Canvas includes an accessibility tool that detects common accessibility errors within the course. The Accessibility Checker scans Pages and Assignments. You can use the Accessibility Checker to design the course while considering accessibility attributes.
The Accessibility checker tests against a curated selection of WCAG 2.2 Level A, AA, and AAA success criteria. Rather than a checklist for total level-specific compliance, it focuses on the high-impact rules that most frequently affect users.
The accessibility checks do not cover all issues that may occur in complex or interactive content created outside the Rich Content Editor. This includes items such as color contrast errors in internal or external CSS, embedded third-party tools (like LTI tools or external learning apps), custom JavaScript or interactive widgets, iframes and externally hosted content, and interactive elements such as simulations, quizzes, or drag-and-drop activities.
The Accessibility Checker scans Canvas Pages and Announcements for the following common accessibility issues in the Rich Content Editor:
- Missing image alt text: An image does not include descriptive alt text.
- Alt text length: Image alt text exceeds 200 characters.
- Image filename used as alt text: The alt text matches the image filename instead of describing the image.
- Tables without headers: A table does not include at least one header.
- Table header scope: A table header does not define appropriate scope.
- Tables without captions: A table does not include a descriptive caption.
- Duplicate or broken links: Multiple links point to the same URL, or spaces break a single link into multiple links.
- Misformated lists: Content appears to be a list but is not formatted using list structure.
- Skipped heading levels: Heading levels are not sequential (for example, H2 followed by H4).
- Heading length: A heading exceeds 120 characters.
- Heading 1 in content: An H1 heading is used within the page content.
- Small text contrast: Small text does not meet WCAG 2.2 Level AA color contrast requirements (inline CSS).
- Large text contrast: Large text does not meet WCAG 2.2 Level AA color contrast requirements (inline CSS).
Notes:
- If the Accessibility link is not visible in your course, it is disabled by your institution. Contact your institution's administrator for assistance.
- The Accessibility check happens inside of Canvas, without using AI.
- The course Accessibility Checker cannot scan courses with more than 1000 pages and assignments in total.
- Once a course has been scanned, the tool automatically scans new and edited resources.
- If you roll your page back to a previous version in the version history, the remediation progress will be lost.
Open Accessibility
In Course Navigation, click the Accessibility link [1]. Then, click the Scan Course link [2] or the Scan Course button [3].
Note: The scan can take anything from a few seconds to a few minutes depending on the size of the course.
View Issues
The central interface displays high-level information, including the total number of active issues on the course, and a bar chart illustrating their distribution by issue type [1]. It also lists the scanned resources, showing the number of issues found on each of them [2].
Fix Issues
Instructors can see the number of issues for each resource [1]. To launch the radiation wizard for viewing and resolving issues on a resource, click the Fix button [2]. A tray then displays one issue at a time, showing the problem area and issue description [3]. Select a remediation option [4]. To correct the issue, apply the change [5].
Apply Fix
Once reformatted, the problem area is updated with the preview of the change [1]. To revert the change, click the Undo link [2]. To apply the changes, click the Save and Next button to proceed to the next issue [3].
