[Athen] Canvas Accessibility Question

[Deborah Armstrong]

The California community colleges have mostly all adopted Canvas because  it was found to be one of the most accessible LMS platforms out there.

As a screen reader user, I’ve now taken six courses that used Canvas (two were MOOCS) and the only access issues I had were sometimes with individual instructor content – such as a camera-phone photo of a textbook page.

I know it’s easy for instructors to offer extended exam-taking time and include video captions.

Some of our LD students have found online learning in general confusing, so the important thing for any student is for them to study all the training videos and text-based tutorials Canvas provides ahead of time. The iOS and Android apps are also accessible.

Make sure that a student doesn’t have to log in just to learn how to use Canvas. This way they can be encouraged to practice with an orientation course over the break before they have to take a real course with deadlines. We have a nice orientation course here that anyone, such as a tutor or parent can take to learn the basics and assist a student.

I was confused when I took my first course, but on my commute, I studied all the orientation materials on my phone, and that really helped.

One barrier to accessibility is when the instructor isn’t organized. For example, if the instructor has modules, announcements, assignments, discussion questions, chapters to read, external links to view, and a youTube video all due on a certain week and he doesn’t specify the to-do list for that week in one place. I had one instructor who kept posting stuff and there was no organized syllabus to specify what needed to be due by when.  The seat of the pants impromptu teaching style annoys me more than access glitches in the LMS.
Also make sure the student is learning relevant access technology, preferably ahead of time.

--Debee


From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu> On Behalf Of Samantha Johns
Sent: Thursday, September 27, 2018 3:08 PM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu>
Subject: [Athen] Canvas Accessibility Question

Hello Everyone,

If anyone is using Canvas at your University, can you please give some feedback about accessibility issues or concerns? Currently we are using D2L and are considering switching to Canvas.



Warm Regards,





Samantha Johns

(Pronouns: she, her, hers)



Accessible Media Coordinator

Office of Academic Innovation



Portland State University
1825 SW Broadway
Smith Memorial Student Union, Mezzanine 209
Portland OR 97201
(503) 725-2754

[Image removed by sender.]
Caption Badge: Universal Design for learning 2016

“The one argument for accessibility that doesn’t get made nearly often enough is how extraordinarily better it makes some people’s lives. How many opportunities do we have to dramatically improve people’s lives just by doing our job a little better?”  ― Steve Krug



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