NCADEMI: National Center on Accessible Digital Educational Materials & Instruction

Community of Practice: Preparing Educators for Digital Accessibility

Teach Access

The Preparing Educators for Digital Accessibility Community of Practice (CoP) brings together faculty, administrators, and clinicians from educator preparation programs (prep programs) across the United States. The CoP is co-facilitated by the National Center on Accessible Digital Educational Materials & Instruction (NCADEMI) and Teach Access. Members of the CoP will collaboratively work toward strengthening how they prepare future teachers and school leaders (“educators”) to provide and use accessible digital materials in PreK-12 settings.

Our community framework was developed using Wenger-Trayner’s model for Communities of Practice (Wenger-Trayner et al., 2014; Wenger-Trayner et al., 2023).

Enrollment Form

Core Activities

The CoP will foster collaboration through three core activities (Wenger-Trayner et al., 2023):

CoP members will strengthen their curricula and programs by:

Outcomes

The Preparing Educators for Digital Accessibility CoP is designed to increase the capacity of participants over time. Participating members will progress through phases of improvement toward the effective integration of digital accessibility in educator preparation:

Short-Term Outcome

Participants will increase awareness and knowledge of the relevance of digital accessibility to educator preparation curriculum.

Intermediate Outcome

Participants will use technical assistance products and services provided by NCADEMI/Teach Access in both general education and special education pathway curricula.

Long-Term Outcome

Curricula developed by participants will improve the preparation of educator and administrator candidates to create, select, and use accessible digital educational materials.

Membership Structure and Expectations

Faculty, administrators, and clinicians from pre-service and in-service education preparation programs in the U.S. are encouraged to join the Preparing Educators for Digital Accessibility CoP.

Members are expected to actively participate in monthly meetings. When scheduling conflicts inevitably occur, members notify the CoP of an expected absence. Members contribute and agree to follow the CoP’s community guidelines, explained under “Engagement Model” below.

Roles

CoP membership is organized around three role types: Community Organizers, Participants, and Lead Contributors.

Community Organizers

Staff from NCADEMI and Teach Access are responsible for leading the strategic direction and operational management of the CoP, such as:

Participants

These CoP members actively engage and learn by:

Lead Contributors

These are CoP participants that emerge over time to take on one or more activities in support of the community’s effectiveness and sustainability, such as:

Meetings

The Preparing Educators for Digital Accessibility CoP will convene during the academic year on the third Wednesday of each month, beginning February 18, 2025, 2:00 – 3:15 p.m. ET. Meeting agendas will be informed by the mission, goals, and scope of the CoP, as well as specific requests of members. 

2026 Meeting Dates (Wednesdays, 2:00–3:15 p.m. ET)

Dates for 2027 will be determined in the fall of 2026.

Engagement Model

Methods of Engagement

CoP members are welcome as they are and are encouraged to participate in ways that feel meaningful, comfortable, and sustainable for them. Methods of engagement include:

Community Guidelines

The community guidelines convey the norms and protocols identified by CoP members. These are integral to all CoP activities, shared at each convening, and reviewed routinely for effectiveness by the Community Organizers and Lead Contributors. Whenever necessary and by request, the CoP will revise the community guidelines:

Working Groups

The initial CoP working group options are organized around topics specific to the provision and use of accessible digital educational materials in PreK-12 settings. Members will prioritize topics for examination, building their knowledge and skills while identifying strategies for integrating the topics into their curricula and program.

Build knowledge and apply the laws and regulations that guide digital accessibility in PreK-12 education.

Accessible Content Creation

Develop skills to produce digital content that improves accessibility and usability for learners with and without disabilities.

Provision and Use of Accessible Formats

Understand the process for considering a student’s need for accessible formats of curriculum materials (e.g., braille, audio, large print) and ensuring their timely provision and use.

Procurement of Accessible EdTech

Understand the framework of resources and strategies used by state and local education procurement teams to meet accessibility requirements in the process of adopting digital educational materials and technology.

Knowledge Repository

Resources created by the CoP will be stored in the Teach Access Curriculum Repository (TACR).

Communication Channels

Methods for communication will be determined by the CoP. Options include discussion forums for asynchronous conversations and Q&A, periodic emails (newsletters/monthly digest) summarizing activities and upcoming events, and feedback mechanisms such as surveys or suggestion boxes to gather input from members.

Enroll Today!

Ready to be a member of the Preparing Educators for Digital Accessibility CoP, complete the enrollment form. Need more information? Contact NCADEMI Project Director, Cynthia Curry, at cynthia.curry@usu.edu.

Enrollment Form

References

Wenger-Trayner, E., Fenton-O’Creevy, M., Hutchinson, S., Kubiak, C., & Wenger-Trayner, B. (Eds.). (2014). Learning in Landscapes of Practice: Boundaries, identity, and knowledgeability in practice-based learning (1st ed.). Routledge. 

Wenger-Trayner, E., Wenger-Trayner, B., Reid, P., & Bruderlein, C. (2023). Communities of practice within and across organizations: A guidebook. Social Learning Lab.