Utilizing Remote Employees and Student Workers for The Creation and Processing of Accessible Course Materials

Presented at 4:15 pm in Colorado F on Wednesday, November 19, 2025.

Speaker(s)

• Martina Svyantek, Strategic Initiatives and Accessible Technology Manager, University of Virginia
• Sarah Humphreys, Interim Director, University of Virginia

Session Details

• Length of Session: 1-hr
• Format: Lecture
• Expertise Level: All Levels
• Type of session: General Conference

Summary

This session explores how a university uses remote employees and student workers to create accessible course materials- including enlarged exams, alternative formats, eText remediation, and captioned videos—for students with disabilities. With tight semester timelines, the team uses shared tools to coordinate remediation work quickly and efficiently. Attendees will learn how to build a responsive, scalable accessibility team and collaborate across departments to meet accommodation needs on time.

Abstract

As universities strive to meet the growing demand for accessible course materials, many are turning to innovative staffing models to ensure timely and effective support for students with disabilities. This presentation explores how the University of Virginia has built a flexible, scalable team of remote professionals and student workers to produce accessible content, including large print alternative formats, and captioned videos.

Our workflow begins in the classroom with the students themselves and then working with the instructors. Both groups play a key role in identifying inaccessible materials at the start of the semester. Whether it’s a scanned PDF, an uncaptioned video, or a textbook without a digital version, students notify our office of the barriers they encounter. We then work closely with faculty to gain access to course content, especially materials hosted within learning management systems (LMS). We also coordinate with libraries and publishers to obtain accessible versions or source files for remediation. This requires early identification of materials and a highly responsive and organized team to meet the tight timelines of the academic semester.

Our distributed workforce includes trained student employees who handle tasks like document formatting, OCR correction, and basic captioning. Remote staff take on more complex remediation work, such as converting STEM content and ensuring compliance with accessibility standards like WCAG and Section 508. We use shared project management tools to assign tasks, track progress, and maintain quality control. By hiring remote employees, we were able to recruit staff with more specific experience and to reduce the need for more physical office space.

Attendees will gain practical insights into building and managing a remote-accessibility team, including recruitment, advocating to hire remote staff to your administration, training staff, scalable systems, and communication strategies.

Keypoints

1. A hybrid team of employees enables scalable, timely production of accessible course materials for students.
2. Hiring remote workers for the creation of accessible course material is beneficial for Universities.
3. Effective coordination, training, and use of shared tools are key for managing accommodations efficiently.

Disability Areas

All Areas

Topic Areas

Alternate Format, Assistive Technology, Captioning/Transcription, Uncategorized

Speaker Bio(s)

Martina Svyantek

Martina finished her individualized, interdisciplinary PhD at Virginia Tech in 2021, with a research focus on policy and procedure documents related to Disability at three U.S. institutions of higher education over a 25-year time frame. She has over five years of experience advocating for and promoting accessibility in real-time physical spaces as well as in digital and asynchronous situations.

Martina served as the Assistive Technology Specialist in SDAC for three years before her transition into her role as the Strategic Initiatives and Accessible Technology Manager. She is now be responsible for integrating research and best practices for the strategic leadership of departmental and institutional initiatives seeking the betterment of disability inclusion at the University of Virginia. She graduated with her Masters of Education in Higher Education from UVA in 2018 and received a Bachelor’s degree in Education from James Madison University.

Sarah Humphreys

Sarah Humphreys joined The University of Virginia in July 2018 and now serves as the Associate Director of the Student Disability Access Center. She currently holds the role of Interim Director.

She graduated with her Masters of Education in Higher Education from UVA in 2018 and received a Bachelor’s degree in Education from James Madison University.