Accessible Digital Content
Getting Started with Digital Accessibility
Accessibility is a proactive approach to designing digital content and learning environments so they are usable by everyone from the start, reducing barriers before they occur rather than relying on individual accommodations. Ethically, accessibility reflects our shared commitment to fairness, inclusion, and learner dignity by ensuring all students can participate without needing to request special exceptions. Legally, require all digital content (including Canvas courses, course materials, publisher content, web-based content, and technology tools) meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA standards. These standards promote a consistent and inclusive experience for all learners, including those with disabilities.
For those new to accessibility, below you will find a list of 10 ways to get started with digital accessibility along with resources to learn more. Rather than see accessibility as a checklist or one-time effort, we encourage you to think of it as an ongoing practice that reflects who we are as educators.
10 ways to get started with digital accessibility
1. Accessibility checkers: Become familiar with accessibility checkers to help you review content for accessibility, identify any accessibility issues, and make content more accessible.
- Ally is the new Canvas-based accessibility checker (coming soon to NDNU):
- Canvas includes an accessibility checker in the Rich Content Editor:
2. Alternative text (alt text): Learn to add alternative descriptive text to all images and graphics.
3. Descriptive hyperlinks: Learn to replace long website URLs with descriptive hyperlinks.
4. Readable font and color contrast: Learn to make design choices to increase readability for all.
5. Structured headings and lists: Learn to structure documents using built-in headings and lists.
6. Accessible data tables: Learn to format data tables to be readable for all.
7. Accessible formatting for various document types: Learn how to apply all of the accessibility skills above to different types of documents (Word, PowerPoint, Google docs, and PDFs).
8. Captions and transcripts: Learn to add captions and create transcripts for audio and video files.
9. Accessibility statements: Review accessibility statements from publishers and third party vendors to confirm access for all users before sharing content with students.
10. Universal Design for Learning (UDL): Learn to apply UDL principles to increase access and agency for all students. UDL invites students to access content in multiple formats (e.g., text, audio, visuals, captions, etc.), engage with material on their own terms (e.g., choice, options for collaboration, etc.), and demonstrate learning in multiple ways (e.g., varied formats for assignments, making use of supportive tools, etc.).
Additional resources
ADA, Title II:
Coursera,
National Center on Disability and Journalism,
Office of Civil Rights (OCR),
Online Learning Consortium (OLC),
University of Minnesota (UMN), &
University of South Florida (USF),
World Wide Web Consortium (W3C),
Get support
Accessibility is a shared journey, and CETL is here to support faculty in making your digital content accessible to all students. Email questions to cetl@ndnu.edu or to discuss digital accessibility in your course.