Accessibility

In accordance with the university Web Accessibility Policy, Eastern Michigan University is committed to providing barrier-free access to online content and functionality, ensuring that it is accessible to students, prospective students, employees, guests and visitors with disabilities.  This includes course content provided on the Canvas learning management system.

Learning content installed on the Canvas LMS must meet the WCAG 2.0 Level AA compliance standard that is applied to all web content at Eastern Michigan University. Instructors are responsible for meeting this standard when they install content on Canvas.  

Accessibility Highlights

There are several important accessibility issues to watch with installed Canvas content.  These include:

  • Hyperlinks should include the description of the target content. For example, instead of “Course Syllabus (click here)” create a link in the sentence such as “View the Course Syllabus for assignment description and due dates.”
  • Embedded photos, images, diagrams, and graphs should include descriptive titles in the ALT tag.
  • Videos must be captioned.
  • Documents uploaded to the course should include headings, meaningful links, and ALT tags for embedded photos, images, diagrams and graphs.
  • Scanned PDFs should not be used in online classes.

Training and Support

The Center for E-Learning provides training on ensuring Canvas accessibility and one-on-one consulting to help instructors learn how to apply the standards to their content. Register for Canvas Accessibility sessions on our Training webpage. Or email us at [email protected] to schedule an appointment to help review your course content. 

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