Title II federal regulations deadline
"The regulatory requirements for digital accessibility will now take effect on April 26, 2027, due to an extension issued by the federal government. The University has until April 26, 2027 to bring its websites, mobile apps, course sites, software, and other digital content into compliance with updated web accessibility guidelines." - Office of Digital Accessibility
Canvas Courses for Spring, Summer and Fall of 2027 will need to meet WCAG 2.1 standards, which are demonstrated in layman's terms as the 7 Core Skills of Accessibility. Building and refining course materials with these skills allows students with visual and auditory impairments to read text, experience discussions, review films, and consult notes in their courses.
What tools are available to assist?
The University of Minnesota offers digital tools and consultations to assist faculty, departments, and colleges achieve these goals.
- Canvas courses can become cluttered with duplicate, unpublished, and unused pages, files, and documents. The Canvas Content Audit Tool (CCAT) can identify published and used files, and make it easy to move items to a development course for archival storage.
- The Universal Design Online Content Inspection Tool (UDOIT) scans a Canvas course for accessibility errors found in assignments, pages, and files. The UDOIT interface provides instructions and built in tools to remediate these issues.
- Canvas courses will include slides and documents from Google Docs or Microsoft Office. Instructors can use GrackleDocs (Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides) and Accessibility Checker for Microsoft Office to make this content accessible.
Assistance with PDFs
Portable Document Format (PDF) are commonly used for scholarly articles, presentation slides, and syllabus. However, PDF files are time consuming, challenging, and expensive to make accessible.
For example:
- "Busting the PDF Myth" sheds light on how PDF's are no longer locked and uneditable.
- Watch this video that explores how Inaccessible PDFs can create immense barriers for students with visual impairments.
- For those who share their slides and notes in PDF, you can:
- The UMN Accessibility Ambassadors shared a recorded presentation of Remediating PDFs or choosing the right alternative formats. Also included are the presentation slides with notes, and a Google Doc with additional resources.
We recommend a consultation with an Academic Technologist. They will assist in:
- creating an inventory of pdf's sorted by ownership, creator and publication status,
- offer suggestion on which documents can be be made accessible,
- and develop a plan of action for remaining documents.
Where can I get assistance?
Contact the UMD Accessibility Liaisons ([email protected]) to:
- schedule a consultation. Available in-person and through Zoom
- working sessions or demonstrations for teams and departments
- get clarification on questions related to the 7 Core skills, file types, images, and videos.
Additionally, the Office of Digital Accessibility is a University of Minnesota that "provides services to help all faculty and staff develop, maintain, and procure accessible digital content, and works with representatives from each collegiate unit to coordinate the accessibility work of their local digital content creators."