Internal Universal Design Reviews

As an instructor, you have the primary and ultimate responsibility to ensure every student in every course you teach can access your course materials. The Internal Universal Design Review at TWU examines your Canvas course using principles outlined in the Universal Design Toolkit. Reviews identify accessibility issues in course content and offer you as the Course Developer/Instructor (CD/I) potential ways to improve accessibility in your course materials.

 The Internal Universal Design Review will take approximately 4 to 6 weeks. Successful completion will enhance access to your course content for all students, and you will be able to add the following logo to your Canvas course:

Request a Sandbox by completing the Canvas Sandbox Request Form. Please include the course number of the course you will be submitting for the Internal Universal Design Review.  

Once you have received the Sandbox course, follow these steps:

1. From the Sandbox course, import the content from your existing Canvas course. If you have not imported content before, begin by reviewing the step-by-step guide or by watching our 1-minute video (with closed captions).

2. Work with your Instructional Design Partner to analyze, design, and develop your course for the Internal Universal Design Review process.

1. Submit the Internal Universal Design Review Request (your TWU username and password are required to access and submit this form).

2. The Instructional Accessibility Designer (IAD) will review the following course materials located in the Sandbox course:  

• Announcements

• Assignments

• Discussions

• Pages

• Files

• Syllabus

• Module URLs

• Closed Captioned Videos

• Broken Links

3. The IAD will provide you with a report, usually within 3 weeks, that identifies accessibility issues and provides helpful suggestions in the following areas of your course:

• Clear and consistent navigation

• Use of headings in page structure

• Alternative text for images

• Properly formatted hyperlinks

• Table headers

• Color contrast

• Video captions

4. Upon receiving the report, you will complete the following tasks:

• If the course meets all Universal Design standards, the Internal Universal Design Review is successfully concluded.

• If the course does not meet a standard, you will have 4 weeks to amend the course with support from your Instructional Design Partner.

• You will inform the IAD when the amended course is available.

• The IAD will review the amended course to determine if the Universal Design standards have been met.

• The IAD will deliver the Internal Universal Design Review Post-Amendment Report to you.

1. If the course meets the Universal Design standards:

• You may publicize your accomplishment and display the TWU-Universal Design Review logo in your course.

2. If the course does not meet Universal Design standards, the review is concluded:

• You may revise the course further and resubmit for an Internal Universal Design Review at a later date. A resubmitted course will start the Internal Universal Design Review process from the beginning.