In accordance with federal law and in alignment with ASU’s FRAME initiative, The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Dean's Office is leading an effort to guide faculty on making course content in Canvas meet WCAG 2.1 AA digital accessibility standards by the start of Spring 2026. This proactive, university-wide effort benefits all students (not just those registered with SAILS) by reducing barriers that often go unreported.
All digital content in ASU courses must be compliant with this federal law regardless of modality. The College initiative applies to immersion, hybrid, and iCourses. EdPlus is leading a similar effort for oCourses (they may have a different approach for meeting the same goal, so check with your Online Instructional Designer).
All ASU faculty are responsible for ensuring that current, student-facing digital materials meet these standards and for applying them on an ongoing basis moving forward.
Prioritizing accessibility
Faculty are expected to prioritize accessibility in course materials and make steady refinements with the goal of achieving full accessibility by the Spring 2026 federal deadline. This means focusing first on the materials students use most frequently and making improvements that will have the greatest impact.
The recently updated ASU Accessibility FAQ offers practical guidance on where to start, which course materials to prioritize and simple actions you can take to steadily improve accessibility.
For more details about ASU’s digital accessibility requirements, see the ASU IT Accessibility Standard. For additional questions or guidance, contact Kena Ray in The College Dean’s Office.
Timeline and approach
To keep the workload manageable, the Dean’s Office recommends addressing one or two content types per month throughout Fall 2025 in order to finish before Spring 2026.
- Syllabus and Canvas Pages
- Assignments including Canvas Quizzes
- Videos
- Documents and slides
- PDFs
Detailed checklists in the Course Accessibility Plan (menu on the left) provide step-by-step guidance for each content type. You’re also welcome to work in a different order, for example, by remediating one Canvas module at a time through Fall to meet the Spring 2026 deadline. You’ll build skills as you go, and over time, checking and improving accessibility will become second nature.
You may be ahead of the game
Many course materials may already be accessible, especially if you’ve worked with an instructional designer, so you may be further along than you think!
A note about screen readers
Screen readers are assistive technologies used primarily by folks who are blind or have low vision. They convert digital content into speech or braille; users navigate using the keyboard rather than a mouse.
The accessibility practices outlined below, such as heading structure, alt text, descriptive links, and intentional formatting, help screen readers interpret and present content accurately and in the correct reading order.
Here is a 5-minute video screen reader demonstration of a Canvas course page.
You can test how your documents work with screen readers using built-in tools on your own device.