As one of the University of Washington’s highest-volume instructional units, Continuum College sits at the intersection of digital learning, faculty support, and student experience. With nearly 300 active courses serving a wide range of learners, accessibility at Continuum College is not just a compliance requirement—it’s a cornerstone of equity, quality, and sustainability.
In preparation for the April 2026 federal digital accessibility deadline, the college is demonstrating what early, coordinated implementation can look like: building internal capacity, standardizing design practices, and creating a scalable model other UW units can learn from.
I spoke with Krissy Jones, Director of Learning Design, and Tim McCabe, Director of Learning Technologies, about how their teams are preparing, the challenges they’re addressing, and what accessibility means for the future of digital learning at UW.
- How is UW Continuum College preparing for the April 2026 deadline, and what does this milestone represent for your Learning Technologies and Learning Design teams?
- Krissy: We’re fortunate to have a team of very passionate individuals. Part of our mission in Learning Design is to ensure that our courses are as inclusive as possible. Even before this new initiative, we had already adopted the Web Content Accessibility Guideline (WCAG) 2.0 standard and were using them consistently in all the courses we developed to ensure full accessibility, and that was a tremendous stepping stone to meet the WCAG 2.1 standard. We also apply Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles and use the Quality Matters course rubric. Those three frameworks—WCAG 2.0, UDL, and Quality Matters—serve as our guiding points when developing courses with instructors.
When the accessibility initiative began, what was your strategy for understanding where Continuum stood and how to move forward?
Tim: I was asked to get a clear picture of where accessibility issues existed in our courses and what the scope of work would look like before we began remediation.
We worked with program management to identify all active Continuum-owned courses—there were 294 total—and reviewed every single one manually to determine:
1. Which courses needed manual accessibility checks.
2. Which accessibility items required manual review versus what was already covered by automated tools like Ally or UDOIT.
3. How to track issues in a scalable, useful way for the remediation stage.
We went through the full WCAG checklist, narrowed it to 15 key items for manual review, and created a standardized tracking sheet for each course. Each sheet linked directly to Canvas pages, allowing reviewers to flag accessibility issues (like heading structures) on specific pages. Over five weeks, about 15 volunteers from across the organization—from Learning Design, program management, and Continuum IT—participated. It was a massive team effort and resulted in nearly 300 tracking sheets, one for each course.
That sounds monumental!
Tim: It really was. But the collaboration between teams made it possible. Everyone stepped up and volunteered—it was truly an all-hands effort.
What are the greatest challenges in making digital learning experiences accessible through this process?
Tim: I’d say the biggest challenge is the variation in accessibility knowledge across the organization. Some people have deep expertise, while others are just learning. This process has been a great opportunity to get everyone on the same page—both in terms of knowledge and consistent practice.
Krissy: I completely agree. The top challenges we see are knowledge, expectations, and time. Not everyone has the same understanding of what accessibility means in a learning environment. Expectations also haven’t been standardized across the university, which makes it tricky.
And then there’s time—making learning materials fully accessible takes time, especially for instructors who are already stretched thin.
- Beyond the audit and remediation, how are you supporting instructors and course developers to design with accessibility in mind?
- Krissy: Our Instructor Development team creates short, targeted videos on specific accessibility tasks—like making PowerPoint slides accessible. Instructors can also sign up for one-on-one consultations for personalized help.
We also maintain a learning resource library, which walks instructors through course design from start to finish. It includes templates, resources, a “Design-Build-Launch” checklist, a course quality review rubric, and WCAG guidelines—all in one place.
Most instructors appreciate those one-on-one sessions, though, because they can learn in real time and apply concepts directly to their own courses.
- Looking beyond 2026, what’s your vision for the next phase of accessibility at Continuum College and across UW?
- Krissy: The immediate next step is to take the results of Tim’s audit and begin resolving the accessibility issues identified. We’ve formed a new team focused on prioritizing fixes—starting with the low-hanging fruit that can be addressed through existing Canvas tools.
After that, we’ll tackle more complex issues that require manual remediation. We’re planning a process where instructors can sign up for help from our Learning Design, Learning Technologies, or Production teams to resolve accessibility issues efficiently.
- Are you collaborating with other UW units on these efforts?
- Krissy: Yes. Several members of our leadership team are active on campus-wide accessibility committees for the Digital Accessibility Initiative. These connections help us stay aligned with UW’s larger accessibility goals and share what we’re learning.
- Is there anything else you’d like the UW community to know about your accessibility work—or about your approach to Universal Design for Learning (UDL)?
- Krissy: UDL is at the forefront of our design practices because it supports inclusion and engagement for all learners. Along with WCAG and Quality Matters, UDL principles are one of our core frameworks.
We’re also very open to collaboration. If other UW units or schools are struggling to meet accessibility goals, we’re happy to share what we’ve learned and collaborate on solutions. We don’t have all the answers, but we’re learning together—and that’s what this work is really about.
- Thank you for meeting with me! It’s inspiring to see how Continuum College’s teams are leading with collaboration, innovation, and inclusion as UW moves toward 2026 and beyond.
Interview by Melissa Albin (UW-IT Strategic Communications)
Join the Pack: Support Digital Accessibility
- For more information, resources, and support, visit the Digital Accessibility portal.
- If your department has a digital accessibility story to share, we’d love to hear from you! Contact us at digitalaccess@uw.edu.