Assessments

Assessment design is a huge topic, so we are just going to address some simple considerations for designing assessments that will greatly lessen the need for special adaptations for certain students, and create a better learning experience for all; as well as addressing the most common accommodations that students will need. 

Teach Students to Create Accessible Content

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Students will need to know how to communicate with their classmates, coworkers, and others in accessible ways. If you include assignment instructions for students on how to create content that is accessible, you will be making them more effective communicators and teaching them a marketable skill. In addition, you will be designing assignments that don't require rework when an accommodation is needed.

For example

  • Include captioning instructions in peer-reviewed, video-based assignments.
  • Instruct them to describe their visuals when making a video presentation.
  • Introduce them to the built-in accessibility checker tools in the documents they are authoring.

For other ideas, please talk to an accessibility consultant or check out the Teach Access website Links to an external site..

Designing Accessible Assessments using Universal Design for Learning Strategies

In the online, asynchronous environment, there are certain assignment types that are very typical such as discussion forums, quizzes, video presentations, papers, and various types of group projects. Over time, more and more learning tools have been integrated with Canvas, such as Office 365, Microsoft Teams, Google Drive, Kaltura, VoiceThread, and Adobe Spark, just to name a few. Additionally, sometimes assessments are in a third-party platform such as ALEKS or McGraw Hill Connect. With so many options, how do you consider accessibility in assessment design?

Universal Design for Learning is a framework based on neuroscience that takes learner variability, including disability, into account. Here are some simple strategies you can apply to assessment design to create a better experience for all learners and lessen the need for special accommdations.

  • Start with the learning objective to determine the best assessment type.
  • Follow the recommendations in the Course Technology lesson of this course to identify centrally supported tools that have gone through Risk and accessibility testing that will support the learning objective. Keep in mind that all vetted tools include tech support for students via the Help button in the Global Navigation in Canvas.
  • Provide low-stakes or ungraded assessments so students can test their knowledge and get feedback before they have to submit a graded assignment, which may lessen anxiety for all learners.
  • Provide choices for students such as choice of topic, tool, and/or deliverable. These kinds of choices increase student engagement and lessen or eliminate the need for special accommodations. 
  • Provide supports when choices can't be provided. For example, if the learning goal is to write a 5-page paper, provide support such as having the students write a draft and review each other's work before final submission. Provide links to resources or tutoring services.  
  • Provide a way for students to give feedback on the assignment that can be used to improve it the next time the course is offered.  

 

Remember that you can always talk with an accessibility consultant about your assignment design to get advice on making it as accessible as possible from Day 1.

Question Type Accessibility

Be aware of any inaccessible question types in the platform you're using. 

Canvas Quizzes

  • Fill-In-The-Blank Questions. Avoid using underscores to create blank spaces as the question will not be read as intended for screen readers. Instead, rewrite the sentence so the blank is at the end, eliminating the need to specify a blank space; alternately, you could use the word "blank" in square brackets like this: [blank].

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After the Assessment is Designed

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Updated March 2025