Make Canvas Courses Accessible

Ensuring that your Canvas courses are accessible is essential for creating an inclusive learning environment for all students at the University of Michigan.  

Canvas content can be made accessible using the following best practices, and by using the Panorama tool to scan and improve the accessibility of your course.

Use Panorama to Find and Fix Accessibility Barriers

Panorama is an accessibility tool in Canvas that allows faculty, instructors, and instructional support staff to create, scan, and fix accessible digital content directly within Canvas. 

When reviewing or improving existing content, use Panorama to address accessibility efficiently. 

  • Use the Panorama Tool for Canvas Accessibility

Best Practices

When creating new content in Canvas or developing new course documents, use best practices for accessibility.

Add Alt Text to Images

When you add images in the rich text editor in Canvas, add short, descriptive alt text that describes the image. This ensures that people who can’t see or access the original image understand its content. 

You can also add alt-text to images in Canvas using Panorama.

Add Captions and Descriptions to Video Content

If you have video content in your course, provide captions and descriptions so that students who can’t hear, see, or process the original video can understand its content.

Use Structure

For Canvas pages and course documents, use headings and lists to structure your content. This makes text more understandable by breaking up longer sections and making content easier to navigate. 

When adding headings in the Canvas Rich Content Editor, select the heading level from the heading drop-down menu. 

Use bulleted lists or numbered lists by selecting the list buttons in the Rich Text Editor, rather than manually typing in numbers or symbols.

Use descriptive link text

When adding links, make sure that the linked text describes the destination and avoids ambiguous link names such as “Click Here” or “Read More.” If there are many links, make sure that they all have unique text.

Make Text Readable 

  • Use simple, readable sans serif fonts such as Arial
  • Use 12pt or larger fonts
  • Use sufficient color contrast
  • Do not use color only to emphasize text - also use formatting such as bold or italics.
  • Avoid using italics for more than a word or two
  • Write in plain language wherever possible

Make Course Documents Accessible

When uploading documents like Word Docs, PDFs, or slide decks, make sure those files can be accessed and used by all students. 

  • Learn about creating Accessible Documents and fixing inaccessible documents
  • Use the Panorama tool to scan and improve the accessibility of existing documents in your course

Exams and Quizzes

Quizzes should also follow accessibility best practices. When creating Canvas quizzes, you can use Panorama to automatically find accessibility issues with content created in the rich text editor.