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

Submitting this form is the first step to complete the course review process with the Office of Digital Accessibility and the Center for Online Learning, Research, and Service. 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.

1. Fill out the COLRS Canvas Course Accessibility Intake Form.
2. Work through TidyUp Scan with COLRS to remove duplicated content/files and minimize accessibility work.
3. Instructor addresses UDOIT findings with support from COLRS.
4. Collaborate with DART to triage and remediate file and video accessibility.

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

• Creating Accessible and Inclusive Online Learning: Moving Beyond Compliance and Broadening the Discussion by Patrick Lowenthal et al, in The Quarterly Review of Distance Education, 2020. This article outlines the foundations of accessibility and UDL.
• Accessibility in online courses: A review of national and statewide evaluation instruments in TechTrends by Baldwin and Ching, 2021.
• One model to rule them all, one model to bind them? A critique of the use of accessibility-related models in post-secondary education in Open Learning: The Journal of Open, Distance, and e-Learning, 2020.
• Systematic review (2000 to 2021) of online accessibility research in higher education in the American Journal of Distance Education, 2022.
• Inclusive Design from the Nielsen Norman Group
• The Business Case for Digital Accessibility from W3C

Students with Disabilities

• A systematic review of academic interventions for students with disabilities in online higher education in European Journal of Special Needs Education, 2022.
• Getting ahead in the online university: Disclosure experiences of students with apparent and hidden disabilities in International Journal of Educational Research, 2022.
• Suitability of online higher education for learners with disabilities: The students’ voices in Journal of Special Education Technology, 2022.