Digital Accessibility for Faculty

Accessibility in education ensures that all learners, regardless of their abilities or disabilities, can access and engage with instructional materials, technology, and resources equitably.  Accessibility promotes inclusivity, supports diverse learning needs, and complies with legal requirements like the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act.  Beginning on April 24, 2026, Title II of the ADA will require all digital course materials and related content to meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA accessibility standards.  In addition to the federal regulations, U-M has a specific Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility Standard Practice Guide (SPG 601.20) that was adopted in June 2022.

Following best practices of around accessibility is a good teaching practice overall.  Even users who do not have any disabilities can benefit from accessible content (like closed captions).

The WCAG 2.1 Level AA accessibility standards are comprehensive and robust.  The following is a simplified, though not comprehensive, list of general accessibility guidelines:

• All links should be descriptive (not "click here").
• All videos should have closed captions, which should be as accurate as possible.
• All images should have alt-text, which described the image/graph/equation in plain English for those with vision issues.
• Heading levels should be respected (H3 falls under H2, no skipping levels)
• Color contrast should be as high as possible (dark text on a light background, or light text on a dark background).

The above guidelines apply to content created in Canvas as well as documents (Word, Google Slides, PDF, etc), slideshows (PowerPoint, Google Slides, etc), Spreadsheets (Excel, Google Sheets, etc), and any other digital materials available as part of a course or on a public website.

For a quick review of major Digital Accessibility topics, please see the Digital Accessibility Topics Overview document. UM-Dearborn's Digital Accessibility Course has the most comprehensive list and guidance for fixing/remediating issues (more information below).

U-M has purchased a few tools to assist with identifying and remediating digital accessibility issues in specific platforms.  Please see the links below for more information about each of these tools.

• Canvas (and associated Microsoft Office and PDF files) - Yuja Panorama
  • When using Yuja Panorama, 91% is the target score for the overall course and each individual document, which will mean no severe or major issues remain.  It is recognized that there are some cases where reaching a 91% score may not be possible.  Please email [email protected] for guidance with a specific course or document which scores below 91% even after applying all of the fixes possible.
• Google Apps (Docs, Sheets, Slides) - Grackle Add-on
  • When using Grackle, all items with a red "X" icon should be reviewed and corrected as appropriate.

In addition to the subscription-based tools above, other tools are also available.

• Alt-text / Image Description Generator - Wolverine Describer
  • UM-Flint has created a GenAI prompt to assist with image descriptions.  Upload an image to one of the Wolverine Describer options to get suggested alt-text descriptions.

Student Assistance

UM-Dearborn recognizes that making content accessible can take a significant amount of time, especially for courses which use a lot of images, graphs, equations, or handwritten materials.  The Office of the Provost is offering 250 small grants so that instructors (tenure track faculty or lecturers) can hire a student in their discipline to assist with this work. The grants cover up to $450 of pay for the student assistant and are limited to one per instructor at this time.  Instructors interested in hiring a student assistant as part of this initiative should complete the grant application form.  Courses where materials are reused will be prioritized in order to maximize the benefits of this program.

Professional Human-Corrected Captions

Machine-generated captions are automatically added to all video content though we are aware those captions can have accuracy issues, especially for instructors with an accent or for courses with a lot of discipline specific terminology.  Instructors who have video content in MiVideo/Kaltura that is used on an ongoing basis and has substantively incorrect captions currently can request professional human-corrected captions for those videos via the Professional Human-Corrected Captions for Digital Accessibility request form.  Funding for this one-time initiative will prioritize asynchronous videos that are reused for multiple semesters. Once funding for this initiative is exhausted, instructors will be responsible for reviewing and correcting machine-generated captions for all video content in their courses.

Faculty-Led Learning Communities on Digital Accessibility

Learning Communities on Digital Accessibility are a chance for you to convene a group of your peers to explore and implement accessible teaching practices, benefiting all of our students. Conveners will receive a $500 stipend and participants will each receive $200. Apply now to lead your own learning community.  UM-Dearborn faculty can apply to be a convener or signal interest in joining a learning community.

Canvas Training Course

The Office of Digital Education and the Hub for Teaching and Learning Resources have a Digital Accessibility Course focused on accessibility issues and how to remediate them in Canvas with U-M Approved tools.  While the course is focused on Canvas, the concepts are universal and any UM-Dearborn faculty, staff, or student is welcome to enroll.

Winter 2026 Digital Accessibility Virtual Presentation Series

The Digital Accessibility Information Series aligned with the new Title II regulations and UM-Dearborn’s Digital Accessibility Course, first offered during the summer, will be offered again on Tuesdays at 3:00pm starting on September 16.  Each session will have a short 15-20 min presentation on a specific digital accessibility topic, followed by time for Q&A or hands-on work (perhaps you can complete the related DAC assignment).  The topics covered in most of these sessions apply not only to faculty but to anyone who creates content for internal or public consumption, so staff members will find them useful as well.  The training segment of the sessions will be recorded and posted to the UM-Dearborn Digital Accessibility MiVideo Channel as time allows.  UM-Dearborn faculty, staff, or students can add all of the events to your calendar, use the individual session calendar links below, or join via Zoom at the appropriate time.

• Tuesday, January 27 at 10:30am: Color Contrast (add to your calendar)
• Tuesday, February 3 at 10:30am: Headings (add to your calendar)
• Tuesday, February 10 at 10:30am: Image Descriptions (alt-text) (add to your calendar)
• Tuesday, February 24 at 10:30am: Audio/Video Captions and Transcripts (add to your calendar)
• Tuesday, March 3 at 10:30am: Descriptive Links (add to your calendar)
• Tuesday, March 10 at 10:30am: Tables (add to your calendar)
• Tuesday, March 17 at 10:30am: Files (Microsoft Office, Google Docs, PDFs) (add to your calendar)
• Tuesday, March 24 at 10:30am: Yuja Panorama (add to your calendar)

Support via Email

Please email [email protected] with any questions about digital accessibility in Canvas or the classroom.

• Winter 2025 - Digital Accessibility Overview
• Winter 2025 - Yuja Panorama Faculty Update
• Winter 2025 - Digital Accessibility Updates - New Grants, Incentives, and Office Hours Available!