Frequently Asked Questions
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Do I have to worry about accessibility if I do not teach any online courses?
The Title II rule says nothing about course modalities. If you provide students with digital content in any kind of course, it should be accessible. So in a traditional course, hybrid, fully online or any place you provide digital content, that content should meet accessibility guidelines.
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Why do we have to work on Spring 2026 courses if the rule goes into effect on the last day of the semester?
The rule is effective on April 26, 2026, so UAB is required to be compliant with the rule on that day and through exam week. But if you have summer courses, it is more important that you ensure those courses are fully compliant on the first day of summer semester. At the very least, you should ensure that all students who need accommodations have them as of April 26 and that all students are aware of how to report accommodation issues with any course content.
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How can I receive support from the Office of Learning Technologies?
Two things. First, the Panorama tool provided to you inside Canvas will point out to you most things that need to be changed to meet accessibility guidelines and also provide guidance and a way to fix them right where they are in your course. Second, OLT is available to support you in this process by answering questions, and as necessary and to the degree possible, work to assist you in remediating content that you cannot manage to fix.
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I only teach clinical courses with little digital content. Do I have to worry about this?
If you provide any content to students (documents in any form, videos, webpages, etc.), whatever the context, it should meet accessibility standards. Of course, the less content you have, the less need there will be to remediate it.
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What do I do if I do not know how to fix an accessibility issue?
If the suggestions and guidance provided by Panorama inside Canvas do not address your questions, reach out to OLT for assistance.
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Do I need to comply with Title II if no student has informed me that they need an accommodation for a disability?
Title II was written to make it unnecessary for students to have to ask for accommodations to access digital content. The rule is an attempt to proactively make access to content equitable for those with disabilities. Many of the accessibility standards are also good for all students regardless of ability. Closed captioned videos, and high contrast text-to-background color are examples of accessibility standards that can benefit all students.
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How long do we expect this requirement to be in place?
Unless the law changes, we are obligated to continue providing accessible digital content going forward. But remediating existing content is something that should subside within a year or two as we fix that content. As you learn more about creating accessible content, your new content in the future should be created with accessibility in mind so that this kind of remediation will not be necessary. OLT will provide resources for learning more about how to create accessible content.