NE North Dakota News

The University of North Dakota (UND) has launched the “Strive for 85” initiative, aiming to ensure that all courses in Blackboard Ultra achieve an accessibility score of at least 85% by the start of the spring semester. The campaign was introduced at a campus event on August 18, where faculty and staff discussed upcoming changes related to digital accessibility.

This effort comes as new regulations under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) will take effect in April 2026. These rules require public universities to meet specific digital accessibility standards, specifically those outlined in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA.

Donna Smith, UND’s assistant vice president for Equal Opportunity & Title IX, addressed attendees about the motivation behind these efforts. “Regardless of how this is prioritized at the federal level, this is the right thing to do,” Smith said. “It’s what we strive for as a university. It sends a message to campus.

“Every time someone is on a website with proper structure, a document that’s accessible, a video that has captions, it sends a message of, ‘You belong here. We’re here to support you. And everyone deserves opportunities for a full experience at UND.’”

President Andy Armacost also commented on the initiative during his State of the University address: “This team is crafting a plan, a series of steps, that we will follow as a campus to ensure that we are compliant with federal law,” Armacost said. “But most importantly, it’s not just about the compliance piece. It’s about doing what’s right for citizens, students, staff and those who need this type of support.”

Eric Link, provost and vice president for Academic Affairs, emphasized collective responsibility: “It’s all of our responsibility,” Link said. “These discussions and the work of the committee started a year ago, and TTaDA (the Teaching Transformation & Development Academy) has done a lot of leg work getting things started this fall. But it’s going to take everyone here, and across campus, to realize the vision.” He encouraged faculty to begin working on active courses for spring semester and continue toward full ADA Title II compliance.

A panel led by Randi Tanglen explored practical approaches to digital accessibility using tools such as Blackboard Ultra’s Ally feature. Kristi Embry demonstrated how Ally can help improve course content accessibility scores.

Panelists included Lynette Krenelka from TTaDA; Madhavi Marasinghe, chief information officer; Beth Valentine from equity compliance; and Lee Ann Rawlins Williams from Education, Health & Behavior Studies—all members of UND's Digital Accessibility Steering Committee.

Williams highlighted why faculty should prioritize accessibility: “Disability is the one group you can join at any time, regardless of who you are,” she said. She advised colleagues to focus on manageable steps and share knowledge within their departments.

Krenelka recommended resources available through TTaDA—including articles and short videos—while noting Deque University offers self-paced digital accessibility training now open to all faculty and staff.

Marasinghe announced that Adobe enterprise licenses have been provided across campus so staff can use Adobe Acrobat Pro for making PDFs accessible. She added that University IT is seeking additional solutions outside UND and confirmed ongoing installation of assistive technologies in classrooms since last fall.

When asked why UND set its goal at 85%, Valentine explained: “We picked 85 because it utilizes an existing tool,” namely Blackboard Ally. “It’s not perfect. No automatic checker is. But it establishes a foundation and gets us started on the work.

“By getting course documents to 85%, your course is going to be more accessible than it was. We’re looking to start the journey, build upon progress and get to where digital content is accessible for all students, regardless of ability status.

“This is a good steppingstone.”

Valentine also reassured faculty not to feel pressured into immediate perfection: “Don’t panic thinking you have to fix everything between now and next Monday at 4 p.m.”