Research shows that by adopting inclusive design practices, like accessibility, we enhance the user experience for all students and foster a culture of diversity and inclusion.

The digital accessibility requirements in Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (2024) are broad and impact digital files shared across campus. Given breadth of these requirements, accessibility must become part of our daily work. As we advance in our accessibility compliance efforts, it will be essential for those of us creating documents, recording videos, teaching on Canvas, and managing websites to understand the guidelines for producing accessible content in line with the .

To assist instructors in this process, COLRS staff and the Office of Digital Accessibility are collaborating to assist instructors with course accessibility.

Overview of the Canvas Course Accessibility Process

During this process, instructors will work through accessibility issues with their course content. ODA and COLRS staff are always available for consultation and support. Given the number of courses offer each year (2,000+) and scale of accessibility issues (50 to 500+ per course), this process has to be a team effort. Make a Canvas course accessible in 4 steps:

  1. Use TidyUP to clean up course files to reduce duplicates
  2. Use TidyUP to clean up Canvas content to remove unused materials
  3. Use UDOIT Advantage to address accessibility issues
  4. Prepare to collaborate with the Office of Digital Accessibility (ODA) on file and video accessibility

For each of these steps, the Making Canvas Courses Accessible How-To Guide (linked below) will cover what the tool is, why it’s important to complete the task, instructions for working with the tool, and ways to double check your work. Where appropriate, additional resources are provided to help you make progress towards course accessibility.

This guide is meant to help you work through the process on your own, but COLRS staff members are still available to help! Please reach out to the COLRS team if you have any questions, get stuck, or would like a second opinion. We’re happy to sit down with you and look at your course.

Making Canvas Courses Accessible How-To Guide

Looking for Accessibility Remediation Assistance?

The Office of Digital Accessibility (ODA) and its Digital Accessibility Remediation Team (DART) can help you learn to create and remediate your files, videos, and other materials to meet the accessibility requirements outlined by the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Get support for many types of materials, including: Word documents, PowerPoints, PDFs, video lectures, and podcasts.

Learn More


Accessibility

Students with Disabilities