A four-week facilitated cohort in which participants apply the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) to their own digital content, from initial review through a completed audit or remediation.
Course Details
Starts: Wednesday, January 13, 2027
Live sessions: Wednesdays, 1:00–2:00 PM Eastern. January 13, 20, 27 and Feb. 3
Bonus session: One additional hour, date to be announced
Format: Live on Zoom, with self-paced modules completed between sessions
Time commitment: One hour of live instruction plus approximately 3-4 hours of independent work each week
Cost: $425.00 USD
Cohort size: Limited to preserve individual feedback
Instructor: Dr. Nicole L'Etoile, CPACC
Platform: Brightspace and Zoom
Course Description
Making Online Content Accessible for All prepares instructional designers, educators, content creators, and learning and development professionals to design, evaluate, and improve accessible digital content using WCAG as the framework.
The live cohort covers all six course modules across four weekly sessions. Instruction includes assistive technology demonstrations with screen reader users, guided screen reader practice, live audit demonstrations, and small-group peer review. Participants select one project in Week 1 and carry it through each module, so every guideline is applied to their own content as it is introduced.
Manual testing is the core methodology. Participants learn to evaluate content by keyboard and screen reader following the W3C evaluation method, rather than relying on automated scanners.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, participants will be able to:
- Apply WCAG guidelines to design and remediate digital content
- Evaluate content manually for accessibility barriers, following the W3C evaluation method
- Test digital content using a keyboard and a screen reader
- Document accessibility findings with impact ratings, WCAG criteria, evidence, and recommendations
- Communicate accessibility issues and proposed remediation to clients, colleagues, and stakeholders
What's Included
- Five live one-hour sessions
- Full access to the self-paced course and all six modules
- A live assistive technology demonstration with a screen reader user
- Guided screen reader practice
- A live keyboard-only audit demonstration
- Two rounds of small-group peer audit work in groups of three
- The professional audit tracker template used in client engagements, with columns for Impact, Section, Issue Description, WCAG Criteria, Screenshot, Recommendation, Why It Matters, and Status
- Individual written feedback on the course project
- Lifetime access to course materials
Course Schedule Week by Week
Module 1: Introduction to Accessibility in Digital Content Design
- Overview of accessibility and why it matters
- WCAG 2.2 and the POUR principles: Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, Robust
- Common barriers in digital learning environments
- Legal and ethical considerations
- Introduction to assistive technologies
- Project: select the content to be audited or remediated and complete an initial review
Module 2: Perceivable Content
- Text alternatives for images and non-text content (Guideline 1.1)
- Color contrast and visual design (Guideline 1.4)
- Captions, transcripts, and audio description (Guideline 1.2)
- Tables, lists, and information relationships (Guideline 1.3)
- Small-group peer audit
- Project: document Perceivable findings in the audit tracker
Module 3: Operable Interfaces and Module 4: Understandable Content
- Keyboard accessibility and logical focus order (Guideline 2.1)
- Time limits and user controls (Guideline 2.2)
- Seizure safety (Guideline 2.3)
- Meaningful link text, headings, and navigation aids (Guideline 2.4)
- Readable and predictable interfaces (Guidelines 3.1 and 3.2)
- Plain language, chunking, and logical progression
- Neurodivergent considerations, following W3C cognitive accessibility guidance
- Live demonstration: a complete keyboard-only audit
- Project: document Operable and Understandable findings
Module 5: Robust Content and Module 6: Evaluating and Auditing Course Accessibility
- Testing content across devices and with screen readers
- Screen reader demonstration and direct instruction with a screen reader user
- Conducting a manual accessibility audit
- Writing findings and recommendations for stakeholders
- Second small-group peer audit
- Project: complete the audit or remediation
Bonus Session (date to be announced)
An additional hour for project review, follow-up questions, and participant share-outs.
Course Project
Participants work on one piece of their digital content throughout the course. An online course, an eLearning module, a portfolio, a set of training materials, or other digital content they own or manage. Choose your pathway from the choices below:
- Audit. Produce a documented accessibility audit including findings by impact level, applicable WCAG criteria, screenshots, recommendations, and the rationale for each.
- Remediation. Apply accessibility improvements and document the before-and-after results with a written reflection.
Participants complete the project during the course and finish with a deliverable they can share with a client, supervisor, or review board, and a repeatable process they can apply to future content. Reflection may be submitted in whatever format works best for the participant: written, screencast, audio, or annotated document.
Who Should Enroll
Instructional designers, educators, content creators, and learning and development professionals responsible for digital content who need to build accessible material and document their conformance work.
Benefits
- All six modules covered in four weeks rather than six
- Live instruction and individual feedback on your own content, not generic examples
- Network of like-minded professionals
- Direct experience with screen readers and assistive technology, including instruction from screen reader users
- A completed audit or remediation and a professional audit template you can reuse
- Peer review with other professionals working on comparable content
- Preparation aligned with IAAP CPACC certification content
- Lifetime access to the self-paced course, included with enrollment