Canvas Accessibility Guidance
Canvas accessibility adheres to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), focusing on universal design principles like screen reader compatibility, keyboard navigation, and structural consistency. Key standards include using descriptive alt text, proper heading hierarchies, high color contrast, and captioned multimedia.
Key requirements to ensure Canvas content meets digital accessiblity include:
- Structure & Navigation: Use H1, H2, H3, etc., in nested order; use lists for organizing content rather than spaces or tabs.
- Images & Media: All images must have alternative (alt) text, and videos must have captions and transcripts.
- Documents & Links: Ensure PDF/Word documents are accessible, and use descriptive hyperlinks (avoid "click here").
- Color & Contrast: Maintain high color contrast; do not use color alone to convey meaning.
- Tools: For Canvas pages, utilize the built-in Accessibility Checker in the rich content editor.
A powerful accessibility checker, UDOIT (Universal Design Online content Inspection Tool), is integrated directly with Canvas. UDOIT scans Canvas course materials including documents, images, videos, links, and HTML formatting.
All digital course materials must comply with these standards by April 24, 2026, per ADA Title II updates.
1. Begin with the relevant principles for accessible Canvas content:
- Perceivable - Can all students see or hear the content?
- Operable - Can all student navigate and interact with the course content?
- Understandable - Is the course content clear and consistent?
- Robust - Does the course content work well with assistive technologies?
- Comprehensive scanning of announcements, ssignments, discussions, documents, images, videos, links, and HTML formatting in Canvas
- Detailed accessibility issue reports
- Step-by-step remediation for resolving accessibility issues
- Bulk fixing options
3. Use the UFIXIT area of UDOIT to review and address any accessibility issues.
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