Accessibility

The SHUFFLE - University Initiative for Digital Accessibility for All project officially came to an end at the end of 2025. An intensive, insightful and pioneering phase came to an end. The four universities involved in the project - Stuttgart Media University, University of Education Freiburg, Heidelberg University of Education and Bielefeld University - worked on the project goals for four years. Together, didactic, technical and strategic innovations for the implementation of digital accessibility in teaching were developed, tested and sustainably integrated into the university context. It is now the end of a period that has moved a lot - in structures, in people's minds and in cooperation.

When SHUFFLE was launched in August 2021, many questions arose: How can digital accessibility be integrated into digital and hybrid teaching and learning scenarios in a didactically meaningful way? Which technical solutions really support teaching staff and students? And how can universities strategically anchor these developments in the long term?

Clear answers were found over the course of the four years of the project. Not only theoretical, but also practical, tested and further thought solutions were developed on three different levels:

• Didactic concepts that provide new impulses for accessible, activating and flexible learning settings,
• technical tools and standards that make digital teaching processes more stable, intuitive and accessible,
• strategic models and recommendations for action that help universities to implement digital transformation in a planned and sustainable way.

These results form a diverse overall package that considers digital accessibility at universities as a cross-cutting issue.

The results have already been presented at numerous national and international symposia, workshops and conferences during the course of the project. Through various lectures, poster presentations and publications, the results were disseminated to the specialist community and valuable impulses for exchange and cooperation were created. The feedback repeatedly showed that the challenges addressed in the project are highly relevant and the solutions developed make real contributions to the further development of accessible digital university teaching.

The conclusion of SHUFFLE marks the end of a chapter that was characterised by commitment, openness, creativity and a willingness to learn. The materials, guidelines, technical solutions and strategic recommendations developed in the project will remain in place and continue to be available to universities and the specialist community for use and further development.

At the same time, the project has left its mark on structures, competences, networks and a strengthened culture of digital accessibility in the university context. We would like to thank all those involved, contributors, supporters and interested parties who have accompanied SHUFFLE over the past four years. Together, we were able to create something that can continue to have an impact on studying and teaching beyond the project period.