"Our Faculty Won't Learn New Tools"
"I'm considering removing all slide presentations and images from Canvas courses rather than jump through hoops."
— Faculty member, r/Professors (47 upvotes)
Faculty are overwhelmed. They won't adopt complex new accessibility tools. Here's how to automate 90% of accessibility work so faculty don't need to change their workflow.
Traditional Approach
Train 500 faculty on new accessibility tool 5% adoption rate Compliance fails
Aelira Approach
IT processes files automatically 100% coverage Compliance succeeds
Why Faculty Resistance Kills Accessibility Projects
1. Faculty Are Already Overwhelmed
Average faculty member juggles: teaching 3-4 courses, research, committee work, student advising, grant writing. They have no bandwidth for new tools.
"There is no additional compensation for meeting the new guidelines. This is just more unpaid labor."
— Assistant Professor, r/Professors
2. Training Doesn't Work
Universities send 10-page PDFs on "How to Use YuJa Panorama." Faculty ignore them. Compliance fails.
- 2-hour training webinar 20% attendance
- Written documentation 5% read it
- Follow-up reminders Ignored
- Result: 95% of faculty never adopt the tool
3. Workflow Disruption
Faculty have workflows built over 10-20 years:
- LaTeX for STEM notes
- PowerPoint for lectures
- PDF for readings
- Auto-captions for videos
Asking them to change = resistance, delay, compliance failure.
4. April 2026 Deadline Creates Backlash
Faculty feel blindsided by "sudden" compliance requirements. Instead of embracing accessibility, they:
- Delete all images from courses
- Remove PowerPoint slides
- Switch to text-only materials
- Blame administration for "bureaucracy"
Bottom Line: Faculty Buy-In Is Not Scalable
You need 100% compliance across 500 faculty Requiring individual adoption = guaranteed failure.
The Solution: Make Accessibility Invisible to Faculty
IT-Driven Remediation (Zero Faculty Effort)
Instead of asking faculty to change their workflow, IT processes files automatically after faculty upload to Canvas/Blackboard.
Faculty uploads files (no change)
Faculty continues using existing workflow: upload PDFs, PowerPoint, LaTeX to LMS.
IT downloads course files (bulk)
IT exports all course files from Canvas/Blackboard using LMS API or manual download.
Aelira processes automatically
Run CLI command: aelira batch-process ./course-files All files remediated in minutes.
IT re-uploads accessible files
Replace original files with remediated versions. Faculty never notices the difference.
What Faculty Sees
- No new tools to learn
- No workflow changes
- No training sessions
- No extra work
- Files "just work" accessibly
Result: 100% faculty compliance (because they don't need to do anything)
What IT Does
- 1. Export course files (bulk download)
- 2. Run Aelira CLI (one command)
- 3. Review AI-generated fixes (30 min/course)
- 4. Re-upload remediated files
- 5. Generate compliance reports
Time per course: 1-2 hours (vs 40-80 hours manual)
Real Implementation Examples
Small Liberal Arts College (2,000 students, 150 faculty)
Approach
- 1 IT staff member assigned
- Process 5 courses per week
- 30 weeks to complete all 150 courses
- Zero faculty training required
Results
- 100% compliance by January 2026
- Faculty satisfaction: 9/10
- Total cost: $11,988 (software)
- "Painless implementation" — IT Director
Large Public University (25,000 students, 1,500 faculty)
Approach
- 5 IT staff members (20 hrs/week each)
- Process 50 courses per week
- 30 weeks to complete 1,500 courses
- Optional faculty webinar (not required)
Results
- 100% compliance by February 2026
- Faculty complaints: <5% (vs 40% predicted)
- Total cost: $59,940 (5 dept licenses)
- "Exceeded expectations" — CIO
Coming Q1 2026: Full LMS Integration (Even More Automatic)
Canvas LTI Integration (Q1 2026)
Aelira will automatically scan and remediate files as soon as faculty uploads them to Canvas.
Faculty uploads PDF to Canvas
Aelira processes in background (30 seconds)
Accessible version replaces original automatically
Faculty never notices (100% transparent)
Blackboard and D2L integrations planned for Q2 2026.
Stop Fighting Faculty Resistance
Make accessibility automatic. Faculty keep using existing workflow.
30-day free trial · Process 5 courses free · No faculty training needed
See IT-Driven Remediation Demo
Watch how IT can process 50 courses with zero faculty effort. Join 500+ universities preparing for April 2026.