Digital Accessibility in Teaching

Digital Accessibility in Teaching

Faculty and GE instructors spend significant time and care creating and selecting course materials, from the course syllabus to textbooks and other key content. But if our Canvas pages, digital documents, and other web-based content are not digitally accessible, a subset of our students won't be able to read, watch, or engage with it.

Making materials digitally accessible is both a shared responsibility and a skill many of us are still developing. In support of our shared work, this page defines digital accessibility, offers steps to making your courses accessible, and highlights resources for instructors.

New! Winter Drop-in Digital Accessibility and Teaching Support Hours, Thursdays from 1-3pm on Zoom, now through March 26th, and Spring Drop-In Support Hours Thursdays from 10am-12pm on Zoom.

What is digital accessibility, and what does it apply to?

"Digital accessibility" refers to designing web-based content to a set of standards so that it can be fully used by people with disabilities. Web content is defined as anything viewed with a web browser. Web-based course materials that faculty and GE instructors create or provide includes:

  • Web-based documents, such as Microsoft Word documents, PowerPoint presentations, and PDFs;
  • Canvas courses and other course websites;
  • Web-based exams and quizzes, web-based textbook components/integrations, online forms, mobile applications, and any web-based third-party products (learning platforms and integrations);
  • Videos and other media on the web. 

To meet digital accessibility standards, we need to know how to appropriately use:

  • Headings
  • Fonts (including color contrast)
  • Links
  • Images and alternate text
  • Layout (including lists) and tables
  • Captions

We also need to ensure "real text" and need to either refrain from using PDFs or ensure they are accessible. Learn about appropriately using all of the above in the second module of the Digital Content Accessibility Training.  

What steps do I take to make my courses accessible?

Sometimes it is hard to know where to start, especially if you feel less familiar with digital accessibility practices. If you have a strategy that works for you, keep using it. For those seeking a progression of steps, consider these.

Step 1: Learn the basics

Learn the basics of making content accessible, including use of headings, lists, tables, images, links, captions, fonts, and ensuring “real text” (not an image of text). These basics are relevant across types of formats, whether your material is in a Canvas Page or a Word document! To do this:

Step 2: Make new content accessible from the start

 For content you are creating:

  • Apply the basics from the training and Basic Digital Content Accessibility page
  • Use automated accessibility checkers, such as Pope Tech for Canvas to help identify some types of common accessibility issues. While automated accessibility checkers can be useful tools, note that they are only able to identify a subset of issues.
  • Refrain from turning your file into a PDF, as PDFs are extremely difficult to make accessible, even when created from an initial file format (such as Word) that may have been accessible. In addition, PDFs can introduce new accessibility problems, and that they're difficult to update or change after they've been made accessible. Use the PDF Decision Tree to guide your thinking.
  • Ensure that video you make has accurate captions and that audio has an accurate transcript. 

Step 3: For existing content, identify what needs work

For existing content, identify what needs work by:

  • Removing content from your Canvas course that you no longer use, such as outdated Files or Pages. If there are files you do not actively use for the course that you wish to save, save them elsewhere. Doing this will provide a more accurate understanding of what you may need to fix, and will ensure you don’t spend time fixing things you no longer use.
  • Using the Pope Tech accessibility checker to scan content created in Canvas (i.e., Assignments, Discussions, Pages and Quizzes) and to learn a subset of accessibility issues you might need to fix and how to do this. UO’s Pope Tech Dashboard and Accessibility Guide can help you understand how to use the time-saving “dashboard view” to learn about some of the most common issues in and across your course.
  • Where possible, shifting to web (HTML) versions of assigned readings instead of PDF versions. Consider contacting your Subject Librarian or the Textbook Affordability team to explore eBook options, or request digitized print materials through Scan & Deliver (which will ensure scanned content is "real text" as opposed to an image of text).
  • Double checking that uploaded files:
    • Are “real text” if text is present (instead of a scan, or picture, of text)
    • Have basic content accessibility principles applied (for Microsoft files, such as Word or PowerPoint, you can use the automated accessibility checker to help you determine this, although these checkers only catch a subset of issues).
    • Have accurate captions on videos and accurate transcripts to go along with audio files

Step 4: Decide what work to prioritize

Digital Accessibility @ UO provides prioritization considerations. For example, it may make sense to prioritize working on course content which: 

  • Acts as a landing page or gateway to other content (for example, if you use a Home page you want students to start at)
  • Is being newly created (for example, documents or Canvas pages you are developing for next term)
  • Will be used on an ongoing or recurrent basis (for example,
  • Is essential or required content (for example, the course syllabus and required readings) 

While prioritization can make our work feel more manageable, it doesn’t indicate things to ignore, as all web-based course materials need to be digitally accessible. 

Step 5: Reach out when you have questions or need help

Most of us are still learning how to make things accessible, and we can support each other as we do. TEP and UO Online can answer questions around applying basic content accessibility guidance to course content, and instructors can get support through drop-in weekly hours or through one on one consultation. If you have questions that are beyond our scope and expertise, we can help you identify who to contact. 

Resources for instructors

  • Digital Content Accessibility Training, including the supplemental materials.
  • Basic Digital Content Accessibility page, offering a brief checklist of common digital accessibility considerations for documents, videos, and other content.
  • Digital Accessibility at UO website, providing a full suite of guidelines, information on procurement, guidance on testing tools, and more, maintained by UO's Digital Accessibility Architect.
  • TEP and UO Online offer consultations. While we do not revise materials for instructors, we are happy to provide guidance on questions or approaches, and if your question is beyond our scope of knowledge, we can help you identify where to direct it.
  • Pope Tech for Canvas, a "simple, easy-to-use tool that is integrated into the Canvas interface." Read more at Pope Tech Dashboard and Accessibility Guide.
  • The Canvas Support Desk can assist faculty in navigating the Pope Tech Dashboard. They have drop-in hours at PLC room 68 between 8:30 and 4:30, Mondays through Fridays. Please note that staff will not be able to remediate course content.
  • Canvas Course Templates created by UO Online provide a digitally accessible, ready-to-use course structure for the entire term. While templates provide a foundation for accessibility, content that is added must also be made accessible.
  • The Libraries may be able to help you find a more accessible version of a reading. Consider contacting your Subject Librarian or the Textbook Affordability team to explore eBook options, or request digitized print materials through Scan & Deliver (which will ensure scanned content is "real text" as opposed to an image of text).