Instructional Design and Technology

Strategies for Improving Course Accessibility

The quickest and easiest way to improve the accessibility of your course materials in Canvas is to use the Ally Tool to guide you through accessibility issue remediation. If you use video, you will also need to ensure all course videos are accessible. 

Using Ally to Improve Accessibility

To remediate issues using Ally, access your Ally Course Accessibility Report in the left-hand course navigation menu in your Canvas course(s). If you do not see the report on the left-hand course navigation menu, you will need to add it to the menu.  

The Ally Course Accessibility Report identifies “content with the easiest issues to fix.” Begin by remediating these issues. 

Once Ally has guided you through remediation of the easiest issues, move on to remediating the low scoring content. 

Of note, PDFs are often the source of low accessibility scores. Options for improving the accessibility of PDFs include:

  • Remove all PDFs (published and unpublished) that are not being actively used in the course.
  • For articles that can be found in the Xavier Library database, delete the PDF from its location in the course and replace it with the permalink for the article. You will also need to delete it from the files area of the course.
  • Apply PDF Remediation Options recommended by Ally.
  • Use the Adobe Acrobat Pro “Make Accessible” Action Wizard, accessed via the Virtual Desktop or purchased desktop version to remediate scanned PDFs.
  • For more information on remediating PDFs with the Adobe Acrobat Pro “Make Accessible” Action Wizard, Review the PDF Remediation Powerpoint.

For more comprehensive information about Ally, go to Instructional Design & Technology’s module on the Ally Course Accessibility Tool.

Complete a Faculty Consultations and Support Request for individual support from Instructional Design & Technology.

Making Videos Accessible

Video accessibility cannot be assessed or corrected with Ally, so please ensure you are reviewing that content separately from your Ally course score. Accessibility Training for Canvas: Captions provides an overview of both accessibility requirements and the tools and support available at Xavier to help meet them.

Request time with Digital Media Services for help with video accessibility.

Meeting the Needs of Students with Accommodations

Accessibility & Disability Resources (ADR) can assist with understanding the accommodation requirements for students who are currently enrolled in your courses.

University Library can assist with locating commercially available content that meets accessibility requirements.