- New Digital Accessibility Regulations Coming Soon
- Important Update to Online Teaching Recertification
- Spring Meet and Greets Dates Announced
- Summer and Fall Canvas Course Sites
- Updates to Teaching Tools Links in Canvas
- Subscribe to Knowledge Base Updates
- About Us
New Digital Accessibility Regulations Coming Soon
New ADA Title II regulations go into effect in April 2026 that affect accessibility requirements for all web and digital content for state and local government entities, which includes the University of Missouri System.
In addition to digital course content (Canvas and affiliated technologies), the affected technology areas include websites, web applications, mobile applications, vended applications, libraries and Extension programs. A systemwide Digital Accessibility Compliance task force is working to develop a comprehensive plan to comply with these regulations.
Making course content accessible to all will provide a more enriching experience for our students. While we are planning to offer many different types of additional support soon, Missouri Online currently offers several resources for instructors to learn more about digital accessibility:
- An informational webpage on digital accessibility that will be updated as more resources are added.
- TidyUP is a tool that helps clean up unused content in your Canvas course.
- UDOIT is a tool that scans a Canvas site and flags potential accessibility barriers.
- Two self-paced training courses, Designing digitally accessible documents and Digital accessibility for Canvas, guide instructors through learning more about digital accessibility and addressing issues.
- Knowledge base articles detail options for course and academic technology accessibility.
See the Missouri Online events calendar for upcoming accessibility training sessions.
Contact Missouri Online to request one-on-one consultations or departmental training.
Important Update to Online Teaching Recertification
We want to inform you of an important update regarding online teaching recertification. The 3-week recertification cohort has been paused, and faculty with expiring certification will now complete recertification through the self-paced Flexible Online Teaching Recertification and the Sprint Mini-Course program.
What's Changing?
Instead of the previous cohort-based model, instructors will now complete recertification by engaging in a self-paced, customizable learning experience designed to fit their needs:
- Teaching Essentials Sprint - a foundational mini-course that includes Quality Course Review (QCR) materials plus insights from emerging trends in higher education.
- Two Additional Sprints of Your Choice - Select from a catalog of nearly 20 sprints covering course design, assessment, community building, and inclusion topics.
- Total Time Commitment - Approximately 9 hours, completed at your own pace.
Next Steps
If your online teaching certification expires soon, you must register for the new Flexible Online Recertification Pathway. Registration is now open, and we encourage you to sign up as quickly as possible to ensure a smooth transition.
We appreciate your commitment to high-quality online teaching and look forward to supporting you through this recertification process. If you have any questions, please reach out to teachingonline@umsystem.edu.
Spring Meet and Greets Dates Announced
Missouri Online is hosting Meet and Greet events on all four campuses throughout April! Drop in at any time during the event to participate in collaborative conversations, pick up some Missouri Online swag, enjoy some refreshments, enter a drawing for prizes, ask questions and talk about your teaching goals.
Save the date for the following events:
- University of Missouri-Columbia (Mizzou): Tuesday, April 8
- University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC): Wednesday, April 16
- Missouri University of Science and Technology: Thursday, April 17
- University of Missouri-St. Louis (UMSL): Wednesday, April 9
Summer and Fall Canvas Course Sites
Summer and Fall 2025 Canvas course sites will be released on March 15. Review our article on getting your new Canvas site to check out the need-to-know info to get you started for the coming semester. After you have imported course materials, quickly find outdated content with TidyUP, and be sure to run UDOIT to assist with remediating any accessibility issues in your course.
Updates to Teaching Tools Links in Canvas
Missouri Online has migrated content from Teaching Tools to our new customer support portal. We have found thousands of references within Canvas courses that are still linked to Teaching Tools. Many of these links are from the previous semester or development courses. On Friday, March 14, we will run code in the morning to update the old Teaching Tools links to the correct links in the support portal. This will occur in previous semester courses, current semester courses and development/organization/non-credit sites, but the impact will be limited only to Teaching Tools links. If this impacts your courses, you should have received an email on March 5 providing more details, including how to opt out.
Subscribe to Knowledge Base Updates
Missouri Online launched our customer support portal in November. There are hundreds of knowledge base articles available to assist with using technology in your course. Keeping up with new content or updates can be easy. After signing in using your UM System SSO, simply subscribe to a single article or to a category of articles. Once subscribed, you will receive an email when a change is made to that article or a new article is added to the subscribed category. You can also subscribe to the Notice & Alerts section to receive notifications when updates are posted there.
About Us
Missouri Online supports the UM System universities with digital education services, this includes student recruitment for online programs, instructional and experience design, program coordination and academic technology. Our dedicated teams of expert professionals are here to assist you.