The U.S. Department of Justice has finalized a new Web Accessibility Rule under Title II of the ADA that requires state and local governments, including school divisions, to ensure their public-facing websites, mobile apps, and digital content meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA accessibility standards. For public entities serving 50,000 or more people, the rule goes into effect on April 24, 2026 (smaller entities have until April 26, 2027). The rule applies to any digital tools or platforms a school division uses to provide a “service, program, or activity,” which includes instructional materials delivered online. To help professionals prepare for implementation the Department of Justice hosted a webinar which provides a summary of the rule. The following video is a recording of the webinar:
Tag Archives: accessible educational materials
The New Accessibility Rule of the Title II of the American Disabilities Act
The U.S. Department of Justice has finalized a new Web Accessibility Rule under Title II of the ADA that requires state and local governments, including school divisions, to ensure their public-facing websites, mobile apps, and digital content meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA accessibility standards. For public entities serving 50,000 or more people, the rule goes into effect on April 24, 2026 (smaller entities have until April 26, 2027). These requirements include providing alt-text for meaningful images, ensuring sufficient color contrast, enabling keyboard navigation, captioning multimedia, structuring content with headings, and making online forms and documents accessible.
The rule applies to any digital tools or platforms a school division uses to provide a “service, program, or activity,” which includes instructional materials delivered online. When digital instructional content is part of how learners access information or participate in learning, it must meet accessibility expectations as well.
Auto Creation of Video Content
NotebookLM from Google allows educators to design dynamic video experiences from self-selected content. Educators choose materials, load them to NotebookLM, and then create a video overview. The resulting video is similar to a slide deck with a human-like narrator. Here’s a sample video created by the Assistive Technology Specialist specific to accessible educational materials titled Unlocking Learning: AIM in VA. Once a video is created, educators can download the file to edit in a video editor (such as WeVideo) or share directly with learners if no edits are necessary.
NotebookLM Video Overview in the Studio Panel
Creating Human-like Audio Conversations with NotebookLM
NotebookLM from Google allows educators to design dynamic audio experiences from self-selected content. Educators choose materials, load them to NotebookLM, and then create an audio overview. The resulting audio sounds like two human podcast hosts discussing the content. Here’s a sample of the podcast hosts discussing the accomplishments of the Specialized Instructional Facilitators – Assistive Technology and the Assistive Technology Specialist during the 2024 – 2025 school year and a transcript of the podcast. Once created, educators can download the audio file to share with learners.
NotebookLM – Audio Overview is available in the Studio panel on the right.
3451 Khan Academy Resources on #GoOpenVA
#GoOpenVA is a resource from the Commonwealth of Virginia. It provides open source materials that can be used by any educator. One of the providers of resources is Khan Academy, which provides over 3450 pre-made lessons and accessible materials on a wide variety of topics.
A Screenshot of a Khan Academy lesson made in conjunction with Pixar Studios on Coordinate Planes.
Transcribing Audio to Provide Translatable Text in Microsoft Word Online
Sometimes educators share content through audio. Text can be created from the audio file and then copy and pasted into a translation tool as a way to represent the content to those who have not yet learned the language of the words spoken in the audio file. Educators can use the Transcribe feature in Microsoft Word Online to convert the words in an audio file into text. They can then use Microsoft Translator or Google Translate to convert the text into various languages.
The Transcribe Feature in Word Online
The Difference Between Click-Accessible and Hover-Accessible Content
When navigating the Web, some content is displayed when you click on it, often taking the user to a new browser tab. This is known as click-accessible content. Sometimes content is displayed by hovering the cursor over it. This is known as hover-accessible content. Hovering over content provides information without having to click. Sometimes hover-accessible content can present problems for screen magnification users. If a person is magnifying a portion of the screen and a pop-up is displayed outside of the magnified portion, the user might never know the content was even there.
Experience the video titled Click vs. Hover to learn more about how to consider content thinking about the needs of someone who uses screen magnification.
Accessibility checkers to learn how to design materials for everyone
Most educators do not have a background in designing and creating educational materials with accessibility in mind. An accessibility checker will catch design mistakes and guide educators through a process of how to fix them. Consistent use of an accessibility checker consistently helps people learn how to design the next material with less errors. Educators will learn from their mistakes and begin to anticipate what is needed to mitigate errors. The following video explains how to use Grackle Docs to check files created using Google Suite for accessibility errors.
Questions To Ask When Considering Educational Materials
The most efficient way to provide accessible educational materials to students is to find materials that are already created that way! Why create them yourself when someone has already done the work for you? LCPS works to ensure curricular materials that are provided as resources to educators are already accessible. When reviewing materials, educators can ask themselves a series of design questions to determine if the materials are accessible. These questions can include the following:
- If there is text, can it be read aloud by a text to speech application?
- Can items be magnified or enlarged?
- Can the background colors be changed to provide varied contrast?
- When audio plays, is there a corresponding text representation of that sound (ie, captions)?
- When video plays, is there a corresponding optional audio track that can be played, describing the action in the video (ie, video descriptions)?
- When images are presented, do they have corresponding text describing the image and, if so, can this text be presented in audio format (ie, ALT-Tags)?
- Does the user interface have multiple input options to allow for access by someone who uses a switch?
- Is it portable, moveable, adjustable, or mountable to allow for access by someone in a wheelchair?