Why Building for Everyone Changes Everything: Digital Accessibility in Higher Education
Our CEO Jamie Caras and Product Owner Mandy Dark recently sat down with Ablr co-founder Mike Iannelli on the Access Granite podcast. Together, they tackled a challenge every professor knows intimately: the shifting landscape of modern higher education.
While the conversation touched on everything from the early days of educational technology to the future of AI, a central theme emerged: the undeniable connection between inclusive course design, student motivation, and academic success.
We built Catalyst Education to deliver deeper learning experiences at scale without adding to the faculty workload. But as Jamie and Mandy illuminated during the episode, achieving true scale in education requires moving past the outdated mentality of "checking a compliance box" and instead designing a learning ecosystem built for every student from day one.
The Power of Scaling Educational Impact
For most educators, the transition from lecturing in a crowded auditorium to building digital courseware comes down to a desire to help students succeed. Jamie reflected on his time teaching massive biochemistry lecture courses at UT Austin:
"I could do that every single semester for my entire life and not have the same educational impact that our company has over a single semester."
Today, Catalyst Education serves roughly a quarter-million students a year. Teaching at that scale brings immense responsibility, especially in complex STEM environments where students must interpret molecular structures, input experimental data, and analyze multi-variable graphs. Educational technology cannot afford to leave anyone behind.
Beyond Compliance: Achieving True Digital Accessibility in Higher Education
A common trap for many departments is viewing higher ed accessibility compliance purely through a legal or administrative lens. Thanks to our multi-year partnership with the expert user-testing team at Ablr, Catalyst Education has seen firsthand that prioritizing an accessible, inclusive user experience can improve the learning environment for the entire student body.
Mandy shared one excellent example: how Catalyst Education handles data tables in lab report assignments.
The Challenge: Traditional data tables in digital platforms usually read row by row, but that does not always match the logical flow of a science experiment.
The Universal Solution: Catalyst utilized inclusive learning design principles to add flexibility so tables can be structured according to the most logical reading order, whether row by row or column by column. This improves the experience for students using keyboards or screen readers, but it also makes complex lab tables much easier to navigate on mobile.
Because the tables can now adapt more naturally to the structure of the activity, they display more clearly on a smartphone screen. The result is a better experience for everyone: students using assistive technology, students working from a phone, and students trying to focus on the science instead of fighting with a clumsy interface.
This is what accessibility looks like when it is done well. It does not just remove barriers for a specific group of students. It reduces unnecessary cognitive load and creates a clearer, more usable learning experience for all students.
Future-Proofing Higher Ed Accessibility Compliance
University departments are struggling to find strategies for the sudden explosion of AI tools. Catalyst Education remains anchored by a philosophy that looks to improve instructional capacity while retaining and valuing human expertise above all else.
While many institutions are reacting to AI with panic or blanket bans, Jamie noted that the future of accessible edtech solutions lies in reshaping how we evaluate student understanding.
"When graphing calculators came out, everyone freaked out and banned them from the classroom... AI is just another tool to get an answer. It is going to change how we teach."
We are leaning into this future by integrating AI frameworks that act as assistants for grading open-ended, high-order conceptual questions (like explaining scientific reasoning or analyzing diagrams). This shifts the focus from rote memorization to critical thinking, freeing up faculty to do what they do best: mentor, inspire, and teach. But we always keep a human TA or instructor in the loop providing valuable oversight and input throughout the process.
Utilizing AI for grading purposes also fits into the broader higher ed digital accessibility story. Many TAs struggle with communication, especially those for whom English is a second language. AI-generated feedback allows them to provide detailed comments without the anxiety of a language barrier. It also drives institutional fairness: using an AI grading assistant ensures ironclad scoring consistency across dozens of different TA sections.
Reclaiming Time for What Matters Most
By building data integrity, privacy, and accessibility into our platform from day one, we do more than just help departments pass rigorous university audits. We streamline the entire adoption process. We carry our accessibility documentation with pride. Our accessibility work is supported by expert testing and real user feedback, not just automated checkers, proving that our commitment to equity isn't automated marketing fluff. It is deeply rooted in our DNA.
As we look toward the next generation of professionals, our goal remains clear: providing the tools that help professors become the heroes of their classrooms, and ensuring every student has the clear runway they deserve to learn deeply.
Want to learn how Catalyst Education can transform your department's courses while fully supporting your institution's higher ed accessibility compliance goals? Connect with our team today.
And you can check out the full podcast episode here: