August 2025 Newsletter

Back to School!
As a new term, semester, or school year starts for many, the Cidi Labs team is wishing you a successful year filled with fabulously designed courses, effective accessibility initiatives, and of course, happy students! Read on to learn about the many ways we are here to support you in meeting those goals.

Webinar Roundup

Our webinars are getting a reputation! We consistently hear feedback that our webinars are as informative as they are entertaining, which is the best compliment we could ask for. Discover why by watching the ones you missed, and be sure to register for September’s lineup!

In Case You Missed It:

The Course Design Showdown

This webinar is a virtual rendition of our InstructureCon session, a Canvas solution showdown—game show style! Contestants work their way through common course design challenges and reveal stunning and streamlined results in record time. Be inspired as each challenge puts the contestants’ course design skills and powerhouse tools from Cidi Labs to the test to achieve big wins in Canvas that are fast, fun, and scalable.

Big Wins in 30 Mins: Canvas Interactivity That’s Accessible!

In this 30-minute session, we reveal new interactive DesignPLUS elements and show how easy it can be to add interactivity to your Canvas courses that engages students, supports accessibility, and saves you time—a triple win! Whether you’re a designer or an instructor, you’ll leave with ready-to-use ideas that make your content shine, without sacrificing usability. Everyone wins with Cidi Labs!

Accessibility Matters Live: Managing Accessibility Initiatives and Continuous Improvement

Are you looking for a way to support and manage accessibility work so that it is streamlined and can happen at scale? In this session, we showcase a practical accessibility workflow and demonstrate how Cidi Labs tools help reduce the workload, centralize communication, and document progress all without leaving Canvas—making it easier to stay organized and keep accessibility moving forward as a continuous, sustainable effort.

September Webinars:

Accessibility Matters Live! Monthly Webinar Series

Finding Your ‘Why’ to Motivate Action
September 25th at 12pm MT

Instructors’ plates are often full just delivering course content and monitoring student progress. Adding accessibility work to an already overflowing plate can leave educators wondering whether the effort is worth it. Join us for an immersive experience designed to demonstrate why accessibility matters for learners. Once equipped with deeper understanding, you’ll see how Cidi Labs tools help turn that knowledge into action, making it easy for anyone to remediate issues and impact Canvas course accessibility without specialized expertise. Whether you’re an administrator or designer hoping to empower instructors or an educator looking for your ‘why,’ this session will provide a memorable experience and practical strategies for moving the needle on course accessibility.

The College of Southern Idaho’s DesignPLUS Faculty Training
September 30th at 12pm MT

Faculty at the College of Southern Idaho (CSI) aren’t just embracing new course design tools—they’re transforming the way they teach. Join us for a dynamic panel featuring CSI’s early adopters of DesignPLUS, including faculty champions Bethany White, Learning Designer, and Bryan DeVore, Course Technologist, as they share their journey from launch to lasting impact. Whether you’re looking to support individual instructors or implement institution-wide resources, CSI’s experience will inspire you. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn from passionate educators who are reshaping course design with efficiency, engagement, and innovation!

Product Updates

NEW DesignPLUS Course Search Tool:
Now in Beta!

Updating language in bulk in your Canvas courses has never been easier! This tool gives you the ability to:

  • search your entire course for keywords using the matching case or the whole word functionality
  • replace all or some uses of your keyword
  • sort by Canvas content type (page, assignment, etc.)
  • sort by content state (published, unpublished)

To access this tool, users must have the Enable beta tools box checked in their User Settings.

Course Search tool in the DesignPLUS Sidebar

Recent Releases

For details on August’s product releases, please refer to the respective Release Notes: Also, joining our Customer Community on Slack is a great way to get notified as soon as product updates are released!

New Video Tutorial

Are you eager to learn more about how to use the new DesignPLUS student interactive elements? Check out this new video tutorial that will help you make the most of the Fill-in -the-Blank feature.

May your fall be full of pumpkin spice, well-designed pages, and fewer accessibility errors…

~ The Cidi Labs Team

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