Managing the Accessibility of External Files: Word, PDF and PPT

 

The Best Solution: Turn Files into Canvas Pages

You may have course content that is currently in a format created outside of Canvas: Word, PDF, PowerPoint, etc. As you learned earlier, any content that is part of your course learning materials needs to be made accessible and that applies to these "external" files as well.

One way to easily achieve this is to copy and past content from external documents into Canvas (HTML format) pages. It is much simpler to manage the accessibility of your Canvas pages using the Rich Content Editor than it is to remediate other file formats. Plus, HTML is always the optimal environment for screen reader devices. Not to mention, the fewer steps your students need to take to reach your content, the better. By incorporating your content directly into Canvas pages, you help facilitate all your students' learning process more effectively.

Have Files that May Need to Be Kept in Their Original Format?

While presenting your course content on Canvas pages is optimum, at times, there may be valid reasons to include external files. The National Center on Disability and Access to Education (NCDAE) has a variety of helpful cheatsheets Links to an external site. for developing and remediating (making accessible) external files that you might be using in your course.

To PDF or Not To PDF - Its Intention Is the Question

When is it best to keep a document in its original form, instead of turning it into a Canvas page? That will depend on how you want students to interact with the content.

For example, you may want to keep legal documents or scientific papers in their original format if the intent of the assignment is to help students become familiar with the structure and layout of those discipline-specific formats.

Or perhaps you have an assignment that's set up as a fillable form that can't be replicated in Canvas.

These are some examples where form follows function - if part of the learning objective is based on how a document is formatted, the document should be in its original form, which will then need to be made accessible. (PDFs are the most difficult file format to make fully accessible; use them only as a last resort.)

Dispelling a PDF Myth

In the not-too-distant past, instructors were often encouraged to turn their Word and PowerPoint files into PDFs so students without access to Microsoft Office could open and use the files. Somehow, many misinterpreted this to mean that saving a file in PDF format automatically makes it "accessible."

Sadly, such is not the case.

A PDF will only be as accessible as the original source document. (And sometimes new accessibility issues are introduced during the conversion process. =-/) So, always start with a fully accessible source document before turning it into a PDF. Then double-check the PDF for accessibility issues before sharing it with students.