Accessibility Resources

Where do I start?

Road to Accessibility

This resource is designed to provide support as you begin your accessibility journey. We’ll walk you through how to evaluate the accessibility of your course and instructional materials, identify common issues, and take action to improve your content. To get started, we recommend following these steps:

Generate your course accessibility score in Canvas and address any issues with course elements.
Ensure images have appropriate alternative (alt) text.
Review and remediate Word documents for accessibility.
Check and address accessibility issues in PowerPoint presentations.
Make your PDFs accessible.
Provide accurate captions for all video content.
Access on-demand and live accessibility CTE training sessions.
Use available TAMU services for added support and expert guidance.

Additionally, if you create public-facing web content, this guide on web accessibility provides practical ways to help you comply with accessibility standards.

With the April 24, 2026, Title II Compliance Deadline fast approaching, our instructional design team is here to help you make your courses accessible. Check out this Digital Accessibility Spring 2026 Guide for more information.

Digital Accessibility Support [Spring 2026]

Canvas

Creating in Canvas

This section guides you through how to generate the accessibility score for your Canvas course, identify issues, and remediate them directly within Canvas.

Ally is a tool designed to enhance the accessibility of digital course content. Learn how to enable and use the Canvas Ally Accessibility Report to check, interpret, and improve your course’s accessibility score in alignment with Title II requirements.

Getting started with Ally

Ally provides you with step-by-step guidance to resolve accessibility issues in your course. Learn how to use Ally to fix common problems such as missing alt text, insufficient color contrast, and document structure.

Ally remediation in Canvas

When preparing a new Canvas course shell, you may wish to reuse materials from a previous course. This resource provides guidance for copying content efficiently and demonstrates how to selectively copy course content in Canvas. It covers key steps for reviewing previous course materials, initiating a partial import, and choosing specific items to transfer while avoiding template duplicates and unnecessary content. We recommend you use this guide if your existing course already has an Ally accessibility score in the green range.

Copying specific course content in Canvas

When building or editing pages in Canvas, it's important to ensure your content is accessible to all learners. This resource provides a quick reference guide for making Canvas course content accessible. It covers basic practices such as using alternative text, descriptive hyperlinks, and proper headings, with the help of the Canvas Rich Content Editor.

Canvas course accessibility checklist

Create and share accessible course syllabi using Simple Syllabus, a university-supported tool built right into Canvas. Simple Syllabus is optional for Fall 2025.

Simple Syllabus

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Additional Resources

Images

Describe it Right – Make Images Accessible

Alternative (alt) text is a brief written description of an image. Adding alt text ensures all students can access the information your images provide. This section offers simple steps and examples to help you add effective alt text.

Learn why adding clear alternative text is essential for making images accessible. This resource offers simple guidelines for writing effective descriptions and handling decorative images.

Images - Alternative text

This video demonstrates how to add alt text to images and objects in Microsoft 365 applications. Learn how to add descriptive alt text to pictures, charts, tables, SmartArt, and other embedded objects.

Adding alt text in Microsoft applications

This flowchart can help you decide whether your image requires alt text or should be marked as decorative. It also provides tips for crafting effective alt text.

Alt text flow chart

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Additional Resources

MS Word

Format with Purpose – Create Accessible Word Documents

Accessible Word documents make it easier for all students to read and navigate your content. This section shows you how to use the built-in Accessibility Checker and apply key fixes like proper use of headings, descriptive hyperlinks, and tables.

This short Microsoft tutorial will guide you through how to run accessibility checks in your Word documents and make essential fixes.

Check the accessibility of Word documents

Applying heading styles in Word gives your document a clear structure and makes it easier to navigate. Screen readers use these headings to help users move through content efficiently.

Heading styles

Use descriptive link text so readers know where a link will take them without needing the full URL. Clear, meaningful hyperlinks improve navigation for everyone, especially those using screen readers.

Hyperlinks

Keep tables simple and use built-in table tools to define headers and structure. Accessible tables help screen readers convey information clearly and make data easier to understand.

Tables

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Additional Resources

MS PowerPoint

Power Up Your Presentation – Make It Accessible

Accessible presentations ensure your slides can be understood by all students. This section shows you how to use PowerPoint’s Accessibility Checker and apply fixes like adding alt text, setting reading order, and using clear slide titles.

Remediate your existing PowerPoint presentations with step-by-step instructions for using the Accessibility Checker, adding alternative text, setting reading order, and applying slide titles.

PowerPoint remediation guide

Check the reading order of each slide to ensure content is read in the correct sequence by screen readers. Adjusting the order helps students follow your presentation logically and without confusion.

Accessible reading order

Strong color contrast makes text and visuals easier to read, especially for people with low vision or color blindness. Aim for high contrast between text and background to keep content clear and accessible. Here are a few tools that can help you test and improve contrast in your content:

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Additional Resources

PDFs

Tag It Right – Make Your PDFs Accessible

Accessible PDFs ensure that all students can read and navigate your documents effectively. This section provides guidance on essential steps such as adding titles, tags, alternative text, and setting the correct reading order.

Follow this TAMU CTE guide to make your PDFs accessible using Guided Actions in Adobe Acrobat Pro. Learn how to add tags, alternative text, and other key accessibility features.

PDF remediation guide

Ensure your PDF files are accessible, screen reader–friendly documents. Follow step-by-step guides to create accessible PDFs from Microsoft source files.

Create accessible PDFs

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Additional Resources

Cheat sheet: PDF remediation

Video Captions

Captions Speak Volumes – Make Your Videos Accessible

Video captions ensure that content is accessible to all learners, not just those who are deaf or hard of hearing. They support focus, different learning preferences, and improve comprehension. This section provides guidance on creating, editing, and checking captions for accuracy.

Learn why accurate captions are essential for accessibility and effective communication. This resource shares tips for creating, reviewing, and improving captions for your videos.

Captions

One way you can add captions to your new or existing videos is by uploading them to YouTube. YouTube can create automatic captions for your videos, but they often need editing. Use YouTube’s tools to review, correct, or upload your own captions for accuracy.

Add captions in YouTube

Mediasite, an integrated tool within Canvas, provides a secure, centralized location for recording, uploading, and sharing your course videos. Mediasite also includes built-in options for video captioning. You can enable automatic captions for new or existing presentations and edit as needed.

Captioning with Mediasite

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Additional Resources

Web Accessibility

Web Accessibility – Make Accessible Webpages

Creating an accessible website ensures that all users, including those with disabilities, can navigate and engage with your content. Key elements to focus on include using clear and structured headings to organize information, descriptive hyperlinks that convey meaning, strong color contrast between text and background for readability.

Headings are essential for organizing content and guiding users through a webpage. They create a clear hierarchy that helps both sighted users and assistive technologies understand the structure and purpose of each section. Properly nested headings improve accessibility, enable in-page navigation, and make content easier to scan. This resource walks you through best practices for using headings in web content.

Headings

Hyperlinks connect users to new pages, files, or sections with a simple click or keystroke. Links must be keyboard-friendly, clearly labeled, and meaningful out of context. Poorly designed links can block access for users with disabilities, making accessible hyperlinks an essential part of the user's web experience. This resource will help you create meaningful hyperlinks that meet accessibility standards.

Hyperlinks

Color contrast controls how clearly text appears against its background and directly affects readability. A high contrast ratio (like black on white) improves legibility, especially for readers with visual impairments. To meet accessibility standards, ensure a ratio of at least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text. This resource provides an easy way to check that your colors have sufficient contrast.

Color contrast

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CTE Trainings

Digital Accessibility Trainings

Expand your accessibility skills with on-demand and live training from TAMU CTE. Access practical sessions designed to fit your schedule.

Learn at your own pace with resources that walk you through accessibility best practices. Step-by-step guides, checklists, and demos are available anytime to help you make your course content more accessible.

TAMU CTE Digital Accessibility

Take advantage of these upcoming sessions for faculty and staff for the Spring 2026 semester:

Jan 21, 12:00-12:30pm | Digital Accessibility: Transforming Alternative Text Writing with AI
Jan 27, 12:30-1:15pm | Digital Accessibility Series – Session 2: Creating Accessible Content with Microsoft Word and PowerPoint
Feb 10, 12:30-1:15pm | Digital Accessibility Series – Session 3: Improving Accessibility of PDF Files
Feb 18, 12:00-1:00pm | Digital Accessibility: Designing for Accessibility in Word and PowerPoint
Feb 24 12:30-1:15pm | Digital Accessibility Series – Session 4: Utilizing Canvas to Check for Content Accessibility
Feb 25 11:30am-1:00pm | Digital Accessibility Lunch and Learn: Accessibility in Word and PowerPoint (In - person Workshop)
Mar 17 11:30am-1:00pm | Digital Accessibility Lunch and Learn: Utilizing Other Accessibility Tools Adobe and Canvas (In - person Workshop)
Mar 26 11:00am-12:00pm | Digital Accessibility: Utilizing Canvas to Check for Course Content Accessibility

For more information, visit TAMU CTE Calendar of Events.

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TAMU Services

TAMU University Accessibility Services

Access university-provided resources and expert assistance to help you meet accessibility standards. This section connects you with the right services for guidance, troubleshooting, and hands-on support.

Faculty and staff who have questions about accessibility can join University Drop-in Office Hours to get answers in real time. Connect with experts from Distance and Digital Education, the Center for Teaching Excellence, Technology Services IT Accessibility, and the Math Learning Center.

Time: 4:00-5:00p.m.
Schedule: Second and fourth Mondays of each month
Format: Virtual drop‑in anytime during the hour via Zoom Meeting

University Drop-in Office Hours

Open Computer Lab Hours are available for TAMU faculty during Spring 2026:

Mondays, 8:00am - 5:00pm | Blocker 129
Tuesdays, 8:00am - 12:45pm & 3:00pm - 5:00pm | HFSB 119X
Wednesdays, 8:00am - 5:00pm | Blocker 129
Thursdays, 8:00am - 9:15am & 11:10am - 5:00pm | SCC 4.114
Thursdays, 9:15am - 11:10am | SCC 4.102B
Fridays, 8:00am - 5:00pm | Blocker 129

Computer Lab for TAMU Faculty

Explore resources and support from Texas A&M’s IT Accessibility team to help ensure that digital tools, documents, websites, and multimedia are accessible and compliant. Find guidance, checklists, testing tools, procurement tips, and contact information for assistance.

TAMU IT Accessibility Services

Your CEHD Instructional Designers are here to support you.

EPSY: Trupti Palkar | trupti@tamu.edu
EAHR: Jere Liu | liu@tamu.edu
KNSM: John Obenchain | jobenchain@tamu.edu
TLAC: Kevin Lawanto | knlawanto@tamu.edu

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Additional Resources

TAMU Technology Services - Digital Accessibility Training

Newsletters

Instruction by Design CEHD Faculty Newsletter

The Instruction by Design newsletter, brought to you by your CEHD Instructional Designers, keeps you informed on Title II requirements and Digital Accessibility guidelines. Each issue offers resources and practical tips to help you create and maintain accessible course materials.