SystemTeaching, Learning & Online Education

Course Content Accessibility Remediation

Accessibility remediation you can hear: every course file re-tested the way a screen reader reads it, confirmed by the instructor and signed course by course

Every course file fixed before April 2027, and heard right by a screen-reader test.

See one case, screen by screen ↓
demo31of 412Arts and Sciences courses left to fix once CHEM 2410 passed, 187 days before April 26, 2027
demo1,882filesfixed overnight; the Listener passed 1,836 and sent 46 back to the fixers
target100%of fixed files re-tested by an independent screen-reader pass before a person approves
target2business daysfrom a disability services request to accessible files
In short

What is Course Content Accessibility Remediation?

Course Content Accessibility Remediation is accessibility remediation for course files: instructional designers fix LMS pages, PDFs, slides and video to WCAG 2.1 AA, course by course. Agents find what fails, tag the files, write equations as MathML, draft alt text from the lecture's own notes and caption the videos, and a separate Listener re-reads every fix the way a screen reader would. The instructor confirms meaning, the designer approves, and the ADA coordinator signs the course record.

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Updated

The problem

Why accessibility remediation stalls on course files

Accessibility remediation of course content now runs to a date. Under the Department of Justice's ADA Title II rule, a public college, university or school district must make the web content and course materials it provides meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA: by April 26, 2027 for a public entity serving 50,000 people or more, and April 26, 2028 for smaller ones. Most course files were never built for a screen reader. A lecture PDF exported from slides reads its footer first, says "image" for every equation and diagram, and flattens a table into a run of numbers.

Scanners score each file and flag issues, but complex PDFs, math, diagrams and video are still fixed by hand or sent out at a typical $5–$8 a page. Nobody checks a fix the way a screen-reader user meets it. Alt text written by someone who does not know the subject often misstates a diagram, and nobody asks the instructor. Disability services requests wait behind thousands of files, and when a complaint arrives there is no single record per course. Course Content Accessibility Remediation puts seven agents on that work, and the instructional designer, the instructor and the ADA coordinator spend their time deciding.

typical$5–$8a pagetypical price to outsource PDF remediation, from published university and vendor price lists
typical$1.25–$2.20a minutetypical price for human-verified lecture captions
typical$5.5BDOJ's own cost estimate for making postsecondary course content accessible
Where one course's remediation days go, in business daysestimated
By hand13 days
With the solution2.5 days
  • Finding what fails WCAG 2.1 AA in each file1 → 0.1 d
  • Tagging PDFs and slides: reading order, headings, table headers4 → 0.3 d
  • Equations, diagrams and alt text, and asking the instructor3 → 1 d
  • Captions and transcripts for the lecture videos2 → 0.5 d
  • Checking each fix the way a screen reader reads it1 → 0.1 d
  • Approval, signature and the course record2 → 0.5 d

Estimated split for a course of about 38 files (PDFs, slide decks, pages, documents and two videos), by hand and with the agents. The 'after' column includes the instructor's confirmation and the designer's review. Our arithmetic, kept modest.

How it works

How a course moves

Seven agents scan, fix, re-test and record; the instructor confirms meaning, the designer approves and the ADA coordinator signs.

What comes in
Course files in5 systems · pages, PDFs, slides, video, requests
Agents at work
ScannerWCAG 2.1 AA findings
Then
Triage coordinatorrequests first
Then
Document fixertags, order, tables
Alt text and math fixerMathML, cited alt text
Caption and transcript fixerglossary, described visuals
Then
Listenerre-reads as a screen reader
A person decides
Instructor, designer, ADA coordinatorconfirm meaning, approve, sign
What comes out
Fixed files published
Signed course record
Deadline tracked
One case, step by step

One lecture, through accessibility remediation to a signed course record

Halden State University, Wednesday, October 21, 2026: 187 days to April 26, 2027. A student who uses a screen reader has a chemistry exam on October 27. Here is what happens to CHEM 2410, screen by screen, in the working solution.

  1. 01Oct 20, 4:52 PM

    A disability services request arrives by case number

    Marcus Bell · Access Specialist, Disability Services

    Request DS-26-0418 needs CHEM 2410 Lectures 7–12 and MATH 2210 Units 5–6 by October 23, on a 2-business-day clock. The request carries the student's need, never the student's name: the student is named only in the disability services case system.

  2. 028:20 AM

    Requests go first, then the course taught soonest

    Triage coordinator

    The Triage coordinator moves both courses to the top of the Arts and Sciences queue with the request chip and its clock. The queue is a clean list: each course with its instructor, files passed, due date and status, with filters, search and bulk actions above it.

  3. 038:20 to 8:39 AM

    The agents' run on Lecture 7, step by step

    Document fixer · Alt text and math fixer

    Run L-26-118204 logs seven steps. The Document fixer tags all 18 pages from the source slides (confidence 0.98). The Alt text and math fixer writes the equation as MathML from slide 9's typed text (0.97) and drafts the diagram's alt text from the slide notes, page 12 (0.81). By 8:39 AM, 37 of the course's 38 files have passed the Listener.

    A fixer can never pass its own work; meaning goes to the instructor.

  4. 04Before

    Page 4, the way a screen reader hears it today

    Tessa Lindqvist · Instructional Designer

    The original page sits on the left with numbered bubbles in reading order; on the right is what a screen reader says, line by line. The footer is read first, then "image", then the title, then "image" again, then a table with no headers. Listen plays the lines in order and highlights each part of the page as it is read.

    "CHEM 2410 Fall 2026 Doctor Wendt 4 slash 18"

  5. 05After

    Structure passes; two meanings wait on the instructor

    Listener

    The Listener re-reads all 18 pages: reading order, 5 headings, 1 table and the MathML read as expected. Every line now carries its WCAG criterion, the fixer, its confidence and its source. The equation and the diagram carry a meaning only Dr. Wendt can confirm, so the Listener records them as waiting, not passed.

    "Math: delta G equals delta H minus T delta S."

  6. 06One click

    The alt text was drafted from her own slide notes

    Dr. Ines Wendt · Associate Professor of Chemistry

    She opens the citation on the diagram line and reads her own note under slide 9. The draft says the catalyzed path peaks at 52 kilojoules and the uncatalyzed at 88, matching her note. She can confirm it, rewrite it in her own words, or reject it with a reason.

    "Without the catalyst the path climbs to about 88 kJ; with it, the peak is near 52 kJ."

  7. 07Confirmed

    Every file passes, and the college count ticks down

    Dr. Ines Wendt · Listener

    Dr. Wendt confirms both meanings as drafted (MC-1). The Listener re-reads the page with her wording and passes it: six things read in order, none says only "image", and the footer is marked as decoration. CHEM 2410 has 38 of 38 files passing, and Arts and Sciences drops from 32 to 31 of 412 courses left.

  8. 08Oct 20, 11:02 AM

    A fix that reads wrong goes back, even when a checker would pass it

    Listener

    Lecture 9, page 2 has two columns. The fixer's first attempt read them in turn, so a sentence was broken by the worked example. The Listener failed it, said what it heard and sent it back; attempt 2, at 11:09 AM, read column one in full and then the worked example, and passed.

    "Listener: a sentence is broken by the second column. Failed, and sent back."

  9. 09Approved, then signed

    The designer approves; the ADA coordinator signs

    Tessa Lindqvist · Grant Holloway, ADA Coordinator

    Tessa approves the course with reason code AP-1, and 38 fixed files publish to the learning management system as new versions, with the originals kept. Grant Holloway then signs the course record with SG-1. The person who approves a course can never sign its record.

    "Next: Grant Holloway signs. The approver cannot sign the same course."

  10. 10Audit-ready

    One trail, and a redacted pack for any reviewer

    Dana Okafor · Internal Auditor

    Dr. Wendt's confirmation (MC-1) and Tessa's approval (AP-1) are already on the audit trail with their evidence. One click builds a pack for internal audit, the Office for Civil Rights, the Department of Justice or an accreditor: every file's finding, fix and Listener result, the before and after transcripts, and requests by case number only.

Who it’s for

Built for everyone who answers for an accessible course.

The same lecture, seen by the five people who carry it, from the disability services request to the signed record: what their day looked like, and what it looks like now.

TL
Tessa LindqvistInstructional Designer, College of Arts and Sciences · 412 courses with findings
Instructional Designer
Before
Works through checker scores file by file, with disability services requests landing on top of thousands of files.
Now
Starts on what needs her, hears each page before and after the fix, and approves a course only when every file has passed the Listener.
IW
Dr. Ines WendtAssociate Professor of Chemistry · CHEM 2410, 3 sections, 214 students
Associate Professor of Chemistry
Before
Is rarely asked, so alt text written by someone who does not know chemistry can misstate her diagram.
Now
Sees only her own two questions, drafted from her own slides and notes and cited, and confirms, rewrites or rejects each one.
GH
Grant HollowayADA Coordinator, Office of Equal Opportunity · signs course records and decides exceptions
ADA Coordinator
Before
When a complaint arrives, has no single record per course of what was wrong, who fixed it and who checked it.
Now
Signs one record per course listing every file's finding, fix, Listener result and person, and exports it with student identity redacted.
EV
Elena VasquezDirector of Digital Accessibility · owns the program, its deadline and its agents
Director of Digital Accessibility
Before
Finds out late that a college has quietly fallen behind the deadline.
Now
Sees each college projected to April 26, 2027, escalates Fine Arts and Music with a drafted note she sends, and sets the thresholds the agents run on.
MB
Marcus BellAccess Specialist, Disability Services · files accommodation requests
Access Specialist, Disability Services
Before
Watches a student's request queue behind thousands of files with an exam days away.
Now
Files a request by case number, sees its courses move to the top on their own clock, and tells the student when every file is ready.
Built on the engine

7 agents. Each with one job, and hard limits.

Seven agents scan, fix, re-test and record; the instructor confirms meaning, the designer approves and the ADA coordinator signs.

Scanner

Crawls every course shell, video and source file each night and records a WCAG 2.1 AA finding for each item, with its location.

  • Never opens student submissions, grades or feedback
  • Never changes a file
Triage coordinator

Orders the work: disability services requests first, then the course taught soonest, then the deadline. Assigns designers, keeps the clocks and drafts reminders and escalations.

  • Never lowers a request's priority
  • Never sends a reminder or notice itself
Document fixer

Tags PDFs, Word files and slides with reading order, headings, lists, tables, title and language, rebuilt from the source file when there is one.

  • Never changes wording
  • Never marks its own work as passed
Alt text and math fixer

Writes equations as MathML from the source's typed text, drafts alt text from the surrounding lecture and the instructor's notes, and writes long descriptions for charts and maps, citing where each fact came from.

  • Never invents a number not in the course's own materials
  • Never publishes a meaning the instructor has not confirmed
Caption and transcript fixer

Captions and transcribes lectures with the course glossary, drafts translated captions, and describes visuals shown without narration.

  • Never publishes translated captions without the instructor
Listener

Re-reads every fixed file the way a screen reader does (order, headings, tables, math, alt text and decoration) and re-transcribes captions, writing down what it heard. Its pass is the only pass.

  • Never fixes anything
  • Runs on a different model from the fixers, so they cannot share a blind spot
Course record agent

Assembles each course's record (finding, fix, Listener result, confirmation and approval) and the export packs for auditors and federal or state reviewers.

  • Never signs
  • Never includes a student's name or disability
ADA coordinator

Signs every course record. The agents propose; a named person decides.

Ask in plain words

Ask about any course, file, finding or rule

Anyone can ask the assistant about the work in front of them. It answers from the course's own records with the source cited, and opens the screen where the answer is.

Which colleges will miss April 26 at this pace?

One: Fine Arts and Music. 96 of its 287 courses are left and it is projected to finish on May 18, 2027, 22 days late. 61 of those courses hold performance video. The other nine colleges finish by April 2.

Why did the Listener fail Lecture 9?

On page 2 the fixer's first attempt read the two columns in turn, so a sentence was broken by the worked example. The fixer cannot pass its own work: the Listener failed it, the fixer re-did the columns, and attempt 2 passed.

Draft reminders for instructors with meanings waiting

Drafted for four instructors: Dr. Wendt (2, for a request due Oct 23), Dr. Marsh (9, same request), Prof. Romero (6) and Dr. Donnelly (12, a day late). Nothing is sent until you send it.

What does the Title II rule exempt?

Five kinds of content: archived web content, preexisting documents not in current use, content posted by a third party, individualized password-protected documents and preexisting social media posts. Course materials in current use are covered. Three exceptions are proposed here; the ADA coordinator decides them.

Every screen

The working solution, as it ships.

13 screens from the working solution, on its sample data. Pick one to see it large.

What a screen reader says today: the page beside its transcriptThe original lecture page on the left, with numbered bubbles in the order a screen reader reaches each part; on the right, what it actually says, line by line. Before the fix, CHEM 2410 Lecture 7, page 4 fails WCAG 2.1 AA: the footer is read first, the equation and the diagram are each just "image", and the table has no headers. A slim strip reads "Arts and Sciences: 32 of 412 courses left" and "187 days to April 26, 2027".
Disability services requests go ahead of the queueThree open requests arrive from the disability services case system by case number and need only, and the student is named only in that office. DS-26-0418 is on day 1 of 2 business days, with CHEM 2410 at 5 of 6 files ready; 27 requests were done this term, a median of 1.6 days from request to ready.
PDF accessibility remediation on one lecture, step by stepRun L-26-118204 on Lecture 7 logs seven steps: what each agent read, what it changed, how sure it is, and who it hands to. The Document fixer tagged 18 pages from the source slides at confidence 0.98, and the Alt text and math fixer wrote MathML from slide 9's typed text. The rules the run follows sit beside it.
The instructor confirms what the equation and diagram meanAfter the fix, each transcript line shows its WCAG criterion, the fixer, its confidence and its source. Only where meaning matters does Dr. Ines Wendt see a question, such as "Is this what the equation says?", with Confirm, Edit wording and Reject.
Alt text drafted from the instructor's own notes, citedClick any citation and the source passage opens. The diagram's alt text came from Dr. Wendt's slide notes, page 12, so she can check it in seconds. Opening a source is written to the audit trail.
Confirmed, re-tested, and the course count ticks downOnce the instructor confirms both meanings (MC-1), the Listener re-reads the page with her wording and passes it: six things read in order, none says only "image", the footer is marked as decoration, and the table reads with its headers. Every file in CHEM 2410 passes, and Arts and Sciences drops to 31 of 412 courses left.
Screen reader testing that a fixer cannot pass for itselfA separate Listener agent re-reads every fix the way a screen reader would. On Lecture 9, page 2, it failed the fixer's first attempt on a two-column page, said what it heard and sent it back; the second attempt passed.
The course record: approved by the designer, signed by the ADA coordinatorOne record per course: all 38 CHEM 2410 files with their finding, fix, Listener result and the person who decided, and a four-step sign-off. The designer approved and published 38 files as new versions; Grant Holloway signs next, and the approver can never sign.
The course queue: requests first, then the course taught soonestA clean list, not a grid: each course with its instructor, files passed, due date and clock, with requests and status as small chips. Filters (left to fix, requests first, needs instructor, Listener failed, ready for approval, to sign, exceptions), search and bulk actions sit above.
Meanings waiting on instructors, with clocks and remindersEverything the agents drafted that only an instructor can confirm, grouped by instructor: equations in MATH 2210, translated captions in SPAN 3010, map descriptions in GEOG 1100 marked a day late. Each shows when it was asked, when it is due and how many reminders went out; reminders are drafted for the designer to send.
Lecture captions checked against the course glossary, with silent visuals describedHIST 1020's 14 lecture videos passed the caption check at 98.8% to 99.4%, with glossary terms such as encomienda and Tenochtitlan highlighted and a map shown without narration (2:14–3:05) described. A video platform sign-in error is shown with what it affects and a retry.
Progress to the Title II accessibility deadline, college by collegeOne chart of courses still to fix, actual and projected, with April 26, 2027 marked: 485 of 3,318 campus-wide, and 9 of 10 colleges finish in time. Fine Arts and Music is projected for May 18, 2027, after the deadline. Below, what the nightly crawl reads and the 2,604,900 student submissions it never reads.
Audit trail and a redacted export packWho did what, when, why and on which evidence, for people and agents alike. One click builds a pack for internal audit, the Office for Civil Rights, the Department of Justice or an accreditor, with every finding, fix, transcript, confirmation and signature, and student names and disabilities never included.
Governance

Accessibility remediation that is tested, confirmed and signed.

Seven roles, separated by dutyThe instructor confirms meaning, the instructional designer approves and publishes, the ADA coordinator signs and decides exceptions, the Director sets deadlines and thresholds, disability services tells the student, the internal auditor reads and exports, and the systems administrator runs connections and agent versions. Each refused action names who may do it.
Maker-checker, twiceA fixer drafts and a separate Listener tests, so no agent passes its own work. Then people decide: the instructor confirms, the designer approves, and the ADA coordinator signs, never the approver. Overriding a Listener fail needs two people, the designer and the Director, with reason code OV-1.
Every line cites its sourceEvery agent statement and every After line cites the original page, the source slide, the instructor's notes, the WCAG criterion, the rule section or the request. Opening a source is written to the audit trail.
Student work is never readStudent submissions, grades and feedback are skipped by a locked setting: 2,604,900 submissions were skipped on the sample night. Students are named only inside disability services, and student identity is redacted from every export pack.
Versioned agents, tested before they are pinnedPrompts and models are versioned, and a new version runs on a golden set before the systems administrator pins it and the Director approves; the Alt text and math fixer's set is 1,200 images and 400 equations rated by instructors. This term's 315 overrides are counted by reason code.
A full audit trail, kept with the course recordWho, what, when, why and which evidence, for people and agents alike. The trail cannot be edited, course records are kept 6 years after the course ends, and a redacted pack exports for an internal auditor, the Office for Civil Rights, the Department of Justice or an accreditor.
Configuration

Your accessibility program's rules, not ours

Deadlines, clocks, thresholds and retention are settings. The Director and the systems administrator change them, each change is saved as a new version on the audit trail, and the privacy rules are locked on.

SettingDefaultChoose from
Title II compliance dateApril 26, 2027Fixed by the rule for a public entity serving 50,000 or more
Internal targetFebruary 26, 2027February 26 or March 26, 2027
Disability services request2 business days1, 2 or 3 business days from request to accessible files
Meaning confirmation2 business days for request work, 5 for everything else2 and 5, or 3 and 7 business days
Reminders and escalationReminder after 2 business days; the third goes to the department chairEscalate after the 2nd or the 3rd reminder
Alt text confidence for a designer spot check0.900.85, 0.90 or 0.95; equations, diagrams with data, maps and translated captions always go to the instructor
Caption check99% word agreement98%, 99% or 99.5%
Course records kept6 years after the course ends3, 6 or 10 years; student identity always redacted from packs
Connections

Works with the systems a campus already runs on

Learning management systemcourse shells, pages and files; fixed files publish back as new versions
Video platformlecture videos, captions and transcripts
Document managementsource slides, documents and the instructor's notes
Disability services case systemaccommodation requests, by case number only
Student information systemsections, instructors and the term a course is next taught
Web content management systempublic web pages in the same program
What it changes

The difference, in numbers.

Every figure is labelled: a target the solution is built to, an estimate, a typical published result, or a proven one.

target
100%re-tested
of fixed files heard by an independent screen-reader pass before a person approves
CHEM 2410 files passed
Lecture 9 failed once, then passed
target
≈90%lower
cost per page than outsourced remediation at a typical $5–$8 a page
Outsourced$5–$8 a page
With agentsunder $1 a page
target
2days
from a disability services request to accessible files

Sources: ADA Title II, 28 CFR Part 35, Subpart H (35.200, WCAG 2.1 Level AA; 35.201, exceptions), Department of Justice final rule of April 24, 2024 and interim final rule of April 20, 2026 (compliance dates April 26, 2027 and April 26, 2028), ecfr.gov · W3C, WCAG 2.1 · the Department of Justice's regulatory impact estimate (about $5.5 billion for postsecondary course content), as reported by the Software and Information Industry Association · published university and vendor price lists for PDF remediation ($5–$8 a page) and lecture captioning ($1.25–$2.20 a minute) · "target" = design goal, measured in the live solution · "demo" = seen in the working solution, on its sample data · "typical" = published figures · "estimated" = our arithmetic, kept modest. Halden State University and the people named on this page are fictional: characters and sample data in the working solution.

Questions

What accessibility offices and teaching centers ask.

What is Course Content Accessibility Remediation?

Course Content Accessibility Remediation is accessibility remediation for course files: instructional designers fix LMS pages, PDFs, slides and video to WCAG 2.1 AA, course by course. Agents find what fails, tag the files, write equations as MathML, draft alt text from the lecture's own notes and caption the videos, and a separate Listener re-reads every fix the way a screen reader would. The instructor confirms meaning, the designer approves, and the ADA coordinator signs the course record.

What are the Title II accessibility requirements for higher education?

The Department of Justice's ADA Title II rule (28 CFR Part 35, Subpart H) asks public colleges, universities and schools to make the web content and course materials they provide meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA. An interim final rule of April 20, 2026 moved the compliance dates to April 26, 2027 for public entities serving 50,000 people or more and April 26, 2028 for smaller ones; the standard and the scope did not change.

How does PDF accessibility remediation work here?

The Document fixer rebuilds a PDF's tags from its source slides or document when there is one: reading order, headings, lists, table headers, title and language, with decoration such as a footer marked so it is not read. The Listener then re-reads every page and fails anything that still reads wrong, like a sentence broken by a second column. A fixer can never mark its own work as passed.

How are math equations and diagrams made accessible to a screen reader?

Equations are written as MathML from the typed text on the source slide, not guessed from the picture, and alt text for a diagram is drafted from the instructor's own notes, with the source cited. Equations, diagrams with data, maps and translated captions always go to the instructor, who confirms, rewrites or rejects each one with a reason.

Does the Title II rule exempt archived or old course content?

The rule lists exceptions in 28 CFR 35.201, including archived web content, preexisting documents not in current use and content posted by a third party; course materials in current use are covered. Here a designer proposes an exception and only the ADA coordinator decides it, with a reason code that cites the rule.

Does it read student submissions or grades?

No. Student submissions, grades and feedback are skipped by a setting that is locked on. Disability services requests arrive by case number, the student is named only inside the disability services office, and student identity is redacted from every export pack.

Do people stay in control of what students receive?

Yes. Nothing reaches students until the instructional designer approves the course, and the ADA coordinator signs its record, never the person who approved it. Agents draft reminders, escalations and the student notice; a person sends each one. The solution tracks, tests and records the work; it does not certify compliance.

How long does it take to go live?

The Agentic Solution Engine builds and deploys it from your requirements and documents, such as your accessibility policy, your course shells and a sample of lecture files, and it goes live once every quality gate has passed. We will walk you through it on your own courses first.

Hear it on
your own courses.

We'll run Course Content Accessibility Remediation on a sample of your own course shells, lecture PDFs and videos.