Course Delivery

When designing for accessibility, it helps to plan out how students will receive the content you’re providing. How will students access course readings and other materials? Will your course be primarily in person, or will students collaborate asynchronously and/or remotely? Which platforms will they use – and are those platforms secure and accessible?

When building your course schedule, bear in mind that tables and other complex layouts can be difficult to read. Consider using simplified list formats, where possible – this benefits students who have visual or other disabilities, but can also help avoid information overwhelm. Use layout and organization to highlight key information instead of relying on font indicators like bold, underline, italic, or colour – using lots of different font settings can make your document difficult to read. Documents with simple formatting have the advantage of being easy to update, as well, making them easier to revise from term to term.

Posting readings, assignments, deadlines, and other key course information to Canvas also helps ensure students can easily access the information they need to succeed – this also lets you change or update portions of the syllabus as needed, and easily notify students of those changes.

If you need support in designing your course with accessibility in mind, contact your faculty’s Instructional Support Unit or CTLT for one-on-one consultations on Canvas design, syllabus layout, LOCR implementation, and other aspects of course delivery. You can also find CTLT’s accessibility-focused events and workshops through CTLT’s Accessibility Events page.

Making Canvas Contents Accessible

When you are adding or editing content on Canvas, take the following into consideration:

  • Structure contents using in-built styling (heading levels, ordered lists, bullet points, etc.)
  • Use plain language for instructions, wayfinding and navigation.
  • Avoid relying on colour alone for meaning, or using extensive colour for styling.
  • Ensure there is sufficient colour contrast between text and backgrounds, and in images. You can check colour contrast using online resources such as Contrast Checker.
  • Add succinct and descriptive alternative text (or alt-text) to images. For complex images and diagrams, include captions to add more a more detailed description.
  • Use tables only when necessary, and do not use tables to format pages (e.g. for floating an image on one side of the page).
  • Use descriptive links rather than URLs (outside of academic referencing)
  • Check that any documents uploaded are accessible (more information can be found in CTLT’s Accessibility 101 Digital Content Guide)
  • Use in-built accessibility checkers with care – they can be overly sensitive to some issues, but often provide easy steps to fix accessibility problems.

These Canvas course readiness practices can also improve student access and experience:

  • Set up assignment dates and weighting with clear labelling for students.
  • Review your course homepage to ensure it facilitates access to key course components, such as the syllabus or your contact details, without overloading students with too much information.
  • Remove extraneous menu items from your Canvas course navigation menu that students do not need access to.
  • Run a link validation to find and fix broken course links.
  • Set up your Library Online Course Reserves and tag and label readings for ease of access.

Accessible UBC Blogs

If you are planning to use UBCBlogs (WordPress), consider the following resources:

The WordPress Accessibility Handbook has in-depth accessibility practices for designers and developers.