Meeting WCAG 2.1 AA standards across websites, course content, and digital tools will require institutions to clarify who does what and what that looks like in practice.
Despite its importance, compliance alone doesn’t guarantee students equal access. Accessibility only becomes truly effective when institutions align workflows with the people doing the work. Instructors, instructional designers, accessibility coordinators, and administrators all touch the learning management system (LMS) in different ways, and each role has unique opportunities to improve digital accessibility and student experience.
While budget constraints and competing priorities can make accessibility feel overwhelming, breaking down responsibilities by role creates manageable pathways to compliance.
For Instructors: Improving Content at the Source
Instructors shape the daily learning experience, which gives them a unique opportunity to improve accessibility at the source.
Automated accessibility checks surface issues like missing headings or low contrast as soon as content is uploaded, helping instructors correct problems in the moment. At the same time, alternative formats are generated automatically, giving students immediate access to materials in the way that works best for them.
Instructors don’t need to be accessibility experts; their role is to teach, supported by workflows that make their content accessible by default.
Action steps for instructors:
- Review and act on automated accessibility suggestions as content is uploaded.
- Encourage students to use the alternative formats generated automatically and verify that they meet their learning needs.
- Use real-time feedback to build accessibility awareness for future content creation.
For Instructional Designers: Building Accessibility Into Course Design
Instructional designers influence how entire courses are built and reused over time, which makes their role critical for lasting accessibility.
Remediation engines streamline complex tasks, such as ensuring PDFs are properly tagged, and course-level reports highlight recurring issues across multiple modules. This helps designers apply fixes consistently, so every student benefits from accessible course structures semester after semester.
Action steps for designers include:
- Collaborate with administrators to configure scoring rubrics and severity weighting that reflect institutional priorities.
- Use course-level reports to identify and address recurring accessibility patterns.
For Accessibility Coordinators: Monitoring and Reporting
Coordinators and support staff provide oversight across an institution, allowing them to turn accessibility into measurable progress.
Dashboards and analytics supply visibility into accessibility scores, trends, and areas that need extra attention. With data in hand, coordinators can prioritize training, provide targeted outreach, and ensure compliance aligns with student needs.
For example, Northshore Technical Community College improved from 62 percent to 93 percent accessibility by taking a targeted approach where faculty learned to think about accessibility choices on the front-end rather than as an afterthought.
Their role connects institutional goals with everyday teaching and learning.
Action steps for coordinators include:
- Set up regular accessibility score monitoring and reporting.
- Identify departments or courses with the lowest scores for focused support.
- Distribute support guides and resources to help faculty with common accessibility questions.
For Administrators: Aligning Policy With Practice
Administrators set policy and allocate resources, which puts them in a unique position to create a culture of accessibility.
Centralized reporting shows where departments or campuses need additional support, while insights from accessibility data guide strategic planning and budgeting. This allows administrators to align compliance obligations with institutional priorities, ensuring accessibility efforts are both sustainable and student-centered.
Immediate action steps for administrators:
- Integrate accessibility metrics into departmental performance reviews.
- Allocate a dedicated budget for accessibility tools and training.
- Establish clear accountability measures and compliance timelines.
Accessibility Is a Shared Responsibility
Title II regulations define what must be done, from technical standards to compliance deadlines, exemptions, and more. But ultimately, how these goals are achieved will determine whether students truly benefit.
Sustainable progress comes when accessibility is integrated into the workflows of every role, including instructors, course designers, coordinators, and administrators. Together, these role-based workflows transform accessibility from a compliance requirement into a meaningful student experience.
