Contributors:Kari Goin

When course materials — readings, videos, slides, websites, etc. — are accessible, all students benefit.

Students with disabilities can engage with your course materials without barriers, often using assistive technologies such as screen readers or closed captioning.
Even students without disabilities often use more than one device — such as a phone, tablet, laptop, or desktop — and may not have reliable internet access. Accessible materials help them, too.

To support all learners and comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, it’s important to include accessibility throughout your course.

Note: At times, you may need to discuss accommodations with the Disability Resource Center.

Images

Images, graphics, diagrams, charts, and tables are key communication tools and can greatly enhance learning. For each image, include alternative text (alt-text) to describe the image to someone who uses a screen reader. Write your alt-text to describe:

The intended meaning or use of the image
Any included text or visual information (especially in diagrams)

Example: For an image of a course banner on the homepage of a course, the alt-text would include any text in the banner and the name of the course.

It’s important for alt-text to convey the same information as the image — so it’s best to include information-heavy items as readable text rather than images.

Rather than images of tables, include readable text-based tables. Make sure the tables have headings.
Write mathematical equations using the math editor in Canvas.

Note: Ask the Disability Resource Center about access to EquatIO, an institutionally licensed mathematical equation writing software.

Guidelines for Making Complex Diagrams Accessible

Color

Color in a digital environment requires sufficient contrast between text and background — but don’t use text color as the sole means to communicate information. For example, “assignments in red are due on Thursday” would not be accessible. It would exclude people who don’t see the color red or who use screen readers. Instead, use bold or italic to emphasize or highlight important information.

Another consideration is to use darker bolder colors for text used against a white screen. For best usability and accessibility avoid neon and bright colors in course content.

Check for Sufficient Color Contrast in Course Materials

Headings

For anyone who navigates from a keyboard, headings are important to quickly move through content on a page.

Use heading style H1 for only one heading on each page — typically the title or main subject of the page.
Use heading styles H2 through H6 to identify subsections.
Follow a logical nesting order and don’t exceed six levels.

Lists

Ordered and unordered lists are commonly used in content authoring. Be sure to use list tools to create them.

For ordered lists — in which numbers or letters indicate chronological or hierarchical items — a common mistake is typing each number or letter rather than using the list tool. This does not create a structured list that screen-reading software can use.

Don’t rely exclusively on lists for organization. For example, use accessible headings to begin each major section.

Document Formatting and Layout

Document types such as PowerPoint, PDF, Word, Google Docs, etc. are often part of course content. Consistency among documents is important for readability and findability. Here are a few guidelines to consider.

Make sure PDF documents are selectable, searchable, properly tagged, and in accurate reading order. If you create them by scanning paper, use OCR (optical character recognition) instead of creating an image. OCR allows each letter and word to be read by a screen reader and makes all text searchable. You can scan with OCR in the PSU library.

For all document types:

Don’t use underlined text for emphasis. It can be mistaken for a link. Use bold and italics instead.
Use the same style and navigation in all documents.
Make a document’s title easy to understand — both in the file name and in the H1-level heading within the document.

Checking Accessibility

Canvas has a built-in accessibility checker! Anywhere Canvas has a rich content editor you can run the checker to flag potential issues and accessibility errors. The checker will then prompt you to fix each item it flags. Learn to use the accessibility checker in the rich content editor in Canvas.

Microsoft products such as Word and PowerPoint also have built-in accessibility checkers. Learn about the accessibility checker for Word and PowerPoint.