Get Started with Digital Accessibility

Start By Removing Unused Content

You might be thinking about your course and wondering where to start. The Office of Digital Accessibility has developed the 3Rs Strategy: Remove, Revise, and Right First framework to help meet digital accessibility requirements.

First, focus on removing outdated or unused content from your Canvas site. Delete unused content and save content you are not using but want to retain outside of the Canvas site, such as a development Canvas site, a Google Drive folder, or on your computer. 

Do Not Store Unused Content in Canvas

Note that all materials in a Canvas site where students are or will be enrolled must meet accessibility standards, even unpublished materials or activities that are not visible to students. Do not use courses with student enrollment to store unpublished items long term.

Pro-tip: Selective Copying in Canvas

Do you have content in your Canvas site that you know you’re not using? You don’t have to import everything when you copy a Canvas course from a previous semester. Use the selective import feature in Canvas to copy only what you need, and leave behind outdated syllabi, old handouts or readings, unused assignments, and unpublished course pages. If you find an item was missed, simply select the specific forgotten item and bring it over. The selective import process ensures that unused materials do not negatively impact your UDOIT accessibility score and reduces the digital footprint of your new Canvas site.

We can help! Attend a help session or contact us to receive one-on-one assistance with selective copying.

Learn One Core Skill at a Time

At the heart of digital accessibility are the 7 Core Skills. Incorporating these core skills in Canvas, emails, documents, and other digital content you create will dramatically reduce digital accessibility issues. You should start with one of the skills and move onto the next one once you are comfortable. 

The 7 Core Skills are:

View a recording of the 7 Core Skills for Digital Accessibility (Kaltura, 44:37).

Use Accessibility Checkers

When you have incorporated the 7 core skills into digital content, you can use accessibility checkers to review the document or slide deck to check for any missed issues. Think of accessibility checkers as a spell-check for accessibility.

Canvas Accessibility Checker

The Canvas Accessibility Checker (CAC) is a tool available anywhere there is a Rich Content Editor (RCE), for example, on pages, assignments, discussions. When editing content in the RCE, you will see a notification number appear next to the CAC icon (the icon looks like a circle around a stick person) when there is an accessibility issue. The icon is located on the bottom right of the RCE window. Learn more by viewing How do I use the Accessibility Checker in the Rich Content Editor?

UDOIT

UDOIT scans your entire Canvas site to provide a report about accessibility errors and issues. The tool will identify accessibility issues in Canvas and provide guidance on how to address common accessibility issues. If you don't see the tool in the left hand navigation in your Canvas site, you will need to enable it. 

Other Accessibility Checkers