Use this resource to understand common accessibility practices for course materials. It explains how instructors and course support teams can make images, audio, video, documents, Canvas pages, links, math, and other materials easier for all students to access and use.
Accessible course materials help ensure that all students have equitable access to content. Accessibility includes making content perceivable, operable, understandable, and usable with assistive technologies. In practice, this means providing text alternatives for visuals, captions for media, clear document structure, readable formatting, descriptive links, accessible math, and properly checked files before sharing them with students.
Media and Alternatives
Media refers to images, audio, and video.
Images
All images must be accompanied by a text description, either alternative text, often called alt text, or a long description.
Audio and Video
All audio and video files must include captions. Captions are generated for all files added through Panopto. Files uploaded by faculty receive machine captioning. Faculty are responsible for reviewing machine captioning for accuracy. Closed captioning is available for live, synchronous sessions hosted in Zoom using automatic speech recognition.
Refer to Captioning and Live Transcription at Whiting School of Engineering for more information on captioning for live events.
Structure and Formatting
Structure and formatting help students navigate a document, webpage, or slide deck in the correct order.
Heading Structure
Clear document and page structure helps students understand how the content is organized. A logical structure also helps screen readers organize the material for students and allows students to use keyboard commands to navigate course content more easily. Structure should be applied to all areas in Canvas and to course files, such as Word documents, PowerPoint presentations, and PDFs.
Using headings and styles is the simplest way to add structure to a document, page, or slide. Do not use font size options to make text look like a heading because screen readers do not recognize those visual changes as headings.
Refer to the Microsoft Support article Add a Heading for more information on using heading styles in Microsoft Word.
Refer to How do I add and modify text in the Rich Content Editor for more information on text styles in Canvas.
Reading Order
For PowerPoint presentations, the reading order of the slide content must be set for each slide to ensure the content is presented in a logical order.
Refer to the Microsoft Support article PowerPoint: Check Reading Order for more information on setting the reading order.
Formatting Tools for Lists and Tables
Lists, such as ordered lists, unordered lists, and tables of contents, should be created using built-in list tools instead of manually typing numbers or symbols. Similarly, tables should be created with the built-in table tool in Canvas pages and Microsoft programs.
Readability
Readability refers to how easily students can read and understand the content. For hyperlinks, this means using descriptive link text that indicates the link purpose or destination. Links should also be visually identified by an underline and a different color than the surrounding text.
For example:
- This link is less meaningful and longer for a screen reader: View the recording of the Math Accessibility Part I workshop at https://vimeo.com/895915785/258aedbf16?share=copy.
- This is a better way to describe the same link because it is more readable: View the recording of the Math Accessibility Part I workshop.
For hyperlinks and all other uses of color, use colors with sufficient contrast. Color alone should not be used to convey meaning or emphasis.
Refer to Contrast and Color Accessibility for more information on color.
These tools are useful for checking contrast:
Accessible Math
Common methods of equation creation, including images of equations and Microsoft’s built-in equation editors, are often inaccessible. We recommend authoring math content in MathType or LaTeX. LaTeX may be used in Canvas or converted to MathML for use in Canvas. For content that includes both text and equations, MathML is often the output after converting a TeX document to HTML.
Refer to Converting Equations to MathML for more information on MathML.
Refer to Overleaf Professional Accounts at WSE for more information on Overleaf for authoring in LaTeX.
Accessibility Checkers
Microsoft Office, Canvas, and Adobe Acrobat PDFs include built-in accessibility checkers that can help identify potential accessibility issues. Use these checkers and guidelines to identify and remediate accessibility errors.
Accessibility checkers can help identify many common issues, but they do not catch everything. Always review materials manually for clear link text, accurate captions, meaningful alt text, logical reading order, and readable formatting.
Refer to the Microsoft Support article Improve accessibility with the Accessibility Checker for more information on Microsoft Office’s accessibility checker.
Refer to How do I use the Accessibility Checker in the Rich Content Editor for more information on using the accessibility checker in Canvas.
Additional Resources
Additional resources are available on the Training and Resources on the Digital Accessibility at JHU site.