SSU uses Ally to provide faculty and students with tools to easily increase the accessibility of course materials. Ally scans Canvas course websites to look for digital materials that don't meet WCAG 2.0 accessibility guidelines and then both lets the instructors know about the issues and gives them guidance and tools to correct the issues. Additionally, it can generate alternative format versions of many file types for students, e.g. providing students with an audio version of a written document. This allows students flexibility in when, where, and how they learn, increasing their opportunity to succeed.
Best Practices
- Some faculty think that accessibility is the responsibility of the Disability Services for Students (DSS) office, or that they don't need to remediate their course materials until a student with a declared disability enrolls in their course. Unfortunately, neither of those are true. California state law requires that digital educational materials (including, but not limited to, Canvas sites, other digital courseware or online test systems, and Zoom) be accessible to all users from the beginning. Additionally, by making your materials accessible, you benefit students who aren't eligible for support from DSS, but may still need help: Accessible course materials are easier for all students to use, including students with undiagnosed disabilities like dyslexia or ADHD; students who are working full-time while going to school; students with families; and other "non-traditional" students. By taking the time to make your materials fully accessible, you give every student a better chance at success.
- One of the easiest ways you can make your course materials more accessible is by replacing PDFs with Microsoft Word .docx files, Google Docs, or native Canvas pages. PDFs are not necessarily accessible, and remediating them is very time-consuming. Meanwhile, all of those other forms of digital text are natively much more accessible, without extra work on your part. Using Canvas Pages can especially benefit your students: SSU's students primarily access their Canvas course websites on cell phones or other mobile devices. Canvas pages will automatically change their layout to fit the text comfortably on the page, while PDFs won't. So, turning your course materials into Canvas pages makes it easier for your students to interact with their course materials.
Resources
- SSU Canvas Self-Paced Course for Instructors. Created by CTET's instructional designers, this course will introduce you to the fundamentals of using Canvas effectively and equitably.
- WebAIM Accessibility Tutorials. These tutorials will introduce you to what accessibility is and how to achieve it in web content, such as Canvas sites.
- Accessibility Resources at SSU. There are a lot of resources at SSU to support faculty who want to make their courses more accessible and equitable!
- CTET Remediation service (coming soon)
Get Support
If your question isn’t answered by the above resources, we encourage you to visit CTET either in person or via Zoom, submit a help request, or just email us. We are happy to do a 1-on-1 training or support session with you. You can find our current business hours and contact information, including our Zoom link, on our Contact Us page.
Student Support
CTET only supports faculty, not students. If you have a student with a disability, you should let them know that they have the option of registering their disability with the office of Disability Services for Students to receive personalized support. However, if your students generally report accessibility problems in your course materials, we encourage you to look at the issue with them and, once you've documented it, either address it using the guides above or reach out to us for more advice.