Accessibility

• Review your Canvas content to do the following:
  • Remove duplicate Canvas items, files, and images.
  • Remove old, unneeded, and/or unpublished content and files.

• Pope Tech performs 37 accessibility checks using the powerful WAVE accessibility engine.
• It checks Canvas content only, not uploaded documents. 

• Canvas Studio: It has a robust captioning tool where you can check and correct captions for accuracy. 
• Coming soon...

• URL is missing a prefix or part of the address string.
• External source changed their URLs.
• External source is no longer available.
• Canvas link was incorrectly placed on the page.
• Canvas link connects to content from a previous course students will not have access to.

• Images -- Flyers, infographics, photographs, scans of written work, and any other type of image that contains text are things that automated checkers cannot flag. These must be checked manually. 
• Publisher's Content and External Websites -- All publisher and external content must be accessible. You can use the WAVE-WebAIM tool or browser extension to review their content. You should not assume this content is Title II compliant.

Yes. Those of us promoting accessibility are wondering the same thing; it has been the law since 1973, with an expansion in 1990. The reality is that education has moved online relatively recently, and lawsuits are starting to come down on colleges and districts for having inaccessible websites and using inaccessible course materials and publisher content. As these lawsuits grow and become more high-profile, these requirements are getting more and more attention.

As an online instructor, you probably already have the skills needed to make content accessible - i.e., selecting text, creating hyperlinks, using style headings, etc. However, if you need assistance, please make an appointment with our DE Team.

​Faculty are responsible for the accessibility of the content they use, even if it was created by someone else, such as a publisher. While we would hope publishers would make accessible content, if they don't, liability falls on you (and/or your institution) for selecting and requiring inaccessible content. This is why it's so important to ask about accessibility and compatibility with assistive technology before selecting a textbook and/or instructional technology.

Another thing to consider when using publisher content and publisher platforms/websites is that it can be difficult or impossible to edit or fix the materials. In some cases, you may be able to make changes to improve accessibility, but in others, you may not. We recommend that you research this before ordering and requiring students to purchase a textbook or a textbook/course code.