Digital Accessibility

Creating an Accessible Canvas Course

Practical Suggestions for Faculty

Why Accessibility Matters

An accessible Canvas course helps ensure that all students can:

• access course materials,
• navigate the course easily,
• participate fully,
• and engage successfully in learning.

Accessibility benefits:

• students with disabilities,
• multilingual learners,
• students using mobile devices,
• students with temporary injuries or technology limitations,
• and all students who benefit from clear and organized course design.

Accessible design improves usability for everyone.

What Does an Accessible Canvas Course Look Like?

1. Clear Course Organization & Navigation

Students should easily understand:

• where to start,
• what to do each week,
• where to find assignments,
• and how to navigate the course.

Suggestions

• Use consistent module structure.
• Create a “Start Here” module.
• Hide unused Canvas navigation links.
• Use clear and descriptive module titles.
• Keep layouts simple and predictable.
• Include weekly overviews and directions.

Example Module Structure

• Weekly Overview
• Learning Objectives
• Readings/Lecture Materials
• Discussion
• Assignment
• Quiz

2. Use Proper Headings and Structure

Headings help students using screen readers navigate pages efficiently.

Suggestions

• Use Canvas heading styles (Heading 2, Heading 3, etc.).
• Keep heading levels in order.
• Break content into smaller sections.
• Avoid large blocks of text.

Good Practice

Heading 2 → Week Overview
Heading 3 → Readings
Heading 3 → Assignments

Avoid

• Making text larger manually instead of using headings.
• Using bold text alone as section titles.

3. Make Uploaded Documents Accessible

Students should be able to read course documents with assistive technologies.

Suggestions

• Use accessible Word, PDF, and PowerPoint files.
• Avoid scanned image-only PDFs.
• Use headings and lists in documents.
• Use readable fonts and spacing.
• Include table headers when using tables.
• Export documents properly to PDF.

Best Practice

Whenever possible, create content directly in Canvas pages instead of uploading inaccessible PDFs.

4. Add Alternative Text to Images

Alternative text (alt text) describes images for students using screen readers.

Suggestions

• Add concise, meaningful alt text.
• Describe instructional images clearly.
• Mark decorative images as decorative.
• Keep alt text brief and focused.
• If an image requires a longer explanation (more than about 120 characters), consider providing a brief alt text and placing a more detailed description in the surrounding text or directly below the image.

Example

“Bar graph comparing student success rates in online and face-to-face classes.”

Longer Description Example

Alt text: “Flowchart of the scientific method.”
Detailed explanation placed below the image describing each step in the process.

Avoid

• “image.jpg”
• “picture”

5. Ensure Videos Are Accessible

Students need equal access to audio and video content.

Suggestions

• Caption all videos.
• Review auto-generated captions for accuracy.
• Provide transcripts when possible.
• Use clear audio quality.
• Verbally describe important visual information.

Examples

• Zoom recordings
• Lecture videos
• YouTube videos

6. Use Meaningful Hyperlinks

Screen readers often read links aloud.

Suggestions

• Use descriptive link text.
• Tell students where the link goes.

Good Example

“View the Week 4 Study Guide”

Avoid

• “Click here”
• Long raw URLs pasted into pages

7. Use Readable Formatting

Readable design supports all learners.

Suggestions

• Use sufficient color contrast.
• Use readable font sizes.
• Avoid excessive capitalization.
• Use white space effectively.
• Avoid relying only on color to communicate meaning.

Avoid

• Tiny fonts
• Cluttered pages
• Red text only to indicate important information

8. Design Mobile-Friendly Content

Many community college students access Canvas using phones or tablets.

Suggestions

• Keep pages simple.
• Avoid overly wide tables.
• Avoid complex formatting.
• Test pages in Student View when possible.

9. Make Assessments Accessible

Students should be able to complete assessments clearly and fairly.

Suggestions

• Provide clear instructions.
• Use accessible file formats.
• Ensure accommodations can be applied.
• Avoid unnecessary formatting complexity.
• Use descriptive labels and directions.

10. Support Student Success Through Clarity

Accessibility also includes reducing confusion and cognitive overload.

Suggestions

Clearly communicate:

• due dates,
• grading expectations,
• participation requirements,
• technology requirements,
• and steps for completing assignments.

Additional Tips

• Use consistent terminology.
• Break large tasks into smaller steps.
• Provide examples when appropriate.

Quick Accessibility Checklist

Before publishing your course, ask:

✅ Is the course easy to navigate?
✅ Are headings used properly?
✅ Are images described with alt text?
✅ Are videos captioned?
✅ Are uploaded documents accessible?
✅ Are hyperlinks descriptive?
✅ Is content readable on mobile devices?
✅ Is the course layout consistent?
✅ Are instructions clear and easy to follow?

Helpful Canvas Accessibility Tools

Faculty may consider using:

• Canvas Accessibility Checker (located on each page)
• Canvas Built-in Course Accessibility checker (located in Settings' Navigation menu)
• Panorama
• Built-in heading styles
• Captioning tools
• Screen reader testing tools

Final Thought

Accessibility is not about perfection.

It is about creating inclusive learning environments where all students can access course materials, participate meaningfully, and succeed.

Small improvements can make a significant difference for students.