Ensuring that your course content is accessible to all students is a crucial part of modern classroom management—and it’s also required by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) guidelines. As ADA requirements continue to evolve, there’s no better time to check your course content for accessibility. Luckily, Canvas makes that super easy! It’s called the Accessibility Checker, and it’s available anywhere you use the Rich Content Editor (RCE)—which is just a fancy way of saying “the place where you enter text and other content.”

The Accessibility Checker in Canvas scans for the following issues to help ensure content is usable for all students:

• Contrast Issues – Ensures text has sufficient contrast against the background for readability.
• Image Alt Text – Checks that images have alternative text (alt text) or are marked as decorative.
• Table Formatting – Ensures tables have proper headers and captions for screen readers.
• Heading Structure – Identifies missing or incorrect use of headings (e.g., skipping levels).
• Link Text – Flags links that use vague text like “click here” instead of descriptive text.
• Lists – Ensures bulleted and numbered lists are formatted correctly for screen readers.
• Language Specification – Checks whether a language is defined for screen readers to interpret correctly.

Using the Accessibility Checker is incredibly simple! As you add content to a Canvas page, look for the circle icon with a person inside it at the bottom right of the text box (RCE). If a number appears above the icon, that means your content has been flagged for an accessibility issue. Just click the icon to view the list of errors in the panel that appears on the right, and work your way through the suggested fixes. That’s it—easy!