If you’re wondering where to start, you’re not alone. Fortunately, there are several straightforward steps you can take right now to make meaningful progress. Here are five high-impact strategies—“easy wins”—to help you quickly improve your accessibility score:

1. Clean Up Unused Files with TidyUp

Use the TidyUp tool to remove outdated or unused files from your course. Eliminating files you no longer use, such as, old syllabi, PowerPoints, and announcements can significantly boost your score. If the content will not be available to your current students, it shouldn’t be in your course.

2. Address Common Issues in the Accessibility Report

The Ally Accessibility Report highlights issues that can often be resolved directly within Canvas. Focus on fixing:

• Images without alt text (use the Ally Alt Text Assistant for support)
• Text with insufficient contrast in HTML/Canvas Text Editor Content
• Tables missing headers in HTML/Canvas Text Editor Content
• Scanned documents without OCR
• Broken links in HTML/Canvas Text Editor Content
• PDFs missing a language setting or title

These fixes are quick and impactful.

3. Replace PDFs with Original Word or PowerPoint Files

Whenever possible, upload the original Word or PowerPoint versions of your documents instead of PDFs. These formats are easier to edit for accessibility, and students can still download PDFs using Ally’s alternative formats feature. Don’t forget to delete the old PDFs to improve your score.

4. Use Tools to Streamline Alt Text Creation

Leverage tools like the Ally Alt Text Assistant or the ASU Image Accessibility Creator to jumpstart your alt text writing. These tools provide a solid foundation, which you can then tailor to your instructional context.

5. Add Alt Text to Word and PowerPoint Files

Open the Ally Accessibility Report for your document to identify images in your file that are missing alt text. Download the file, make edits on your computer, and re-upload the improved version directly into Canvas where prompted. Microsoft also provides guidance on improving the accessibility of your presentations.

Note, Ally’s Accessibility Report is more robust than Microsoft’s Accessibility Assistant. Follow the guidance provided by Ally when the two checkers disagree.

Need Help? We’re Here for You.

The Ed Tech Center is ready to support you in making your course content accessible. Whether you have questions or want hands-on assistance, don’t hesitate to reach out:

LIB 375
edtech@jccc.edu
913-469-3842

Request help remediating your course

JCCC Accessibility Training Resources

Let’s work together to ensure all students have equitable access to learning materials.

Using publisher content with Canvas can be challenging.  The Educational Technology Center offers support for helping with integrating your publisher tools to your course.  For additional support contact edtech@jccc.edu or ext. 3842

Resources

• Canvas Community – How to Connect Canvas to Publisher Content
• How to add VitalSource Bookshelf to your Canvas course (PDF)

McGraw-Hill

• McGraw Hill Integration Resources
• McGraw-Hill Support by Product
• McGraw Hill Representative Finder

Pearson

• Pearson Integration Resources
• Pearson Educator Support
• Pearson Representative Finder

Cengage

• Cengage Integration Resources
• Cengage Platform-Specific Training
• Cengage Representative Finder

To enable Discussion Checkpoints, first create a new discussion or edit an existing one. In the discussion settings, ensure “Graded” is checked [1], then check the “Assign graded checkpoints” box [2]. At this point, checkpoints cannot be used in ungraded discussions.

This will add an area where you can assign points to the initial post (“Reply to Topic”) [1], the number of required replies (up to ten) [2], and points to the additional replies [3]. The point values for “Reply to Topic” and “Additional Replies” are automatically totaled [4].

Note that you must include points in [1] and [3], even if you are using Complete/Incomplete grading. In that case, I recommend assigning 0 points to both. When you grade the discussion, it will only be considered Complete if both scores are Complete, no matter the point values you configured here.

Finally, you can add due dates below for the initial post and required replies. The “Assign To” section works as usual, meaning you can have different due dates for different students or sections.

When you grade a discussion with checkpoints, you can enter a grade and/or status for each component: initial post and required replies.

The points for initial post and required replies are then totaled automatically. You still only have one comments box, and the discussion will only show as one column in the Canvas Gradebook. Additionally, you may choose to use a rubric on a discussion with checkpoints. If you do, you will still have to manually enter the point values for each part of the discussion, as these do not currently auto-populate from the rubric scores.

How Students Interact with Discussion Checkpoints 

For students, discussions with checkpoints are very similar to regular discussions. On the discussion, they will see a new button labeled “View Due Dates.”

When they click that button, a sidebar will open with the requirements and due dates. Once they have completed the appropriate components, this sidebar will display a “Completed” message with the date and time of their posts.

Discussions with checkpoints will display for students with two calendar events (one for initial post and one for required replies) and will display as two items on their to-do list. This provides a significant amount of clarity and helps remind students of what they need to do and when.

Discussions with checkpoints will also show as two items in the Modules area of your course.

Conclusion

If you require your students to reply to each other’s posts in discussions, we strongly encourage you to test out the new Discussion Checkpoints feature in Canvas. This feature helps clarify due dates and grading for students, allowing you to clearly communicate quantity and due dates of replies.

Fixed: Alternative Text for Image Files Copy to New Semester

Alternative text added to image files in Canvas Files area through Ally’s Instructor Feedback will now copy over from semester to semester. Your Ally score will stay the same in the new course. Please note that the Ally score will take some time (up to an hour) to update in the new course due to the system conducting a new review.

Updates to Student Alternative Formats

New Feature: Handwritten Content Now Supported in Scanned PDF Files

Handwritten content within a scanned PDF should be converted to text using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for students downloading the Ally Alternative Formats. The availability of this format is dependent on the quality of the image and the handwriting. This is for English only at this time (does not support math or content in other languages).

Math Support: Word Documents Now Available in 3 New Alternative Formats for Students

Students can download three new alternative formats for math content within Microsoft Word Documents:

• HTML Alternative Format converts Office Math to MathML in their browser (webpage).
• Audio Alternative Format should read content from the Math Editor in an understandable way.
• Immersive Reader Alternative Format allows students to access additional accessibility features including the MathJax contextual menu option.

On the other hand, if you KNOW we need to see your screen, or see your face, you can invite any of us directly to a meeting. You can find us by typing in our name in the Zoom search bar and hovering over the contact. Then, select the phone or camera icon.

You can also find some more detailed instructions on this page.

Hope to hear from you soon!

McGraw-Hill Connect Instructor Basics

Sync Your Connect Section with Canvas – Initial Pairing

Reuse Your Connect Course with Canvas (Semester to Semester Copy)

McGraw-Hill Connect New Instructor Experience (Updated interface)

McGraw-Hill Connect Instructor Resources

If you need further assistance please contact Jeff Kosko, Phone: x3669 jkosko@jccc.edu in LIB 375A,  Educational Technology Center

If you used the Lockdown Browser in the past, you will know that your quizzes migrate over already slated to work with Respondus. You will have to manually disconnect each quiz you used it with for them to work. Students will not be able to take a quiz/exam that is still connected to Respondus.

Here is a short video on how to disconnect your quizzes from the Lockdown Browser. Information about how to connect to the new YuJa Proctoring system will be forthcoming.