Preparing Course Content for Digital Accessibility

Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act requires public institutions to make online services and digital content accessible. Many accessibility improvements can be addressed by following the University's 7 Core Skills of Accessibility.

Making course materials accessible helps ensure all students can access and use course content.

What To Focus On

Focus on courses you plan to teach in Fall 2027 and beyond. Remove unused content and make the remaining content accessible.

Canvas courses offered before Spring 2027 are not covered by these requirements. These courses should be unpublished. Unpublishing older courses helps reduce the amount of content that must be reviewed and maintained.

Where To Start

Start small and create a plan you can maintain over time.

Getting Started

1. Review your Canvas content.
   • Use the Canvas Audit Tool to identify active and unused content.
2. Archive, delete, or move unused content.
   • Move unused materials to a Development Site for future reference.
3. Import only the content you plan to use.
   • Import Existing Course Content into your Fall or Spring course so you can focus your accessibility efforts on current course materials.
4. Run UDOIT (Universal Design Online Content Inspection Tool).
   • Scans Canvas files, images, tables, pages, and videos for accessibility issues, including issues related to the University's 7 Core Skills of Accessibility.
   • Provides guidance and tools to help fix accessibility issues.
   • Is available in every Canvas course through the left navigation menu as Check Accessibility With UDOIT.
5. Schedule a consultation.
   • Email [email protected] for assistance.

Support For Accessibility

The University of Minnesota supports accessibility through documentation, consultations, and resource sharing. Get help, training, and guidance from the following resources.

Accessibility Support

• The University of Minnesota Office of Digital Accessibility (ODA)
• Accessibility Ambassadors of UMN

Accessibility Tools And Resources

Use these tools to identify and address accessibility issues.

• Accessibility Checkers for Web
• Accessibility Tools for Canvas
• Accessibility Tools for Documents
• Accessibility for Canvas Video

Need Help?

Local to UMD efforts to improve Canvas accessibility are coordinated by ITSS's Academic Technology and Course Design.

To schedule a consultation or ask a question, contact [email protected].