UM3D
Canvas Digital Accessibility Guidance
Starting April 24, 2026, state and local governments must comply with Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by ensuring the accessibility of all websites and mobile apps they provide or make available. This means that all public colleges and universities must meet specific accessibility standards for their websites, online courses, and digital content. The Department of Justice (DOJ) has adopted the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA as the accessibility standard. These changes are designed to ensure equitable access for all individuals, including those with disabilities.
Canvas and Accessibility
Courses developed in accordance with UM3D guidelines and making use of the M50 template likely meet many of these standards already. For instance, the default font, font color and font size in Canvas pages were chosen in part for their accessibility. The Rich Content Editor contains tools to properly structure headings and lists. Canvas Studio allows for the quick and easy creation of captions (and soon transcripts). Every Canvas page contains a link to a screen reader, and all LTIs, including online textbooks, have been screened for accessibility. To assist with remediating documents, UofM has SensusAccess, a tool available to both faculty and students. Because of all these tools, Canvas pages are generally easier than Word, PDFs and PPTs to make accessible. Additionally, Canvas pages load faster and require fewer “clicks” for the students to access than linked documents. It is often faster and better to convert or pull documents into Canvas pages than to link out to other types of documents.
Accessibility Standards
Core accessibility standards have remained consistent over the years:
- images must contain alternate text descriptions (aka “alt text”).
- media, including videos and podcasts, must be captioned or have a transcript.
- Canvas pages and any documents (like Word, PDFs, and PPTs) must be properly structured with nested headings (e.g., h1, h2, h3, etc.) and numbered or bulleted lists. *Please note that textbook publisher PPT files are NOT always accessible!
- use descriptive links and file names
Remediation Tips
- Get to know SensusAccess's capabilities and use it to convert inaccessible PDFs to more accessible formats.
- Use accessibility checkers to review and FIX many accessibility issues:
- Canvas Course Accessibility Checker Training
- Word, Adobe and PPT all have their own accessibility checkers, too.
NOTE: Accessibility checkers don't run automatically. You must make an effort to use them and then commit to following their suggestions for improvement.
Resources
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA
UofM Resources
- UM3D
- Training Schedule for SensusAccess, Canvas Accessibility Checker, etc.
- The UM3D Podcast
Canvas Instructure Guides
SensusAccess Guide
Additional Accessibility Checker Guides