Phase 1
Creating a Digital Accessibility Team and Technical Updates
Digital Accessibility Team: College leaders appointed a cross-functional team of staff members to a Digital Accessibility Team that will lead efforts to ensure digital accessibility and compliance. The members of this team are:
- Laura Knobel-Piehl, Academic Technology Operations Analyst
- Bret Farley, Web Developer
- Daniel Hollerung, Associate Director of Digital Marketing
- Kirk Martinson, Instructional Technologist for Languages
- Molly Huber, Head of Distinctive Collections and Collections Strategy
- Ashley Opatrny, Accommodations Coordinator
- Rachael Nutt, Distinctive Collections Engagement Librarian
Identification of Relevant Content: The Digital Accessibility Team used analytics to identify and prioritize high-traffic, public-facing content.
Technical Theme Updates: The college’s Web Team began fixing accessibility errors within the St. Olaf WordPress theme to resolve navigation and structural issues across the entire network in 2025.
Phase 2
Development of Tools and Training
Training Modules: The Digital Accessibility Team is creating “mini-modules” specific to the St. Olaf WordPress environment that will be used to train Key Website Administrators (“Key Admins”) on ensuring that the sites they oversee are accessible and compliant.
Instruction on Fixes: The Digital Accessibility Team is creating “how-to” videos and documentation on the “Using WordPress” site for common accessibility fixes.
Adobe License System: IT launched a daily checkout system for Adobe Acrobat Pro licenses to a select list of users across campus who can use this tool to fix PDFs and other files that are not accessible. All Key Admins will receive training on how PDF accessibility will be managed since not all campus community members will have access to Adobe Acrobat Pro; a select list of users received an email about this system in March 2026.
Phase 3
Rollout and Certification
Mandatory Training Launch: The Digital Accessibility Team will begin administering the training modules to all staff who have web editing access in April 2026.
Restriction of Editing Access: At the same time, a policy will be implemented that web editing access is withheld until the employee has earned the “Certification of Training in Digital Accessibility.”
Intermediate Refreshers: The Digital Accessibility Team will complete “WordPress training refreshers” for academic and administrative staff (AAA/AA).
View our Training Session offerings page to find a list of upcoming training sessions.
Phase 4
Active Remediation
Site-by-Site Audits: Certified Key Admins will begin page-by-page audits of their designated sites using the Accessibility Checker plugin.
PDF Remediation: Key Admins will utilize the Adobe Acrobat checkout system to update existing PDFs for accessibility.
Multimedia Updates: The Digital Accessibility Team will ensure all video and multimedia content is brought up to WCAG 2.1 AA standards.
Phase 5
Sustainable Maintenance
Annual Re-Certification: Going forward, St. Olaf will adhere to an annual training cycle where staff must re-take and pass the accessibility module on their hiring anniversary.
Ongoing Monitoring: The Digital Accessibility Team will continue to use monitoring tools and the Accessibility Incidence Form to identify and fix new errors as content is created.