We all start somewhere, and with these ten tips, we hope to offer a digestible entry point for those getting started with building a more accessible course. Please note that, as a result, this page is not meant to function as an exhaustive list of accessibility guidelines.
Files & Media
When you upload files to your Canvas course, there are several tools that you can use to review and, if need be, remediate these files for accessibility.
- Ally: Ally is a diagnostic tool in Canvas that can alert you to accessibility issues in files you upload to your course. At Cornell, Ally is automatically activated in Canvas, and you can review the Ally scores of your files to determine what may need to be replaced or remediated. For details, visit Getting Started with Ally.
- Microsoft: Microsoft PowerPoint, Word, and Excel all have accessibility checkers built into their software. You can use these tools to fix accessibility issues in documents, slides, and spreadsheets before re-uploading them to Canvas. For details, visit Microsoft Accessibility Checker.
- PDFs: PDF remediation can be time-consuming, so before you take this route, it’s helpful to look at your course materials and remove redundant PDFs, along with any PDFs that don’t align with your course’s learning outcomes. Also, if possible, we recommend searching the library, online journals, and other websites for those same articles in HTML, eBook, or accessible PDF versions. If an accessible PDF version exists, you can replace your inaccessible PDF with the same, now accessible, content. In terms of remediation, the Canvas tool Ally has a feature that can quickly improve the accessibility of PDFs to some degree, but additional remediation is usually needed outside of Canvas. If you have PDFs that need remediation and have questions on how to make them accessible, you can schedule a consultation with us at cornellCTI@cornell.edu.
- Videos: If your videos are in Zoom, Panopto, or Kaltura in Canvas, you can access autogenerated closed captions. You can then read through the captions, and edit them for accuracy. Two helpful resources are Edit Automatic Captions in Panopto and Edit Automatic Captions in Kaltura. Tip: Shorter videos (five minutes or less) are faster to caption AND can be more conducive to learning than long recorded lectures.
Rich Content Editor
The Rich Content Editor (RCE) is the toolbar you see after clicking “Edit” on any Canvas page, assignment, discussion, quiz, announcement, or the Syllabus tool. For more information, review Getting Started with the Canvas Rich Content Editor.
The section that follows will cover the RCE in more detail, but for now, here are a few strategies for using the RCE to improve accessibility:
- Headings and Lists: We recommend using headings and lists to break up large chunks of text, but if you do this, be sure to use the Headings menu and the Ordered and Unordered Lists buttons in the RCE. Please note: It may be tempting to make your own heading and list by making the text you want to emphasize bold and larger for the heading, and by using dashes to create a list, instead of using bullets. We gently recommend avoiding this if possible. Unfortunately, screen readers won’t recognize this type of formatted text as a list or a heading, which can cause confusion for students who depend on a screen reader and result in them not fully understanding your content.
- Links: We recommend using descriptive text for each link. For example, try to avoid using the full URL or generic phrases like “Read More” or “Link Here.” This is because a screen reader will not be able to give students a sense of where the link will take them or why it may be useful. Instead, try to provide students with simple text that tells them what kind of information they’ll access when they click on the link (e.g., use About Cornell University instead of “Read More” or https://www.cornell.edu/about/).
- Images: Adding alternative text (alt text) to every image can be a great help to students. To learn more about alt text, including what it is and how to use it, visit What is Alternative Text? and How Do You Manage Alt Text in Canvas?
- Colors: Ensuring high contrast within a document can make it easier for students to read it. If you’re changing the default colors of text or other elements, we recommend using a color contrast checker tool to ensure the text has sufficient contrast against the background color to be readable to as many learners as possible. Here’s an example of a resource you can try: WebAIM’s Link Color Contrast Checker.
- Canvas Accessibility Checker: Before saving what you’re editing (e.g., a Canvas page, assignment, discussion, quiz, announcement, or the Syllabus tool), you can review it and find out how accessible it is by using the Canvas Accessibility Checker. This tool will alert you to accessibility errors and help you to fix them by using its built in “editor” tool.
Assessments
- Assessments: Consider exchanging timed exams for take-home exams, projects, papers, debates, or peer reviews. These alternative assessments may even be more authentic, effective, and inclusive, and they also reduce the need for extended time on exams. For more information: Four Empirically Based Reasons Not to Administer Time-Limited Tests.