Creating Accessible Teaching Materials

What are Accessibility Materials

Accessibility means that people with disabilities can engage, interact and access services the same as those without disabilities, this encompasses all disabilities that affect access to content including visual, auditory, neurological, cognitive, speech and physical.  

Creating accessible materials is not just a matter of compliance of the UK Government accessibility regulations or obligation; it's about promoting equity, inclusivity, and better user experiences for everyone. To achieve this, we all need to be mindful and make sure all the documents, presentations, reports, etc. that we create are accessible and use the right fonts and formatting to allow them to be read by screen readers.

Digital Accessibility

The UK Govt accessibility regulations came into force on the 23rd September 2018, the regulations require public sector organisations to make their websites and mobile apps accessible to everyone, including those with disabilities.

Learn more from the links below: 

Understanding accessibility requirements for public sector bodies  

Guidance and Tools for Digital Accessibility 

Accessibility Resources and Web Accessibility Requirements

Our college is required to  be compliant with the UK Government's digital accessibility regulations. This is to ensure that anyone can  use our documents and benefit from our online services. To achieve this, we all need to be mindful and make sure all the documents, presentations, reports, etc., that we create are accessible and use the right fonts and formatting.  

COGC – Website Accessibility Statement  

COGC – Brand Identity Guidelines  

There is a Canvas Accessibility course that you can work through at your own pace, this training course called Canvas Accessibility: Accessible Course Design, is for academic staff at the City of Glasgow College. The modules may also be relevant to faculty administrators and support staff who either use Canvas or are enrolled as a Teacher on Canvas courses. 

The course includes graded activities, such as discussions, to encourage peer learning, and quizzes, to assess your understanding of learning materials. Course content has been designed by the Learning & Teaching Academy and has been referenced accordingly. 

• The Canvas Accessibility course can be accessed by logging into Canvas and going to Canvas Accessibility: Accessible Course Design, just click the Self Enrol button to enroll on the course. 

• You can also access the course from Canvas, go to Courses > All courses and search for Canvas Accessibility: Accessible Course Design in the MyCourses list.

The City of Glasgow College has created word and powerpoint accessible templates for creating accessible materials.

Here are the guidance documents explaining how to create accessible Word documents and PowerPoint presentations (these are available in word/pdf and pptx/pdf formats respectively). You can also find the general college PowerPoint and  Word document templates through the same link:  

COGC general Accessible Documents templates and Guidance 

COGC Branded Templates – Word and PowerPoint, includes accessibility guidance when using these files 

Checking the accessibility of MS Word documents ensures that they can be easily read and understood by everyone, including people with disabilities. This is important for creating inclusive content that can be accessed by a wider audience.  

How to check the Accessibility of a Word document  

Here is the full guide – Improve accessibility with the word Accessibility Checker 

How to add Alt text to images, shapes, charts and other objects  

Canvas has two accessibility checkers, Accessibility Checker in the Content Editor and Anthology Ally, both can be used to increase the accessibility of course materials in Canvas so that users with screen readers or disabilities can view and interact with content appropriately. These are explained below:

Accessibility Checker found in the Canvas Content Editor

The Accessibility Checker built into the Canvas Content Editor makes it easy to detect and correct the most common accessibility issues, such as missing text headings, alternative text for images, and colour contrast.   

Note: The Accessibility Checker only checks content created in the Canvas content editor, you will find the Canvas content editor in pages, assignments, discussions, quizzes and announcements. 

• Use the Paragraph styles for headings and main text 

• If you add images, remember to add Alt text  

• Check Accessibility through the Accessibility Checker 

Canvas Anthology Ally

The Anthology Ally tool, formally known as Blackboard Ally in Canvas assesses the accessibility of text-based content in your courses, such as course pages and uploaded files, and provides guidance for improving its accessibility rating.   The Ally tool also allows staff and students to view and download Canvas course materials in alternative formats.  

The Ally tool can be found in the Colleges VLE Canvas, in the Course Navigation bar called Ally Course Accessibility Report.  If you cannot see Ally in the course navigation this guide explains how to add it to the course navigation bar.

Improving Accessibility Through The Use Of Ally  

Instructor help: Everything instructors need to know about Ally in their courses  

Alternative formats: This page explains how and when the different alternative formats can be used.  

Alternative formats video