We believe that accessibility is key to creating an inclusive and supportive learning environment for all students.
Our commitment to accessibility is reflected in the wide range of resources and tools we offer to ensure that every student can engage fully with their studies.
From the Canvas Baseline, which provides essential best practice information and promotes consistency across courses, to Ally for Canvas, which enhances the accessibility of digital learning content, we are dedicated to making education accessible to everyone.
In addition to these tools, we offer training and courses such as the Accessible Documents Training workshop and the Accessibility in Practice Canvas course.
Join us as we explore the various accessibility resources available at Newcastle University and discover how they can benefit you and your academic journey.
Canvas Baseline
The Newcastle University Canvas Baseline outlines the essential requirements for all University modules within the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). It ensures students receive a core set of materials, including programme-related information and details about learning, assessment, and skills for each module.
The Baseline aims to create consistency across modules, provide clear guidance on available information and resources, and offer a foundation for module development while enhancing student engagement through Canvas.
More information on the Canvas Baseline can be found on the Canvas Baseline pages on the Learning and Teaching Website.
New Courses Guidance
The Get your Canvas courses ready has a checklist section provides a step-by-step guide for preparing Canvas courses. This includes checking your courses for accessibility in both Canvas and Ally.
More information on New Course Guidance can be found on the New Courses Guidance page on the Learning and Teaching website.
Ally
Ally for Canvas is a tool integrated into Newcastle University’s Canvas platform to enhance the accessibility of digital learning content. It automatically generates alternative formats of course files, such as MP3, electronic braille, ePub, and HTML, making it easier for students to access materials in the format that suits them best.
For instructors, Ally provides an accessibility score for uploaded files and offers guidance on how to improve them. This helps ensure that course content is inclusive and accessible to all students.
More information on Ally in Canvas can be found on the Ally for Canvas page on the Learning and Teaching website.
Accessible Documents Training
In this workshop we uncover why accessible practices are so important for our students and colleagues.
The workshop includes short activities to introduce participants to tools and techniques to ensure digital materials are accessible, and includes audience interaction via Vevox.
If you are interested in taking part in this training, please contact: ltds@newcastle.ac.uk
Accessibility in Practice – Canvas Course (Self Enrol)
Learning and Teaching Development Service (LTDS) host an Accessibility in Practice Canvas course. The course provides you with some core information, skills, and techniques for embedding accessibility into your teaching, learning, and work practice, and in making your digital resources accessible to everyone.
Accessibility benefits everybody, not just individuals with additional needs. You can self enrol on the course to complete at your own pace.
Ally is an external tool integrated into Canvas that automatically checks course materials against WCAG 2.0 accessibility standards and provides feedback on their accessibility. It’s important to note that Ally doesn’t evaluate the quality of your course content; it simply assesses how well the content meets accessibility standards.
This video provides an overview of Ally in Canvas and how it works within our Virtual Learning Environment:
Alternative Formats
A beneficial feature is that it also enables students to download accessible alternative formats of published module materials, without the need to create and upload these ourselves. These formats are made available with the original file, so students can find everything in one convenient location.
While the alternative formats are created for you, you can, if you want, disable alternative formats for any individual content item for whatever reason (a good example being translated versions of texts on foreign language courses).
Alternative formats made available by Ally are:
Tagged PDF;
HTML;
e-Pub;
Electronic braille;
Audio (text-to-speech conversion);
BeeLine Reader;
Course Accessibility Report
Accessibility Summary
The course accessibility report acts as a complement to the existing accessibility indicators. It provides an accessibility summary and overview at the course level.
The report gives an overall accessibility score for the course, which is an average of the accessibility scores of all course materials. Scores range from Low (0-33%), Medium (34-66%), High (67-99%), to Perfect (100%).
Detailed Feedback
It identifies specific files that need remediation, categorizing them by accessibility score and issue type. This helps instructors prioritize which content to fix first 1.
Guidance and Corrective Actions
The report provides detailed explanations of why certain issues are problems and offers step-by-step instructions on how to fix them.
Instructors can even upload corrected versions of files directly within Canvas.
The aim of this week is to help you strive to make all your learning resources as accessible as possible. This also extends to our video content, which plays a crucial role in the educational experience.
In this blog, we will explore the importance of video captioning and how it can be effectively implemented using the Panopto system (also known as Recap).
When we refer to video content, we mean recordings provided to students for educational purposes. These recordings are typically delivered via Canvas and include lecture recordings, teaching presentations, and other instructional videos.
By ensuring that these videos are captioned, we can enhance accessibility for all students, including those who are deaf or hard of hearing, non-native English speakers, and individuals who benefit from reading along while listening.
What is ReCap (Panopto)?
Panopto, also known as Recap, is a video platform at Newcastle University. This system facilitates the recording, editing, and sharing of video content, making it an essential tool for both educators and students.
The primary reason for using Panopto is to enhance the learning experience. By providing students with access to lecture recordings and other educational videos, Panopto allows them to review material at their own pace. This flexibility is particularly beneficial for revisiting complex topics and catching up on missed lectures.
Moreover, Panopto significantly contributes to accessibility. It supports students with diverse learning needs by offering features such as video captioning, ensuring that all students, including those who are deaf or hard of hearing, can benefit from the content.
Captioning in Panopto (ReCap)
The ReCap service (Panopto) provides the ability to add ASR (Automatic Speech Recognition) generated captions to your recordings.
The University recognises that automatically generated captions are not 100% correct and have published a captions disclaimer for viewers.
We recommend reviewing automatically generated captions and making light-touch edits before making them available.
How Do I Edit Captions in Panopto (ReCap)
The support pages of the Panopto website offer great advice on how to work with captions in Panopto.
The How to Edit or Delete Captions guide provides a comprehensive guide on how to edit or delete captions in Panopto. It outlines the steps required to access the caption editor, make necessary adjustments to the text, and save changes.
The guide also covers how to delete captions if they are no longer needed. Additionally, it includes tips for ensuring caption accuracy and improving the overall quality of video content. This resource is essential for anyone looking to enhance the accessibility and usability of their Panopto recordings.
Welcome to Day 2 of our Accessibility Awareness blog series. In this post, you can learn about aspects of document design to help you create documents that are accessible from the go. By ensuring that your documents are designed in an accessible format when you create them, anyone using them have the opportunity to engage with the content from the get go. Making a document accessible does not need to happen after the fact. You can do it as you create, and make a difference from now.
Our Learning and Teaching Development Service (LTDS) have created a helpful crib sheet available that covers the do’s and don’ts to enable you to design documents for a diverse range of learners. Take a look at the Designing for Diverse Learners resource – and why not save a copy to your ‘favourites’ or put a copy in your office space?
We’ll now dive into some of the guidance from the Designing for Diverse Learners resource in more detail to understand ways you can design documents to ensure that they are accessible:
On each page, you’ll find essential digital document design guidelines along with step-by-step instructions on how to implement these changes in your own digital documents.
Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) is an international event intended to get everyone talking, thinking and learning about digital accessibility and inclusion.
This year the event will be held on 15 May 2025.
To honour GAAD, we will be posting a series of blog posts and videos highlighting issues and provide guidance on accessibility issues (more on that later in this post).
Let’s begin by exploring what digital accessibility means, identifying the individuals it affects, and challenging common misconceptions about accessibility.
What is Digital Accessibility?
Digital accessibility refers to the ability of people with disabilities/impairments to independently consume and/or interact with digital.
This can include web content and applications (including on mobile devices).
The Diverse 21st Century Learner
Digital accessibility is often perceived as a set of practices aimed solely at helping individuals with disabilities. However, accessibility is much broader and benefits everyone, regardless of their abilities or circumstances. By incorporating accessibility into digital design, we create inclusive environments that enhance usability and convenience for all users.
Our learners come from a wide range of backgrounds, each with unique needs shaped by their individual circumstances. Unfortunately, these needs are sometimes overlooked, particularly in terms of accessibility.
These learners could include:
Learners with Visible Disabilities
This can include individuals with visible disabilities, such with mobility impairments, visual impairments, or hearing impairments.
Learners with Invisible Disabilities
This could include users with invisible disabilities, such as cognitive impairments, mental health conditions, or chronic illnesses.
Learners with Temporary Disabilities
Users experiencing temporary disabilities, such as a broken arm or temporary vision impairment.
International Students
Students from different countries who may face language barriers and cultural differences.
Professionals Seeking more Education
Working professionals looking to further their education.
Learners with Different Preferences
Users with specific preferences, such as those who prefer dark mode or larger text.
Parents
Parents who may be juggling multiple responsibilities and need efficient and accessible digital tools.
Commuters
Individuals who frequently travel and use digital tools on the go.
Learners Who Use Mobile Devices
Users primarily accessing digital content via mobile devices.
Offline Users
Users who prefer or need to access content offline due to limited internet connectivity.
With knowledge of who our potential learners could be, we can help create digital content that is accessible and helps towards meeting their needs.
What is Happening This Week
To help our colleagues and students at Newcastle to engage with accessibility content, colleagues in the Learning and Teaching Development Service (LTDS) are going to be sharing blog posts each day during this week on Digital Accessibility.
Schedule of Posts
Tuesday 13th May 2025 – Document Design Fundamentals
Wednesday 14th May 2025 – Creating Accessible Videos in Recap (Panopto)
Thursday 15th May 2025 – Anthology Ally in Canvas
Friday 16th May 2025 – Accessibility Resources Available at Newcastle University
Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) takes place on the 3rd Thursday of May each year. Individuals are encouraged to take an hour to experience first-hand the impact of digital accessibility (or lack thereof). This year GAAD takes place on Thursday 15th May.
Participate Directly
There are many ways to get involved. The GAAD webpage recommends ways that individuals can participate directly– for example, you can:
Think about how you can make your events and meetings more accessible – whether it’s the moment you start planning, writing communications, and looking at how these are hosted (online, in-person or hybrid).
The GAAD webpage also shares how we can spread awareness. One of the suggestions is sharing blog posts. To help our colleagues and students at Newcastle to engage with accessibility content, colleagues in the Learning and Teaching Development Service (LTDS) are going to be sharing blog posts each day during the week that GAAD falls in (week of 12th May). We will be writing and sharing content for you to engage with, including additional resources available to you, around digital accessibility.
Resources
There are plenty of resources you can use to get started and learn about how you can make further considerations around accessibility and encourage others to do the same. You can check out the following resources available at Newcastle:
On March 5th 2025, Disability Interest Group and Christian Lawson-Perfect, with support from LTDS, hosted the first Digital Accessibility Demo day in the Boiler House on the central campus of Newcastle University.
We were very pleased with the high turnout of attendees. It was wonderful to initiate conversations with colleagues about accessibility awareness and the importance of creating inclusive environments.
Attendees were greeted on entry and encouraged to take away a series of handouts giving accessibility advice prior to visiting one of the stations.
People from LTDS, NUIT and the Disability Interest Group were on hand offer support and answer any questions attendees had about digital accessibility.
Sample of Handouts
Poster for “Designing for Diverse Learners”Poster for Digital Accessibility Resources at Newcastle University”
You can download copies of these handouts at:
Designing for Diverse Learners – Poster on the what you do and what to avoid when designing content. Digital Accessibility Resources at Newcastle University.
Attendees were also informed of the wide range of digital accessibility resources available on the Digital Accessibility Webpages on the Learning and Teaching Website.
Review of Accessibility Demonstration Stations
We had set up stations that simulated various access requirements and featured different accessibility software for attendees to try out.
Screen Reader
A laptop was set up with a red card covering the screen. Attendees were asked to use the provided headphones and screen reader (NVDA) software to navigate online teaching materials.
After using the screen reader, the red card was removed to reveal the content.
This setup provided attendees with a first hand experience of navigating online materials using a screen reader, highlighting the challenges and solutions associated with this.
NVDA enables blind and visually impaired users to interact with the Windows operating system and many third-party applications through synthetic speech.
Devin Louttit of LTDS testing the Screen Reader Station
Text to Speech Software (ClaroRead)
A station featuring ClaroRead was set up alongside a course created on Canvas with intentionally poor accessibility. This setup aimed to demonstrate the capabilities of text-to-speech software. While ClaroRead was used for this demonstration, many other programs offer similar functionality.
Text-to-speech software converts written text into spoken words using synthetic voices. This technology is designed to assist individuals who have difficulty reading text on a screen, but it can also be used for convenience and productivity.
It was demonstrated how ClaroRead works on the demonstration course, providing attendees with the opportunity to experience the software first hand.
Colour Vision Deficiency
Colour Vision Deficiency (CVD), commonly known as colour blindness, is a condition where an individual has difficulty distinguishing between certain colours.
To demonstrate this, a station was set up with colour filters that removed all colours from the screen, rendering everything in black and white. This setup aimed to illustrate the challenges faced by individuals with CVD and to emphasise the importance of not relying solely on colour to convey meaning. It also highlighted potential contrast issues that could arise if colours were inverted. This also would impact users who print materials in black and white.
By experiencing this simulation, attendees gained a better understanding of the need for accessible design practices that consider colour vision deficiencies.
An example was provided of online materials that used colour in a way that could be challenging for users with Colour Vision Deficiency (CVD) to understand, particularly when reading the graph and the highlighted text.
When colour is removed, interpreting the graph and text becomes noticeably more challenging.
Canvas materials in greyscale (with colour removed)Canvas materials with colour
Attendees remarked on the increased difficulty in understanding the content when the colours were changed to greyscale. This experience prompted them to reconsider how they use colour in their own online teaching materials to ensure better accessibility.
Low Mobility
A laptop was set up just out of reach, requiring attendees to use a long stick to access the keyboard. This added level of difficulty was designed to demonstrate the challenges faced by users with mobility issues when accessing content. By experiencing this first hand, attendees gained a deeper understanding of the importance of designing accessible digital environments that accommodate various physical limitations.
Magnification
A laptop and screen were set up for using the Magnifier in Microsoft Windows. The Magnifier on Microsoft Windows is an accessibility tool designed to make parts or all of your screen larger, making words and images easier to see. This is particularly useful for individuals with low vision.
Microsoft Windows Magnification in action on a Canvas course
Canvas Accessibility Tools
There are numerous accessibility tools built into Canvas and Microsoft Office. At this station, we demonstrated some of the accessibility features in Canvas that can help you make your materials more accessible.
In addition to Canvas, Microsoft Office offers a variety of tools designed to enhance accessibility, such as the Accessibility Checker and Immersive Reader. By integrating these features, attendees learned how to create more inclusive and user-friendly online teaching materials.
Canvas Built in Accessibility Tools
Canvas Rich content editor accessbility checker
The demo included looking at the Rich Content Editor Accessibility Checker which helps identify common accessibility issues within your course content. It checks for issues such as missing alt text for images, improper table structures, and insufficient colour contrast.
canvas immersive reader
The Immersive Reader in Canvas tool designed to enhance reading accessibility and comprehension for all learners. Developed by Microsoft, it offers features such as text-to-speech, syllable breakdown, line focus, picture dictionary, and adjustable text settings.
The Immersive Reader can be used on various Canvas pages, including the Course Home Page, Syllabus, assignments, and individual pages, helping to create a more inclusive learning environment.
A group of students that attended the event were unaware that this was available and were very impressed with how the tool worked, they said they’d be looking to incorporate this into their future use of Canvas.
Ally Tool with Canvas
The Ally tool in Canvas is designed to improve the accessibility of course content. The key features include:
Accessibility Scores: Ally provides detailed accessibility scores for course materials, helping instructors identify and prioritise accessibility issues that need attention.
Instructor Feedback: It offers guidance and support to instructors on how to improve the accessibility of their content, including suggestions and documentation on how to correct barriers.
Alternative Formats: Ally automatically generates alternative formats of course content, such as readable text for screen readers, tagged PDFs, HTML, ePub, and audio files. These formats are made available alongside the original content, ensuring students can access materials in the format that best suits their needs.
Some students attending the event had never been introduced to Alternative Formats and were very impressed with their functionality. They were very enthusiastic about incorporating these tools into their studies moving forward.
Microsoft Office Accessibility Tools
The Accessibility Checker in Microsoft Office is a tool that identifies and suggests fixes for common accessibility issues in your documents and presentations. By scanning your content for problems such as missing alt text, improper table structures, and insufficient colour contrast, it ensures that your materials are accessible to all users. The tool provides real-time notifications and detailed explanations for each issue, helping you understand and address them effectively.
This ensures that content is checked for accessibility before being uploaded to Canvas, which helps improve the course’s accessibility score. Additionally, it can be used to troubleshoot and resolve accessibility issues in existing course materials.
A number of academic and professional service colleagues remarked that they would start using these tools when creating materials following the event as they were easy to use and would save time in the future troubleshooting accessibility issues in uploaded documents to Canvas.
Recap Captioning
The captioning tool in Recap was also demonstrated. Captions also benefit those who may struggle to understand spoken language due to background noise or where their first language isn’t English.
Additionally, captions support flexible viewing in various environments, such as public places where sound may be disruptive.
It was demonstrated how easy it is to check and alter these captions in your course using the Recap editor.
Sample of Tool Demonstrations
Image of Microsoft Immersive ReaderImage of Canvas Accessibility CheckerImage of Alternative Formats OptionsImage of Ally Canvas Course ReportImage of Ally Tool for file checkingImage of Recap captions
What difficulties do students have accessing the material we provide?
How do students surmount those difficulties?
How do you improve the accessibility of your material?
We’re putting on an event to help answer those questions.
It’s important that all of our digital services are accessible to their users, whether they’re students or colleagues. The Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations set out some legal requirements that we must meet.
But digital accessibility is a complex topic and many colleagues have found it hard to understand what they need to do to ensure their teaching material is accessible.
At our digital accessibility demo day, you can have a go at accessing university teaching material at a selection of stations simulating different access requirements and supports, including:
Screen reader
Speech to text
Keyboard-only interaction
Low vision
Low mobility
Magnification
Canvas Ally
We’ll have plenty of pointers to guidance and training opportunities to help you improve the accessibility of your material.
People from LTDS, NUIT and the Disability Interest Group will be there to offer support and answer any questions you may have about digital accessibility.
Time and location
The event will take place 13:00 – 15:00 on Wednesday 5th March 2025, in the Boiler House.
The Boiler House is in the middle of campus, between the Armstrong Building and the Student Union. Access is step-free.
There’s no presentation as part of the session – just drop in and talk to one of the facilitators.
Whatever our role, creating documents and other content that can be accessed and used by everybody is an essential professional skill.
The good news is that creating content that’s inclusive and user-friendly is actually quite simple, and the bulk of it can be done by creating good working document templates and making minor adjustments to work flows.
In learning and teaching, it’s crucial to ensure that everyone can access and engage with the materials we share. In this post, we’ll guide you through the fundamentals of document design that apply to various platforms such as Microsoft Word, Adobe PDF, and even Canvas pages.
Document Design Fundamentals
There are some key points of accessible document design that are true across all platforms, be it Microsoft Word, Adobe PDF, and even Canvas pages.
1. Text Headings
Use a hierarchy of headings such as:
Title
Heading 1
Heading 2
Heading 3 etc.
This enables ease of navigation for all users, as well as allowing screen readers to identify and describe the structure of a document.
2. Font and text
Use a minimum of font size 12 and 1.5 line spacing for Microsoft Word documents. When using lists use bullet points for items that aren’t sequential or numbered lists for sequential items.
Use Sans Serif fonts (e.g. Arial, Calibri) as they are more accessible. These fonts are well defined and regular in shape and size and display better on computers and mobile devices. Most popular font styles, like Tahoma or Arial, are accessible; opt for the most popular fonts rather than decorative ones.
It’s also best to keep your use of bold and italic text to a minimum.
3. Colour and Contrast
Do not use colour alone to convey meaning. If someone has a visual impairment, including colour blindness, the emphasis you’re trying to create by using colour will be lost. Additionally, when you use colours, please be mindful of the colour contrast. This means the colour contrast between background and foreground content should be great enough to ensure it is legible.
Always use alternative text (or ‘alt text’) to provide a meaningful description of an image. Alt text allows screen readers and text-to-speech tools to read aloud the content of an image to the user.
Alt text should be clear and concise (1-2 sentences) and explain the relevant content of an image. Alt text is limited to 125 characters, so use that wisely and try to describe the key elements of the image.
If your graphic has text in it, this should be added to the alt text also.
If an image is there only for appearance, you can mark it as decorative. For example, In Microsoft Word, select the “Mark as decorative box” when the image is selected.
5. Use Tables for Data – Never for Layout
Tables can be great for organising information. However, if used incorrectly, they can be difficult for people to navigate using assistive technologies.
If you add a table to your document, be sure to use it for data and not for layout or document design.
It’s important to ensure that your table has a header row that repeats itself when the table extends beyond a single page. When deciding on a structure for tables, remember they are read from left to right and top to bottom.
6. Hyperlinks
Use hyperlinks to describe where the link will take the user. It is recommended that you create descriptive text about where the URL will take the user so it can be easily read by a screen reader. For example, the “Semester 1 – Assignment Brief” details can be found in the Assignments section of Canvas, where “Semester 1 – Assignment Brief” is the hyperlink. Avoid using ‘click here’, ‘read more’ or ‘for more info’. Also avoid underlining text for emphasis, but rather use the bold function.
For printed documents, it’s advised to use the full URL or you can use bit.ly or other link shortener if the hyperlink is very long
7. Use an Accessibility Checker
Use built-in accessibility checkers to identify any accessibility issues in a document. Microsoft Office, Adobe Acrobat and Canvas all have built-in accessibility checkers. These tools can help identify any accessibility issues in your documents, ensuring they meet the necessary standards. They will guide you, step by step, on how to make your document more accessible.
By implementing the strategies and recommendations outlined in this article, we can collectively make a significant impact on the accessibility of our documents, creating an inclusive environment for all students and educators.
Let’s get started!
Visit our blog tomorrow for more tips on digital accessibility.
