Title II Accessibility and Canvas
Introduction
You’ve likely heard about the upcoming April 24, 2026 requirements for Title II of the ADA which requires state and local governments ensure accessibility to their services, programs, and activities. At Rutgers, we are committed to fostering an inclusive academic environment where everyone can access digital and educational resources. Accessibility is more than a legal requirement, it’s a reflection of our core values. Join us for open office hours focused on ensuring your course materials are accessible to your students:
Friday afternoons at 2:00 PM (ET)
Bring your questions, examples, or challenges for real-time guidance and practical solutions. Whether you’re just getting started or refining existing materials, these sessions share best practices and offer hands-on support to help you meet accessibility requirements. You can also schedule a meeting with an ATS staff member!
How do you start?
Canvas is an integral component of the learning experience at Rutgers and we ask for your assistance in ensuring student success. Accessibility compliance is a journey and we want to provide resources to support you in this process.
1. Tidy Up:
One of the first things you can do is “clear the decks” with CidiLabs TidyUp. There’s no need to waste time on content that may be old or not needed this semester. This tool makes it simple for you to clean up your Canvas course by scanning your site for unused pages and unlinked files and then making it easy to remove them from your course.
2. Evaluate:
Through a seamless integration with Canvas, Ally is a software tool that focuses on making digital course content more accessible. It will give you detailed insight into the accessibility of your course content and provide guidance on how to improve the accessibility of your content. A “score” will be generated that you can use as a baseline. Potential issues will be listed so you can identify and address easy fixes as well as prioritize remediation. Ally also automatically provides students with a range of more accessible alternative formats to your existing content.
3. Remediate:
There are accessibility tools right within many of the applications that you are already using. Rutgers Access and Disability Resources (RADR) has great resources including Top 3 ways to improve Word document accessibility and How to Create Accessible Lecture Slides. You may also want to consider using Styles, Alt-text, Color, Tables, and Templates (e.g. Syllabus Template).
Did you know that it is now recommended that you keep documents in their original format (e.g. Word or PowerPoint)? You can still protect your files with read-only view.
If you need to use a PDF in your course or the original content is unavailable, you will need to make sure that it has been digitized so that it’s searchable. There is an Optical Character Recognition (OCR) Tool in Canvas Ally. Adobe Acrobat has an OCR tool and step-by-step instructions for creating accessible PDFs . There’s also a free online tool called SensusAccess that allows you to convert a file into a PDF format.
4. Resources: Rutgers has many partners here to help you:
RADR offers Fundamental Course Accessibility Checklist and Training Modules as well as great workshops and recordings if you want to take a deeper dive into PDF Remediation or Word Accessibility. Check their site regularly as they are always adding content like this Making Math Accessible resource.
Your course content may already be available in accessible format through the Libraries’ online resources and databases. This content can be integrated right into your Canvas course using Reading Lists (workshop recording). Our Libraries are committed to providing access to resources and services for library users of all abilities. If you need assistance with or have accessibility concerns about any of our Libraries’ digital formats, please contact: [email protected].