Making Course Materials More Accessible

Accessibility is about designing or structuring an environment for maximum usability. For course materials, this means designing or preparing them in ways that everyone can use them including students using assistive technology like a screen reader. Making and selecting accessible course content creates an environment in which all students can learn at their best. We encourage you to proactively create and select accessible materials because it results in more inclusive environments and limits the need for individual accommodations. This resource can help you make and provide accessible content to all learners.

Getting Started with Tips & Checklists

The accessibility checklists and tips linked below will help you to identify the content and materials in your course(s) where accessibility can be improved. The best practices found within the checklists and tips introduce you to the major accessibility considerations that apply to common digitally formatted materials such as MS Word documents, PDF files, Google documents, Canvas Pages as well as a variety of video and media content.

Checklists & Tips for Improving Accessibility

Making Course Materials More Accessible

The navigational buttons below link to resources with easy-to-implement steps and best practices you can adopt that will improve the accessibility of course materials created using software and products such as Microsoft Office, Google documents, and VidGrid. The information provided throughout will help you recognize the major accessibility considerations for each digital format listed. Remediating the common accessibility issues of the materials addressed within this resource will improve access to your course and course materials.

Microsoft Office: Word, PowerPoint, Excel

Course content is created, presented, and/or distributed in a variety of ways, such as in Google Documents, Adobe PDFs, Microsoft Word files, and Pages in Canvas, among other formats. In all of these applications, certain ways of producing and providing content are preferable, because they provide greater access for people with disabilities. The video titled Creating Accessible Documents from the National Center on Accessible Educational Materials explains why it's important to create electronic documents that are accessible to all users.

The navigational buttons below will direct you to steps for improving the accessibility of your Microsoft Word documents, PowerPoint slides, and Excel spreadsheets. Adopting these best practices will help you avoid common accessibility issues and improve access to your course materials.

Word Documents
PowerPoint Slides
Excel Spreadsheets

Video and Media: YuJa, YouTube, Images, Zoom, Live CC

Course content is presented and provided to students in a variety of ways. Whether you distribute and/or post materials that are created in YuJa, YouTube, or another format, there are steps you can take in order to ensure people with disabilities can access them.

The navigational buttons below will direct you to steps for improving the accessibility of your Zoom and Teams sessions as well as your multimedia materials and such as images, and videos using YuJa and YouTube. Adopting these best practices will help you avoid common accessibility issues and improve access to your course materials.

YuJa
YouTube
Images
Zoom
Live CC

PDF

Course content is created, presented, and/or distributed in a variety of ways, such as in Google Documents, Adobe PDFs, Microsoft Word files, and Pages in Canvas, among other formats. In all of these applications, certain ways of producing and providing content are preferable, because they provide greater access for people with disabilities. The video titled Creating Accessible Documents (Links to an external site.) from the National Center on Accessible Educational Materials explains why it's important to create electronic documents that are accessible to all users.

The navigational button below will direct you to steps for improving the accessibility of your PDFs. Adopting these best practices will help you avoid common accessibility issues and improve access to your course materials.

PDF

Canvas Pages

Course content is created, presented, and/or distributed in a variety of ways, including using Canvas Pages. As is true for all applications, certain ways of producing and providing content are preferable, because they provide greater access for people with disabilities. Canvas provides General Accessibility Design Guidelines that are helpful for making your pages accessible to as many students as possible.

The navigational button below will direct you to steps for improving the accessibility of your Canvas Pages. Adopting these best practices will help you avoid common accessibility issues and improve access to your course materials.

Canvas Pages

Google: Documents, Slides, Spreadsheets

Course content is presented and provided to students in a variety of ways. Whether you distribute and/or post materials that are Google Documents, Adobe PDFs, Microsoft Word files, or another format, there are right and wrong ways to create documents in order to ensure people with disabilities can access them. The video titled Creating Accessible Documents from the National Center on Accessible Educational Materials explains why it's important to create electronic documents that are accessible to all users.

The navigational buttons below will direct you to steps for improving the accessibility of your Google documents, Google slides, and Google spreadsheets. Adopting these best practices will help you avoid common accessibility issues and improve access to your course materials.

Google Documents
Google Slides
Google Sheets

Spotlight Reads

Universal Design for Learning and Digital Accessibility
Universal Design for learning (UDL) and digital accessibility both seek to increase learning access and reduce barriers for students. As such, their primary goals are compatible and are widely acknowledged as crucial to ensuring equity in education.

Woman writing on a whiteboard Designing For Accessibility
Accessibility is a big deal. We include statements about accessibility in our syllabi and on our institutional websites. When we create or collect content using UDL principles, our goal is to have online or blended courses look ahead and meet learners' needs before they even in roll in the course, and before we get an accommodation letter from the student accessibility office

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