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Document Accessibility Overview

what format should your instructional content be?

Should your document be an accessible Canvas page, a PDF, a fillable online survey/PDF form, or a Word Doc?

Microsoft Word, PDF, and Canvas are three authoring platforms that have different capabilities, especially when it comes to creating an accessible document. How we want our audience to interact with the document determines which platform to use - form follows function.

It is appropriate to leave a document as a Word doc if needed. Below are some examples of when an accessible Word doc suffices, and if applicable, some alternatives that leverage the Canvas environment.

If part of the learning objective or intent is how the document is formatted, one may create an accessible Word doc (assuming Canvas is not the appropriate platform).

To learn more information on how to create accessible documents please visit these pages:

 

Practice: Test your understanding!

For the following scenarios, would you: Leave the document as is (in the same format), create an accessible Canvas page, a Word Doc, PDF, or a fillable online survey/PDF form? There may be situations where a document could be provided into various accessible versions (yes - it is absolutely appropriate to share more than one version of a document with your students. For example, you may post the inaccessible version that has the correct page layout, and provide a simple accessible Canvas page or Word document. Just let your students know in the descriptive link what type of document it is to ensure students have the correct application downloaded to access your content. For example: MLA Example (PDF). 

Answers to each scenario is below. 

Scenario 1: PDF

Before beginning, is the following statement True or False: Creating a PDF provides an accessible version to students. 

Answer: False! PDFs require additional work to be accessible. Converting a document into a PDF does not make the document accessible unless the necessary accessibility elements (headings, list styles, descriptive links, alt text, etc.) are added. 

How do you approach accessibility?
Intent: Students need experience reading research papers for their Biology Seminar Course.

 

Document: Conopea -  Science Published Paper (PDF) or visit Research Gate for a direct source link. 

 

Scenario 2: Syllabus (word document)

How do you approach accessibility?

Intent: Students need to be able to share, download, and save document to device. 

 

Document: Sample Online Syllabus (GoogleDoc)

 

Scenario 3: Student MLA example

How do you approach accessibility?
Intent: Students need to see an example of an MLA-formatted student paper.

 

Document: MLA Sample Paper (PDF)

 

Scenario 4: Early Childhood Education Observation Form

How do you approach accessibility?
Intent: Students need to print and fill out while observing children's behavior based on age.

 

Document: Early Childhood Observation Form (PDF)

 

Note to faculty: If the content in a document needs to be organized and presented in a specific way, please check in with local campus resources for additional support. It may be necessary to work with your local disability resource center should you have a student requiring accommodation.

Answers to Practice Scenarios

  1. An accessible Canvas page, Word doc, or PDF version would be appropriate. Remember: students need at least one accessible version. However, it may be easier to create an accessible Canvas Page or Word Doc. Before attempting remediation, consider trying to do a web search for the published paper - there may be an accessible web version listed on a website. 

  2. An accessible Microsoft Word document would be ideal as the document is already authored by a word processor. Note: At this time, GoogleDocs are limited in creating accessible documents.
     
  3. This is an extremely complicated document due to the margin annotations. An accessible PDF would be ideal to maintain the reading order . (Bonus points: provide a closed caption video that explains the document in detail. Note: when providing an audio description (on-screen actions) of this document in a video, describe the margin annotations as if students are only listening to the video!) 

 

Situations where a pdf, canvas quiz/survey, or reaching out to local campus help is needed

PDFs retain the format of a document and can also provide accessible complex navigation seen in forms. If students need to fill out an interactive form with choices, use multiple choice or multiple checked boxes and consider using Canvas' Quizzes.

Leverage Canvas: If appropriate, consider using Canvas Quiz or Survey as Canvas creates accessible quizzes and surveys that allow you to do the above and more. If very simple questions and open text entry answers are required, a Canvas Survey may be a more appropriate and accessible format. 

Keep in mind: If the content in a document needs to be organized and presented in a specific way, please check-in with local campus resources for additional support.

Note to faculty: It may be necessary to work with your local disability resource center should you have a student requiring accommodation.

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