Think of all the design choices on campus that support members of the campus community who have disabilities, such as curb cuts in the sidewalks, a wheelchair ramp running alongside the steps, or Braille lettering on the office signs. We take these for granted, along with the belief that people with disabilities have the right to participate fully in the community.
You might not realize that accessibility barriers exist within our digital community — and we are all responsible for identifying and removing them.
The good news is that Missouri Online can help you make your teaching materials accessible to all students, including those with disabilities.
Meet UDOIT
The Universal Design Online Inspection Tool, or UDOIT (pronounced "You Do It”), is a tool for scanning your Canvas site, finding and addressing accessibility barriers, and even providing alternate formats for your course materials.
What items does UDOIT Scan?
UDOIT scans the following items in a Canvas course:
- Announcements
- Assignments
- Discussions
- Files
- Pages
- Syllabus
- Module URLs
UDOIT allows you and your students to generate alternate formats for files uploaded to Canvas; for example, turning a scanned PDF into a Canvas page or an audio file.
Ready to get started?
Visit Understanding UDOIT to get started and learn more about the tool.
We invite you to download the flier Digital Accessibility Is Inclusive Teaching to share with your colleagues.
Questions?
Please contact Missouri Online if you would like to learn more about accessibility training for yourself or your department.
Additional resources
Accessibility guides
These accessibility guides have been developed by Missouri Online to assist instructors who are creating accessible content in their courses.
Sprint 4.A Digital accessibility for Canvas
Dive into the world of digital accessibility as you learn how to create accessible Canvas pages and related multimedia.
Inclusion
The inclusion category centers on creating an inclusive and equitable online learning environment. Faculty participants acquire the knowledge and skills to design accessible and diverse content, promote equity among students, and ensure that all learners have equal access to educational resources and opportunities.
Author
Laura Foley
Laura Foley got her start in instructional design as an editor for online courses, and she tends to approach instructional design with the eye of a writer and editor—she will look for logical structure and flow and engaging "storytelling". She served on the UM System Digital Accessibility Task Force and strives to find ways to make accessibility less daunting for faculty. In addition to giving presentations and workshops on accessibility, she's presented on online problem-based learning, universal design for learning (UDL), and inclusive online teaching.
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