Access Check Process

Instructors looking for feedback on the accessibility of part of their course can request an Access Check by emailing the IAG. We will spend between 1-6 hours investigating and provide a report with our findings. In addition to the report, instructors can request either a working session meeting (virtual over Teams or in-person) or request the IAG perform approximately 1 hour of remediation work as an exemplar.

Instructors who have completed Block 1 of the SMART program have priority on Access Checks and up to double the amount of support time.

1. Intake: Instructor requests an Access Check via email. Some examples of what the scope of an Access Check might include:
   • several Word or PDF documents
   • several PowerPoint presentations
   • 5-10 minutes of video content
   • 1 module in a Canvas course
   • specific assignments or assessments in Canvas
   • external tool or website

   Please include any log-in information or relevant documents with the request email. If the Access Check is for Canvas content, we will email you with which IAG member will be addressing your request so they can be added to your Canvas course.

2. Investigation: IAG staff will spend between 1-6 hours examining the accessibility of the item(s) in question. If the scope agreed scope could lead down rabbit holes (with external links, media players, attachments, etc.) the two should discuss which parts are high priority for the access check. Other parts will be checked as time allows.
3. Report: IAG staff will write a report with the results of the Access Check, including recommended steps to correct accessibility issues and resources. The report will be emailed to the instructor.
4. Optional additional support: Instructors can choose to just receive the report or to request one of the following services:
   1. Receive report and sign up for a working session with an IAG member of up to 1 hour. This session could be virtual over Teams or in-person (with advance notice). The working session is a scheduled time for the instructor to work on making their material more accessible with an IAG member there for immediate support for questions.
   2. Receive report and request exemplar remediation work. With this option an IAG member spends up to 1 hour remediating part of the course material. The amount remediated will depend on the complexity of the material. The instructor is responsible for using the exemplar to guide themselves in correcting any remaining issues.

For reference, here are some of the most common instructional accessibility issues: 

• Captions have errors and must be edited so that they are 100% accurate. 
• Canvas pages need structure and text coding. 
• PDF documents need to be converted to text (using Optical Character Recognition) and/or reading order needs to be adjusted. 
• Third-party tools and resources are not accessible and need to be replaced or removed. 
• Hyperlinks need to be displayed in ways that indicate their purpose.