Accessible instructional materials are key to enacting the University’s mission of promoting a culture of equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging. By ensuring instructional materials are accessible, faculty help promote EDIB within their teaching, and create an equitable learning environment that benefits all students.
ITS Universal Design Services, the University Library, and CETL have partnered to offer faculty an easy to use, no-cost service to make their digital instructional materials accessible. With the click of a button, faculty may request accessible instructional material support for their Canvas course content. Digital files are made accessible so that all students have equal access to course instructional materials—fundamental for student success. This includes Microsoft Office files (e.g. docx and pptx), PDFs, and video. It's easy! Simply select a specific Canvas course to receive support, and accessible versions of digital documents will be created.
How to Make New Content Accessible
Visit the ITS Accessibility webpage for an in depth guide to making your digital documents more accessible.
Quick Links
-
Read: Make Your Word Documents Accessible (Microsoft)
-
Watch: Create More Accessible Word Documents (Microsoft)
-
Read: Make Your PowerPoint Presentations Accessible (Microsoft)
-
Watch: Create More Accessible PowerPoint Presentations (Microsoft)
Although the Canvas web interface is accessible, it’s important to ensure that any content created or uploaded into Canvas is also accessible. The Canvas Rich Content Editor has an Accessibility Checker to determine if page content is accessible. Furthermore, Ally is an accessibility awareness tool integrated into Canvas, and it can help you make your uploaded files and images more accessible.
Quick Links
Visit the ITS Accessibility webpage to learn more about accessible audio and video. You can even submit a closed captioning request (bottom of page) to have human-generated captions created for your video.
As a best practice, upload videos you create to Panopto (video tool inside Canvas). Panopto offers captioning tools to ensure media is accessible.
Quick Links
CETL offers the Accessible Instructional Materials (AIM) Workshop several times a semester for all faculty as a part of the TEACH program. To complete the workshop, (1) instructors attend a live webinar and then (2) submit a deliverable, namely a Syllabus with Heading Styles.
Please check our latest workshops and register for the Accessible Instructional Materials Workshop if available.
Accessible All-Stars
Faculty Showcase
Over 80 faculty have worked with ITS Universal Design Services and CETL to ensure their instructional materials are accessible.
- Pau Abustan, Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
- Elizabeth Corzo-Duchardt, Television and Film
- Dirk Farner, Liberal Studies
- Irene Grau, Communication Studies
- Rasha Hannouche, Communication Studies
- Chelsea Johnson, English
- Julie Matos, Communication Studies
- Judy Ann Olson, English
- Lori Rusch, Art
- Alicia Tycer, Theatre Arts
- Cezhan Ambrose , Finance
- Jeffrey Anderson, Marketing
- Andre Avramchuk, Business
- LiHsueh Chen, Economics
- Edan Epstein, Business
- Sandor Ferencz, Economics and Statistics
- Nanda Ganesan, Computer Information Systems
- Ron Glickman, Management
- Mohammad Hashemi Joo, Finance
- Marco Martinez Del Angel, Economics
- Ovanes Hovik Mikaelian, Computer Information Systems
- Dong-Woo Lee, Accounting
- Carlin Nguyen, Marketing
- James Refalo, Finance
- Sunil Sapra, Economics
- Brandon Shamim, Management
- Parkev Tatevosian, Finance
- Maryam Tofighi, Marketing
- Mine Ucok Hughes, Marketing
- Ming Wang, Computer Information Systems
- BingBing Wang, Finance
- Song Xing, Computer Information Systems
- Jong Yi, Finance
- Angela Young, Management
- Lijuan Zhao, Accounting
- Joanna Zhao, Accounting
- Toby Baker, Curriculum and Instruction
- Gina Chavez, Special Education, and Counseling
- Dolores Delgado Bernal, Educational Foundation
- Anne Haga, Special Education
- Erica Hamilton, Curriculum and Instruction
- Ambika Raj, Curriculum and Instruction
- Jennifer Symon, Special Education and Counseling
- Miguel Zavala, Curriculum and Instruction
- Lili Zhou, Curriculum and Instruction
- Michael Thomas, Technology
- Yuqing Zhu, Computer Science
- Maria Ambriz, Chicana(o) Latina(o) Studies
- Joanna Flores, Chicana(o) Latina(o) Studies
- Trishmonisha Blagdon, Communication Disorders
- Todd Chamberlain, Criminal Justice
- Rakel Delevi, Child and Family Studies
- Gabriel Ferreyra-Orozco, Criminal Justice
- Kelly Field, Child Development
- Colleen Friend, Social Work
- Kimberly Gottesman, Nutrition Food and Science
- Kathryn Amanda Hillstrom, Nutrition Food and Science
- Peter Ivory, Communication Disorders
- Minas Michikyan, Child and Family Studies
- Jessica Morales-Chicas, Child Development
- Michele Nicolo, Nutrition Food and Science
- James Simon, Social Work
- Tracy Webb, Criminal Justice
- Su Jeong Wee, Child and Family Studies
- Dwan Bridges, Kinesiology
- Stephen Gonzalez, Kinesiology
- Anureet Kaur, Kinesiology
- Elaine Schneider, Kinesiology
- Apryl Vines, Kinesiology
- Beth Felice Baker-Cristales, Anthropology
- Jessica Bodoh-Creed, Anthropology
- Katie Dingeman, Sociology
- Gaithri Fernando, Psychology
- Analena Hassberg, Sociology
- Soo Mee Kim, Sociology
- Libby Lewis, Sociology
- Felicia Montes, Latin American Studies
- Susana Morales, Latin American Studies
- Heidi Riggio, Psychology
- Tanya Sanabria, Sociology
- James Christian Sera, Anthropology
- Robert Weide, Sociology
- Sasha Wright, Biology
- Bridgid Fennell, Library & Information Science
- Jeannette Vaught, Library & Information Science
FAQs
ITS Universal Design Services, the University Library, and CETL have partnered to offer faculty an easy to use, no-cost service to make their digital instructional materials accessible. With the click of a button, faculty may request accessible instructional material support for their Canvas course content. Digital files are made accessible so that all students have equal access to course instructional materials.
It's easy! Simply select a specific Canvas course to receive support, and accessible versions of digital documents will be created.
Accessible instructional materials are key to enacting the University’s mission of promoting a culture of equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging. By ensuring your materials are accessible, you help promote EDIB within your teaching, and create an equitable learning environment that benefits all students.
As you teach your course, you may use PowerPoints, Word documents, PDFs, and instructional videos. These materials can be made more accessible by providing all students multiple means of representing the content, such as images with text-based descriptions (alt-text), videos with accurate closed captioning, and readable PDFs.
When you make your digital files accessible, you show your commitment to promoting equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging in their teaching to benefit all students. This makes you an Accessible All-Star!
Faculty who complete their course remediation will be recognized on our website Showcase page, will receive a digital badge, and will be encouraged to include their achievement in their RTP dossier. We encourage you to visit this website, learn more about the initiative, and see your colleagues who have become Accessible All-Stars.
You can request your course digital files be made accessible—with the click of a button!
-
You request remediation via the online form to start the no-cost service.
-
CETL staff will make a copy of your Canvas course.
-
ITS staff will work in this copied course to inventory and make files accessible.
-
Import this new accessible content into your next Canvas course when you teach.
NOTE: To ensure our initiative has the greatest impact, we are prioritizing Fall 2024 courses where a student has requested an accessible media accommodation. You will receive a notification email if you’re scheduled to teach one of the priority courses.
If you’re notified, here’s how to take advantage of this professional support service to make accessible versions of your course content. How it works:
-
Review the email notification: you’ll need to know the prioritized course.
-
From the email, access the short online form to request the no-cost service (the email notification will contain a special link, unique to each faculty/course).
-
In the form, provide a link to the Canvas course containing content you plan to use in Fall 2024.
-
ITS, Library, and CETL staff will work to enhance the accessibility of digital content contained in the Canvas course.
-
You’ll be notified after course content is accessible.
-
Later this year, as you get ready to teach, use the accessible version of the course to copy into your Fall 2024 course shell.
If you do not receive an email notification, you can still be part of our AIM for Student Success Initiative:
-
Learn more about the AIM for Student Success Initiative.
-
Request support for a smaller batch of files anytime using the Single Document Remediation Request form.
-
Sign up for the Accessible Instructional Materials webinar.
-
Learn more about the Ally Accessibility report inside your Canvas course.
-
Share this information with colleagues and encourage your chair to discuss at department meetings.
When you have remediated your course, share this success with your students! We encourage you to promote the work you have done to make your course equitable and accessible. Some points you may want to share with your students include:
-
All PPTs, Word Documents, and PDFs will be readable by screen readers.
-
All images have Alt-text that describe images for students using screen reader..
-
The Ally tool in Canvas can give students alternative formats of instructional materials—including e-book, electronic braille, and audio versions. Students can learn about Ally and use the best version to help them in your class.