This workshop delivers an in-depth, practical learning experience for educators who want to ensure all their instructional materials — documents and multimedia — are accessible to every learner. Appropriate for both K–12 and higher education faculty, this session guides participants from foundational accessibility practices to advanced techniques for evaluating and remediating a wide range of content types according to current standards.

Participants will learn to create natively accessible documents in Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel, using built-in features and structured formatting to align with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). The workshop covers step-by-step methods for using tools such as Microsoft Accessibility Checker to identify and address common structural and navigational barriers, ensuring compatibility with screen readers and assistive technologies. Attendees will get hands-on experience exporting well-structured PDFs and troubleshooting prevalent PDF accessibility issues, such as missing tags or improper reading order — gaining familiarity with automated checkers and simple manual remediation strategies.

In addition to documents, the workshop places strong emphasis on the accessibility of multimedia content. Participants explore the critical roles of captions, transcripts and audio descriptions in supporting inclusive instruction, particularly for videos and recorded lectures. The session includes practical training on creating and editing accurate captions and transcripts using free and AI-powered tools, as well as techniques for verifying and refining automatically generated materials to ensure accuracy and instructional quality.

Throughout the workshop, participants work with realistic instructional examples and checklists that can be immediately applied in their teaching environments. The training emphasizes cost-effective strategies, resource sharing and the ethical use of AI, enabling educators to remove access barriers and make learning more inclusive and equitable for all students, regardless of background or ability. This session is ideal for anyone seeking actionable, current and future-ready accessibility skills for today’s digital classrooms.