Students who have visual, auditory, mobility, or cognitive differences may use special software and/or hardware to help them navigate your course and access information. In order to help these students, use the Rich Content Editor (RCE) in Canvas. It isn't enough to make the text look differently by increasing the text size or using other text formatting like bold or italics.
You will need to use Canvas' built-in tools like the Rich Content Editor to correctly format content, so that assistive technologies can interpret your information correctly. Assistive technologies rely on HTML mark-up to interpret and access information. Basically, if the RCE tools are used correctly, you can ensure all of your students have access to your course! Making content accessible actually helps all students.
We've used tabs to divide the content into the essential RCE tools.
The next module will delve deeper on how these tools can be leveraged to streamline course development!
You may be thinking that you aren't ready to add web designer to your resume, much less WCAG 2.0 expert, but the good news is that Canvas has created easy-to-use tools to help you. These tools can be found in Canvas's Rich Content Editor toolbar.
You'll use the Rich Content Editor toolbar in Canvas in multiple places to add content, including:
Content Pages
Assignments
Discussions
Announcements
Quizzes
Later in this course, a careful overview of the most important editor tools for usability and accessibility will be covered, but to get a quick overview of the toolbar before we start, please watch the following short video.
Using the RCE tools correctly is an important part of building an accessible course. We'd like you to know some basic accessibility rules before you start building content, so you'll need to know how to use the features of the RCE. To get a quick overview of the toolbar, please watch the following short video:
The Text Style tool applies heading styles to specific phrases in a page. Think of heading styles as a way to add structure and an outline to a page.
The Text Style tool includes the following options:
Header 2
Header 3
Header 4
Quick question: Do you know why there isn't a Header 1? Find out more in the next module!
In the RCE, there are two types of lists that are available:
Bulleted List
Numbered List
Are Manually Created Lists OK?
No. Manually created lists like using dashes will not be interpreted by a screen reader correctly. When a screen reader encounters a correctly formatted list that has five items, it will announce, "List, has 5 items." If the list is created manually such as the example below, the screen reader is limited in providing enough information to your student:
-add dash, add text here
-press enter to create new line, add dash, then type in text
-press enter to create new line, add dash, type in more text
Copying & Pasting from Another Source?
Be careful when copying correctly formatted lists from Microsoft Word to Canvas. Correct formatting may not transfer over correctly between platforms. Also, copying text from websites may transfer additional formatting that may disrupt the look of your page. When in doubt, copy and paste text, highlight your text, then use the Clear Formatting tool (denoted as a T subscript x). Make sure to double check formatting!
Canvas has two tools to help create and delete hyperlinks:
Link to URL
Remove Link
When adding a link, instead of pasting in the URL directly, attach the linkto words that describe the link destinationLinks to an external site.. Screen readers have the option to navigate through all the links on a page. Try to create unique and meaningful links! This behavior will help everyone (whether they are screen reader users or not) understand where the link will take them.
Make Images Accessible to Screen Readers
The Embed Image tool can help in adding and editing alternative text (or also known as 'alt text' -- will be discussed more later!)
Simply, alt text is a textual description for an image.
Create Accessible Tables
Tables should be used for data display, not layout. If possible, use the Align Text tools (Left, Center, and Right Alignment tools and/or the Align Directional Text tool to help orient text on the page. Headings should always be included for columns and rows.
In Canvas, headings for table columns and rows can be changed in the Rich Content Editor.
Have a Video?
Use the Insert/Edit Media tool to insert your video.
As part of the Rich Text Editor, Canvas now includes a tool to check the basic accessibility of your page before you save.
Like any tool, the Check Accessibility tool:
works when it's used correctly,
creates problems if used incorrectly, and
doesn't cover everything you'll need to check for in your pages.
The tool is a great start, though, so, the following pages will walk you through formatting with the Rich Content Editor, and, when appropriate, instructions throughout the course will be provided for using the Check Accessibility tool.
Limitation
Note that the Check Accessibility Tool is limited in that it is an open-sourced work-in-progress tool. It may not catch every accessibility issue, and like all accessibility checkers -- will still need human eyes to find and fix accessibility issues. However, it is a good tool to use to get started. Use the Check Accessibility tool before saving your work!
Additional Sources on RCE
There are many Canvas Guides that walk you through using the tools within the Rich Content Editor, but to get you started, here are few we thought you might find useful: