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.
Common Accessibility Issues in Canvas Courses
Ally scans your course and surfaces the most common barriers for students using assistive technology. The issues below appear most frequently across Canvas courses at Xavier.
Scanned PDFs
Scanned documents are images of text. A screen reader receives a completely blank page.
High severityMissing Alt Text
Images without descriptions are invisible to students using screen readers.
High severityHeading Structure
Missing or skipped headings force screen reader users to listen to every line from top to bottom.
Medium severityUntagged PDFs
PDFs exported without accessibility tags lose reading order and structure.
Medium severityLow Color Contrast
Text below a 4.5:1 contrast ratio is difficult to read for students with low vision.
Medium severityPoor Link Text
"Click here" and raw URLs give no context when navigating by links.
Lower severityUsing 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. If you do not see the report in the navigation menu, you will need to add it to the menu.
- Open your Canvas course and select Ally Course Accessibility Report from the left-hand navigation menu.
- Start with the items Ally labels as Content with the easiest issues to fix. These are quick wins with immediate impact on your overall course score.
- Once those are resolved, move on to remediating low-scoring content section. Ally's feedback panel explains each issue and walks you through fixes step by step.
- Re-check your overall course score after each round of fixes to track your progress.
] located above the right corner of the RCE content box to remeditate headings and images from inside a Canvas page. Remediating PDFs Scanned PDFs are the highest-severity Ally violation. A screen reader sees them as a completely blank page because they contain only an image of text, not actual text.
PDFs are among the most frequent sources of low Ally scores. Before choosing a remediation path, it helps to understand what kind of PDF you are working with.
Scanned PDF — created by photographing a physical document. Contains no actual text, only an image of text. Screen readers receive a blank page.
Untagged PDF — exported digitally from Word or PowerPoint but without the structural tags screen readers rely on. Text is present but may read out of order or be skipped entirely.
PDF Remediation Options
| Option | Best for |
|---|---|
| Remove unused PDFs. Delete published and unpublished PDFs not actively used in the course. | Outdated or duplicate files |
| Replace with a library permalink. For articles in the Xavier Library database, delete the PDF and replace it with the article permalink. Also remove the file from the Files area. | Journal articles and licensed readings |
| Use Ally's built-in PDF remediation. Follow the PDF Remediation Options recommended directly from Ally's feedback panel. | Most digitally-created PDFs |
| Use Adobe Acrobat Pro. The Make Accessible Action Wizard is available via the Virtual Desktop or a purchased desktop version. Review the PDF Remediation PowerPoint for step-by-step guidance. | Scanned PDFs requiring OCR |
Need help with a difficult PDF? If a document has complex tables, poor scan quality, handwriting, or is an archival primary source, contact IDT. We can help you assess alternatives including transcripts or accessible library versions.
Headings Screen readers can generate a list of all headings on a page and jump between them directly. Without headings, users must listen to every line from top to bottom.
Headings are the primary way screen reader users navigate a Canvas page. A well-structured page uses headings like a table of contents and allow students to quickly locate the section they need rather than listening to the entire page from top to bottom.
Always apply a heading style from the paragraph format menu in the Canvas RCE — not the Bold button. Bold text may look like a heading but it is still read as plain body text by screen readers.
Tips for Heading Structure
- Canvas already uses Heading 1 for the page title. Your content headings should start at Heading 2.
- Do not skip heading levels. Move through the hierarchy in order: H2, then H3, then H4.
- Use headings to mark actual sections, not to make text appear larger or bolder.
Alt Text for Images Alt text is a short written description attached to an image. Screen readers announce it in place of the image so students who cannot see the image still receive the same information.
Every informative image in your Canvas course needs alt text — a short written description that conveys the image's meaning to students who cannot see it. The Canvas Accessibility Checker will flag any images that are missing it.
Screen readers already announce that an element is an image, so phrases like "image of" or "photo of" are redundant. Leave them out of your alt text.
Tips for Writing Alt Text
- Describe what the image is communicating, not just what it shows.
- Keep alt text under 125 characters for simple images.
- Do not begin with "image of," "photo of," or "graphic of."
- For charts and graphs, summarize the key finding rather than listing every data point.
- Purely decorative images such as dividers and background banners should be marked as decorative in Canvas so screen readers skip them entirely.
Note: Ally cannot add alt text to images inside uploaded PDF or Word files. Alt text for embedded images must be added in the source document before uploading.
Color and Contrast
Color should never be the only way information is conveyed. Some students cannot distinguish certain colors, and text must have sufficient contrast against its background to be readable for students with low vision.
- WCAG requires a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for normal text. Use the WebAIM Contrast Checker or the Canvas built-in checker to verify your pages.
- Do not use color alone to highlight important content. Combine it with icons, labels, or bold text.
- Avoid using colored text for emphasis without also applying another visual cue such as bold or an icon.
Links Screen readers can pull up a list of all links on a page. "Click here" and raw URLs give no context when read out of their surrounding sentence.
"Click here" and raw URLs are among the most common and easiest to fix accessibility issues in Canvas pages. Screen reader users can navigate a page by cycling through its links alone, so each link needs to make sense on its own, out of context.
Tips for writing meaningful link text:
- Write link text that describes the destination: Review the PDF Remediation PowerPoint rather than click here.
- When linking to a file, include the file type and purpose: Download the assignment rubric (PDF).
- Avoid using the same link text for two different destinations on the same page.
- Edit link text in the Canvas RCE by selecting the linked text and using the link tool.
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.
Additional Resources
Have questions or need a review of your course's accessibility? We are here to help.
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.