Accessibility & Course Content

Introduction

Accessible courses and course materials are critical in today's online learning environments. Penn State’s Accessibility website Links to an external site. is the best place to start learning about accessibility at Penn State. This page will guide you through the resources and activities you need to optimize your courses for accessibility in Canvas.

On This Page:

    1. Learn about Penn State accessibility policies and Canvas accessibility features
    2. Provide accessibility information to your students
    3. Design Canvas pages and files for accessibility

 

Live Training

If you would like to learn more about optimizing your Canvas course for accessibility with hands-on, guided practice, request a Training on Demand Links to an external site. with IT Learning and Development.

 

Learn about Penn State accessibility policies and Canvas accessibility features

Visit the Courses section of the Accessibility.psu.edu website to learn how accessibility applies to Penn State courses specifically:

There are specific requirements related to accessibility for all Penn State syllabi. Penn State Faculty Senate Policy 43-00 is the Penn State syllabus policy. Copy the appropriate policy into your syllabus from the link below (available on the accessibility.psu.edu website):

Read an introduction to Canvas’s accessibility features, and review a tutorial to learn a number of design guidelines that can improve the accessibility of your Canvas course:

Read about Microsoft's Immersive Reader within Canvas that can improve the accessibility of your Canvas course:

 

Provide accessibility information to your students

Learn how you and your students can enable the “High-contrast setting” in Canvas as an accommodation for low vision:

Learn how your students can access Microsoft Immersive Reader to enhance their learning experience:

 

Design Canvas pages and files for accessibility

The following page from accessibility.psu.edu includes instructions for using Canvas' rich content editor throughout your course. Pay special attention to the following sections as you design new pages in your Canvas course: adding ALT text to images, using heading styles, using meaningful link text, and creating accessible tables:

The following links from accessibility.psu.edu contain a number of strategies and tips for making Microsoft Office documents and PDF documents more accessible: