure all have heard them.

  • Encourage students to share multiple perspectives and model mutual respect.

  • Avoid drawing undue attention to a difference, such as a disability.

  • Put class notes and assignments [in Canvas or] on a Web site in an accessible, text-based format.

  • Provide multiple ways to demonstrate knowledge, allow ample time for tests, and use a testing format that is consistent with teaching practices and assignments.

  • Provide regular feedback and corrective opportunities (e.g., allow students to turn in parts of a large programming project for feedback before the final project is due and give students some credit for correcting errors after an assignment is first submitted).

  • Know campus protocols for getting materials in alternate formats and arranging for other accommodations for students with disabilities.

  • Make sure that assistive technology can be made available in a computer lab in a timely manner when requested.

If you have time, consider sharing under this post:

What issues have you seen, or could you imagine, related to equitable treatment of people with disabilities in your classes? What are your thoughts on the approaches for making classes more accessible suggested in the article?

How do you think the concept of universal design interacts and intersects with some of the other ideas we’ve discussed this semester? How can it apply to other aspects of equity and inclusion?

How UDL Helps Us Create Classes Where Everyone Can Learn and Succeed

A few weeks ago we talked about UDL in the conversation around accessible syllabi. This post provides more back ground on what UDL or (Universal Design of Learning) is, and how it can be useful to you when you for the purposes of teaching and learning. The information I am providing was adapted from the work of Flower Darby, author of Small Teaching Online. and the UDL Higher Education Special Interest Group.

Within the higher education landscape, there are unique challenges. Some of these include: differing school models and missions, degrees of faculty’s focus on research (sometimes over instruction), the size of classes and campuses, the connections between faculty and students, the lack of  background in the area of teaching for many individual faculty, the relationship among faculty and other service providers (e.g., disability services), and the impact of legislative accessibility standards (different for different countries).

Although UDL first took hold in K12 education, the neuroscience and the principles that undergird this framework certainly apply to higher education as well, to address the wide variety of students that an institution may serve. When we think about the college context and about today’s students, we realize that other considerations come into play in addition to students’ needs and preferences relating to both learning and technology.

For example, today’s college students [at both the graduate and undergraduate level] are more likely than ever to be juggling at least one of the following challenges, and often more than one:

  • Working to pay for college

  • Raising a child on their own

  • Dealing with mental health challenges such as anxiety

  • Facing food or housing insecurity, if not both

  • Or a myriad of other issues.

Given this reality, it’s important that we build in support and options within the very design of the class. While students  at IU can request accommodations based on need, Newt Miller, Associate Dean at Ashford University has said, we can “accommodate off the bat,” (2020) so that students don’t need to request special treatment, deadline extensions, or opportunities to revise and resubmit, as examples.

General Resources:

This video provides more information about the importance of UDL in our college classes.

Additional Resources