Full course description
Start Date
Enroll Now
Price
$249.00
Credential
Digital Badge
Length
6 Weeks
Commitment
3-5 Hours Weekly
Format
Asynchronous
Improve the Student Experience by Creating Accessible and Usable Courses
Course Description
This course equips learners with the knowledge and skills to create accessible and compliant Canvas courses, ensuring all students can effectively engage with course content while meeting federal accessibility requirements. Accessibility is not just a best practice, it is required by law. In 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice updated Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to include specific web accessibility standards. Public universities must meet these standards by April 24, 2027. This course helps you proactively align your courses with these requirements. Participants will learn the essential criteria for accessibility in Canvas, why these standards matter for usability and compliance, and how to identify and fix common accessibility issues. The course focuses on practical, actionable steps you can take immediately to improve your course design.
By the end of this course, participants will be able to design Canvas courses that meet accessibility standards, reduce institutional risk, and support a consistent, usable learning experience for all students.
Learning Objectives
- Describe the importance of creating an accessible Canvas course, including legal and usability considerations.
- Identify accessibility issues in your Canvas course.
- Create clear, usable, and accessible navigation within a Canvas course.
- Check for and fix accessibility and usability issues in a Canvas course (pages, multimedia, etc.).
- Check for and fix accessibility and usability issues in uploaded files (Word, PowerPoint, PDF).
Target Learner
This course is designed for higher education instructors who want to create accessible and usable online learning environments.
Course Topics
- Web Content Accessibililty Guidelines
- Instructure Canvas (Educational Software)
- Web Accessibility Standards
Meet the Course Developers
Cassie Mallette
Program Manager for the AI Learning Lab and Senior Instructional Designer
Policies
This non-credit course is offered online using the Canvas LMS, over a 6-week period. It is asynchronous, but not self-paced. You will have a total of 56 days to complete the course. The 56 days to complete begins on the day of enrollment and under no circumstances will extensions be given. The course is approximately 30 hours. You should plan to spend about 3-5 hours per week on the course. You will be assessed throughout the course to demonstrate proficiency on the subject matter. You must pass all assessments before receiving the course badge.