UND, Deque University partner for digital accessibility training
Available this summer to all employees, on-demand service teaches best practices for digital accessibility
The University of North Dakota, in its effort to meet new requirements of Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, is partnering with Deque University to provide an expansive selection of digital accessibility training modules to all UND employees.
Deque University (pronounced DEE-cue), a digital accessibility training platform created by Deque Systems of Herndon, Va., offers more than 50 courses that can be taken individually or as part of a learning pathway focused on a specific role or topic.
By April 2026, the University is expected to meet heightened accessibility standards for nearly all of its digitally hosted material, including websites, blogs, documents, social media and course content.
Deque University provides on-demand, self-selected training to help address everything from the fundamentals of web accessibility to formatting individual document types, such as Microsoft Word, Excel and PDF.
“This training platform through Deque will be another great tool in addition to the in-person and virtual training and assistance provided by other campus departments,” said Donna Smith, assistant vice president for Equal Opportunity & Title IX, who also serves as ADA coordinator for UND. “There is training that will be helpful for people with little or no experience in creating accessible content, as well as for those who are ready for training at a higher level.”
Once Deque University’s training is available to UND, users will find a customized “Fast Track to Accessibility” learning pathway recommended to all faculty and staff, addressing the major best practices for digital accessibility through a set of short videos. From there, users can focus on topics relevant to them and their areas of work, whether in Microsoft products, web development or disability etiquette basics.
There will also be an ability for unit supervisors to assign employees to specific courses or learning pathways and track progress.
Deque University is well-known and reputable, and has developed excellent tools and training for the past 25 years, said Lynette Krenelka, executive director of UND’s Teaching Transformation & Development Academy.
“Their resources can supplement what TTaDA and UND already have in place,” Krenelka said. “Deque’s comprehensive, in-depth training is great both for beginners and those who need help with specific software, including those that faculty use daily in their teaching.
“It will be a great, additional resource for all UND employees.”
A future announcement will be made once Deque University is available this summer. UND’s digital accessibility landing page will host information on how to access the website.
Questions about the regulations and how they apply to specific work can be directed to Beth Valentine, deputy ADA coordinator, or Donna Smith, ADA coordinator.
