Request Demo

Accessibility Matters Digest

A monthly newsletter bringing together research and action for accessible online course design.

Love this digest? Check out the lineup of companion
Accessibility Matters LIVE! webinars.

Clock being placed inside a piggy bank

How time-efficient is your Canvas accessibility work?

Welcome to the seventh edition of Accessibility Matters Digest, where we discuss the benefits of designing accessible courses, acknowledge the complexities in that process, and highlight the research and tools that can support delivering accessible courses in Canvas. This month, we’re exploring time-efficient processes for reviewing and building accessible Canvas courses.

“Approximately 87% of faculty reported at least one barrier [to delivering accessible courses]. They most frequently cited lack of proper tools; lack of time to update previously developed DE courses for accessibility; and lack of technical support or guidance in making courses accessible” (Farr et. al, 2008).

Perhaps you and your colleagues desire to provide accessible courses, fully aware that accessible design is good for all learners and critical for those with disabilities. Yet anyone who’s long worked in education has likely felt there’s never a shortage of great ideas—but always a shortage of time! Making courses accessible is no exception, as instructional designers and faculty consistently cite time as a major barrier in creating accessible learning experiences (Farr et. al, 2008; Linder et al., 2015; Lowenthal & Lomellini, 2023).

Yet, many institutions working to increase course accessibility have discovered that culture shifts, proactive habits, and the right tools help break down the time barrier—and the research agrees.

For time’s sake, let’s jump straight to some practical, research-backed strategies for tackling course accessibility efficiently and the tools that speed up the work in Canvas:

Clear the clutter first!

Between accidentally importing Canvas content more than once, uploading revised files, and even teaching courses across various modalities and lengths, it’s easy to accumulate course clutter. Begin your accessibility journey by removing unused or duplicate files and content from your courses! Doing so results in more accurate data about accessibility in and across courses and saves significant time. Nobody wants to spend precious hours remediating a file that students will never access!
TidyUP filtered to show all unused files in the Canvas course
Kickstart your accessibility work using TidyUP to identify and delete unused course files and content in a flash! No more spending time unnecessarily remediating unused or duplicate files and content.

Reduce task switching!

The assembly line is a classic example of a broader reality: focusing effort on a piece of a larger process can significantly increase efficiency by reducing task-switching costs (Multitasking: Switching Costs, 2006). When remediating accessibility issues in a course, working in strategic waves helps you manage your cognitive load and save time. For example, if you use a similar content structure on every Canvas Quiz, it may be more time-efficient to fix accessibility issues on all Quizzes before moving on to Discussions, since you’ll benefit from a repeated process.
UDOIT window showing link with nondescript text, a text box for entering descriptive text, and a checkbox to apply the fix to all 8 indentical issues
UDOIT Advantage's convenient, automatic issue grouping helps you fix similar accessibility issues across your entire course from a single screen. Warp speed workflow, unlocked!

Invest minutes upfront, save hours later!

Proactive accessibility efforts are ultimately more efficient and more cost-effective (deMaine, 2014; Linder et al., 2015), and institutions that utilize proactive approaches to digital accessibility “see better outcomes for students and less strain on faculty and staff” (Kontio, 2025). Consider implementing the following time-saving, proactive habits:

  • Build, distribute, and utilize accessible templates! Templates can give educators a head start with accessible headings, sufficient color contrast, descriptive link text, and more!
  • While editing, scan content for accessibility before saving! This quick habit reduces the remediation load later and can even catch accessibility issues before they get duplicated across a course.
  • Where possible, convert file contents into Canvas content! This way, users can leverage familiar and consistent accessibility tools and save time on content updates, too.
UDOIT window showing link with nondescript text, a text box for entering descriptive text, and a checkbox to apply the fix to all 8 indentical issues
UDOIT Advantage lets you convert inaccessible documents to Canvas pages at the touch of a button!

We’ll bring these tips to life and do a deeper dive into the research on November 18th at 12pm MT in our upcoming Accessibility Matters Live webinar: Time Saving Tips. Register now!

“UDOIT Advantage jumpstarted the accessibility review process at The Wharton School. It’s so user friendly and easy for people who aren’t accessibility experts to quickly fix issues.” – Becky Moulder, Senior Instructional Design Project Leader, University of Pennsylvania

Bite-Sized Solutions

To keep the digest, well, digestible, each month we’ll deliver a bite-sized solution for a common accessibility challenge. We hope these small but mighty tips will empower you and provide momentum on your journey of developing and delivering accessible Canvas courses!

Challenge:
You discover an accessibility issue in your course template and realize it has been duplicated over and over, resulting in dozens of pages needing to be edited.

Solution:
UDOIT Advantage conveniently locates identical issues across your course and allows you to fix the issue once and—with a single selection—apply the solution to all other instances in the course to save loads of time!

Citations:

deMaine, S. D. (2014). From disability to usability in online instruction. Law Libr. J., 106, 531.

Farr, B., Studier, C., Sipes, L., & Coombs, N. (2008). A Needs Assessment of the Accessibility of Distance Education in the California Community College System. Part I. MPR Associates, Inc.

Kontio, J. (2025). Accessibility Matters Live: Accessible Courses by Design [Webinar].

Lowenthal, P.R., Lomellini, A. (2023). Accessible Online Learning: A Preliminary Investigation of Educational Technologists’ and Faculty Members’ Knowledge and Skills. TechTrends 67, 384–392.

Multitasking: Switching costs. (2006, March 20). American Psychological Association.

Name

Position

Description