One aspect of Princeton University's commitment to diversity and inclusion, is promoting digital accessibility. To make it easier to create content that is accessible, we have integrated Canvas with Ally, a tool that checks the digital accessibility of content — images, documents, texts, etc. — created or uploaded to Canvas.

Below we also make some general suggestions for how to improve the digital accessibility of your Canvas course using principles of universal design.

Please note: The Office of Disability Services can advise faculty on how to ensure equal access during a period of disruption. For more information, please consult the Faculty Guidance for Accommodating Students for Remote Class Administration (Google Document). The Online Learning Environments Group in the McGraw Center can also offer advice on how to improve digital accessibility.

How to Use the Ally Tool

The Ally tool automatically checks the accessibility of images, documents, and other content uploaded to Canvas, as well as the content that is created in Canvas. If you upload an image, for instance, it will add an Accessibility Score. Click on the accessibility dial to see suggestions for how to improve the accessibility of your content.

Video Tutorial

More Resources

Ally Quick Start for Instructors

Overview of Ally in Canvas (Yale)

Universal Design and General Accessibility Guidelines

Page Layout	Page layout should be simple, clean, and uncluttered
Navigation	Clear and consistent from page to page
Provide Text Alternatives for Images	Images must contain meaningful text descriptions or alternative (alt) text Keep alt text short and concise like a Tweet (around 140 characters or less) A good alt text conveys the content and the purpose of the image Mark as decorative for an image of visual interest only Do not use an image of text if that text conveys important information
Headings & Styles	Use Headings to create a structure Do not skip headings Use provided heading styles in correct order to create a structure Avoid manually formatting headings to be large and bold
Bullet & Number Lists	Use the list feature for all bulleted and numbered lists, and use the indent feature to create sublists
Tables	Use table headers for columns and rows for all data tables Provide a concise summary of the purpose of the table Avoid using tables for layout
Color	Page text should have a strong color contrast Do not rely on color alone to communicate information; instead provide redundant visual cues like shape, pattern, or text equivalents
Clear and Meaningful Links	Links should be meaningful and descriptive to help students understand where the link leads them;  avoid terms like “click here" Indicate  if the link opens in a new window/tab
Audio & Video Content	Include closed captioning for videos

Specific Accessibility Guidelines

Microsoft Word

The best practices outlined above also apply when creating a Microsoft Word document. You can also use the Accessibility Checker to identify and fix the elements that are flagged by the Ally tool.

Make your word document accessible (Microsoft)

Rules for accessibility checker (Microsoft)

Create an accessible Word document (wikiHow)

Microsoft PowerPoint

The best practices outlined above also apply when creating a Microsoft PowerPoint document. A built-in accessibility checker is available (File > info > check for issues > check for accessibility).

Additional guidelines:

Use slide layout templates whenever possible.
Write the presenter’s notes in the provided area.
Add captions to the slide or presenter’s notes for complicated images (e.g. diagrams or maps).
Have closed-captioning for embedded videos
Include a transcript for embedded audios

Make Your Presentation Accessible (Microsoft)

Penn State: PowerPoint Tips

PDF

Export an accessible Word document to a PDF can preserve the accessibility features of the document. If you don't have the original word document of your PDF, you can tag the PDF for accessibility.

Adobe: Make PDFs Accessible

WebAIM: PDF Accessibility

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