Accessible Course Design

Effective Education is Accessible:

Designing a course for accessibility ensures ALL students have equal access to achieve learning goals. While accessibility is commonly linked to supporting individuals with disabilities, concerns of access are universal and should be considered broadly.

Creating an accessible learning environment is a vital component of inclusive teaching. It is not only considered best practice but is also required by federal law. This page will help you understand your responsibility related to accessibility, and provide you with actionable steps to creating more accessible course content in Canvas.

Specific laws that reference disability rights include the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 (revised 2008), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) (reauthorized 2004). 

Life Design 2022

Pro-actively designing your course to meet accessibility standards not only benefits students with documented accommodations, but also students who are English language learners, students working in loud or quiet environments, students with limited access to private working environments, students with visual impairments, and students who may have undiagnosed or invisible diagnosis such as dyslexia and ADHD.

Students With Documented Accommodations

Students who are registered for services are required to contact their faculty at the beginning of each semester to share a Student Accommodation Memo and discuss approved accommodations. If you have any questions about a student's accommodations, please contact BGSU's Office of Accessibility Services. 

The Center for Faculty Excellence is here to help you take a proactive approach to designing your course content to meet accessibility standards.

Begin by exploring our resources on accessibility:

Accessibility in Higher Education

Accessible teaching involves various strategies to ensure that all students, regardless of their abilities or backgrounds, can fully participate in the learning process.

Variability in learning is the norm, not the exception. Students at BGSU bring a wide array of needs, abilities, and backgrounds to your classroom. This diversity enriches the learning experience, making it more engaging and dynamic, yet requires the instructor to be intentional in designing a classroom environment (whether physical or online) that is understanding and inclusive to these varied abilities.

For students with disabilities, accessing course content can present unique challenges. Accessible teaching guarantees that all students have equitable access to educational materials, instructional methods, learning experiences, assessments, and communication with their instructors.

Accessible Course Design in Canvas

Canvas is the Learning Management System (LMS) system used at BGSU. All members of the BGSU Teaching Community have access to a Canvas shell that is attached to the course they are teaching. Even if you are not teaching your course in an online or hybrid format, all instructors should be using Canvas as part of the teaching strategies and to post the course syllabus. 

One way to ensure your Canvas course meets accessibility requirements is to download and use the BGSU Canvas Template. Employing a course template allows you to spend less time on course design so you can focus on your learning objectives and on interacting with students. Widespread use of this template will help ensure that students have a more consistent experience in Canvas, regardless of the courses they are enrolled in.

Key components of Canvas accessibility include: proper use of headings, alt-text for images, proper formatting for tables, color contrast ratios, and links & hyper links. Canvas also utilizes an accessibility checker called Ally that will notify you of any accessibility issues. 

Canvas Video Tutorials

Canvas Resources

Resources for Accessible Course Design
Undestanding your role in Accessibility:
Digital Accessibility:
Accessible Content:
Video Tutorials:

Center for Faculty Excellence

419-372-6898
103 Olscamp Hall Office Hours Monday - Friday: 8:00am - 5:00pm

Updated: 10/16/2025 03:48PM