Accessible by Default: Designing Course Materials That Work the First Time

Location

Founders Room

Start Date

9-3-2026 3:00 PM

About the Author

Dr. Laura Romeo is a higher education accessibility strategist and consultant who works with institutions nationally on WCAG 2.1 auditing, LMS course design, compliance training, and faculty professional development. She holds a PhD in Teacher Education and Learning Sciences from NC State University, with research focused on inclusive content design, assistive technology, and Universal Design for Learning. Before moving into higher education consulting, Dr. Romeo spent years in elementary education and curriculum development — and that practitioner background shapes everything she does. Her approach centers people over policy and practical strategy over abstract compliance frameworks.

Description

Fixing accessibility after the fact is exhausting. Hunting down old PDFs, recaptioning videos, restructuring course pages that were built without access in mind — it adds up fast. There's a better approach: building accessibility into the design process from the start so it never becomes a remediation project.

This session is for faculty who are ready to think differently about how they create course materials. Dr. Laura Romeo walks through what it looks like to make accessibility a default part of your workflow rather than a final checklist item, covering the decisions that matter most at the creation stage: document structure, media choices, how content is organized and presented, and how small habits early in the process prevent big problems later.

The session blends practical demonstration with structured discussion, giving participants both a framework for thinking about accessible design and space to reflect on how it applies to their own courses. Whether you're building something new or rethinking an existing course, you'll leave with a clearer process and concrete next steps.

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Sep 3rd, 3:00 PM

Accessible by Default: Designing Course Materials That Work the First Time

Founders Room

Fixing accessibility after the fact is exhausting. Hunting down old PDFs, recaptioning videos, restructuring course pages that were built without access in mind — it adds up fast. There's a better approach: building accessibility into the design process from the start so it never becomes a remediation project.

This session is for faculty who are ready to think differently about how they create course materials. Dr. Laura Romeo walks through what it looks like to make accessibility a default part of your workflow rather than a final checklist item, covering the decisions that matter most at the creation stage: document structure, media choices, how content is organized and presented, and how small habits early in the process prevent big problems later.

The session blends practical demonstration with structured discussion, giving participants both a framework for thinking about accessible design and space to reflect on how it applies to their own courses. Whether you're building something new or rethinking an existing course, you'll leave with a clearer process and concrete next steps.