Canvas LMS

All about tables: creating accessible tables in MS Word, PowerPoint, PDF, and in Canvas

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Tables can be a good way to communicate data trends in an accessible way. Try to avoid creating super complex tables as these are less understandable for people using screen readers. It can be beneficial to break complex tables into two or more simple table. To create accessible tables in your favorite application, look for the way to specify header cells, one of the essential features of an accessible table. An accessible table also should include a caption describing it or a heading about the table directly above it.
Here are some descriptions of creating accessible tables in different apps:
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MS Word

  • To create an accessible data table in MS Word go to ‘Insert’ > ‘Table’ and draw out the table’s rows and columns.
  • header cell 1
  • header cell 2
  • header cell 3
  • header cell 4
  • col 1, row 2 data
  • col 2, row 2 data
  • col 3, row 2 data
  • col 4, row 2 data
  • col 1 row 1
  • col 2, row 3
  • col 4, row 3
  • col 4, row 3 data
  • Select the table and then click on the ‘Table Design’ widget. Enter the name of your header cells in the first row and make sure ‘Header Row’ is checked in the table Design settings.

MS PowerPoint

  • To create an accessible data table in MS PowerPoint go to ‘Insert’ > ‘Table’ and draw out the table’s rows and columns.
  • header cell 1
  • header cell 2
  • header cell 3
  • header cell 4
  • col 1, row 2 data
  • col 2, row 2 data
  • col 3, row 2 data
  • col 4, row 2 data
  • col 1 row 1
  • col 2, row 3
  • col 4, row 3
  • col 4, row 3 data
  • Select the table and then click on the ‘Table Design’ widget. Enter the name of your header cells in the first row and make sure ‘Header Row’ is checked in the table Design settings.

Acrobat PDF

  • A common issue with tables in PDFs is not having true table header cells. To fix you can go to the Tags panel and manually change the <TD> into <TH> for each header cell.
  • Another issue with tables in PDFs is that the format cannot handle cells that span more than one column. So, You’ll need to redo your tables to have no merged or column spanning cells or else you’ll get an error in the accessibility checker. However, other formats like HTML can handle slightly more complex accessible tables. You can use HTML tables in Canvas course pags.

Canvas

  • To insert a table in a Canvas course pages, Edit a course page to get access to the table maker.
  • Click on the arrow next to the table icon and then choose ‘Table’.
  • Use the table tool to draw out your rows and columns.
  • A limitation of the Canvas table maker is that you can’t specify true table header cell in the editor, so you’ll need to go the code view and change the normal <td> cells into <th> cells.
  • Or you can use the accessibility checker in Canvas to sport and correct the table without a header row. Under ‘Set Table Header’ choose ‘Header row’ and then click ‘Apply’. Behind the scenes it changes the <td> cells into <th> cells. You could go to code view and copy and paste your newly created table code into a local .html text file if you want. Below is a screen of specifying a header row in the accessibility checker.
    Screenshot of specifying a header row for a table in Canvas.
  • The checker will also let you know if a table needs a caption and prompt you to add it. If the table has an H2 heading directly before it, then you don’t need a duplicate caption. Below is a screen showing the option to ad a caption to a table in the accessibility checker.

Screenshot showing the option to ad a caption to a table in the accessibility checker.

General accessibility tips for Canvas course creators

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Here are some general web accessibility principals that Canvas course creators can keep in mind to make their course pages more accessible. These principles also apply to working with webpages in general, since course pages are in HTML format. Learning management systems and content management systems use similar WYSIWYG editors for updating the HTML content of a webpage.

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Accessibility testing:

Check your course page with the built-in accessibility checker in the RCE (rich text editor):

Some learning management platforms, like Canvas, have built-in accessibility checkers. The one in Canvas can be found in the options of the course page rich text editor (RCE). To use it, edit a course page and click the accessibility checkers icon. An issues panel appears on the right side of your screen and will walk you through each issue and give you the opportunity to fix them. If an image is missing alt text, the checker will let you enter an alt description.
See this how to use the Accessibility Checker in the RCE article for more information. Below is a screen of the accessibility checker finding missing alt text.
Sscreenshot the accessibility checker in the RCE finding missing alt text.

Check your course page with the WAVE accessibility checker:

The WAVE tool is available as a browser extension for Chrome, Edge, and Firefox and will allow you to check your webpage for accessibility issues in one-click. The checker will show you exactly where the issues are in the code and provide advice on how to correct them.

Images

Add alternative text descriptions to your images:

Alternative text will describe the image to screen reader users and be seen by sighted users if the image can’t load. Focus on the meaning or purpose of the image rather than trying to describe every detail. In the Canvas LMS while editing a course page we can click on an image, click on the ‘Image Options’ button that pops up, and enter alt text in the Image Options pane that appears on the right-side of our screen.
Screenshot showing adding alt text in the Canvas RCE.
See this article about alt text and display options for images added with the RCE for more information.

Headings

Use headings properly:

Be sure to separate your content into sections, especially in longer articles, and use headings correctly. In the editor, it may appear that headings are like font sizes, but they are more for structural usage. You shouldn’t pick a lower heading size because you like the font size of it. Headings need to be properly nested in a heading structure where you shouldn’t skip heading levels. For example, you shouldn’t go from an H1 to an H3. That H3 should be an H2 to be properly nested in the heading structure. While editing a course page, you can change highlighted text to a heading by clicking on the ‘Paragraph’ menu in the rich text editor. Under that menu you’ll find several heading level options.
Screenshot showing that there are several heading level options under the Paragraph menu in the RCE in Canvas.

Here are some articles about using headings in the RCE:

Use of color

Make sure all text has sufficient color contrast:

Small or regular-sized text should have a contrast ratio of 4.5:1 and large text (bold and 18px or higher or normal and 24px or higher) should have a contrast ratio of a least 3:1. You can use the WebAIM Contrast Checker tool or the Colour Contrast Analyzer tool to find the color contrast ratio. Also, make sure no content or visuals rely on color alone to communicate meaning. Use other ways to differentiate visuals to aid color-blind users.
You can find out more about adjusting color contrast in this Color Contrast in Canvas article. This Adjusting color contrast with the accessibility checker article is another good resource.

Make sure your hyperlinks are descriptive and not just ‘click here’ links

Making link text more descriptive helps give context about where the link goes to. You could instead say, click here to learn more about (the subject…). Links should make sense out of context so if screen reader users land on them they will know where they go. Short phrases such as “click here,” “more,” “click for details,” are ambiguous when read out of context. Screen readers have key shortcuts that can jump between links in a page and using the tab key jumps between focusable objects like links & buttons. So, a screen reader user may not have read nearby text that would give a short ‘click here’ more context. You should include the context withing the link text itself.
See the Introduction to Links and Hypertext guidance from WebAIM for more information about writing descriptive hyperlinks.

Tables

Make sure you only use tables for tabular data:

Tables should only be used to show numerical data. They shouldn’t be used for layout like organizing out parts of the page into columns. In the late 1990s some designers used table-based layout which wasn’t an accessible practice and not responsive to smaller screens.
See this inserting tables using the Rich Content Editor article to learn more about working with data tables in Canvas.

Make should your data tables have a header row specified:

Each label on a column should be a true header cell TH instead of a regular cell TD. In WordPress you can tell that something is a header cell clicking in the cell while editing the post. Below the table if it says ‘TH’ in the tage tree it’s a header cell. For example, the tag tree at the bottom of the editor might say: ‘TABLE > THEAD > TR > TH’. This is just above where it says: “Word count”.

Below is an example of a table created in the Canvas RCE where a a header row has been specified. Screenshot of a table in Canvas that has had a header row specified.
The RCE table editor doesn’t allow you to specify header cells. You have to use the accessibility checker in the RCE to do that. It will analyze the table you created and give you an opportunity to specify a header row. Here is a screen of specifying a header row with the accessibility checker.
Screenshot of specifying a header row for a table in Canvas.

The accessibility checker will ask you to add a caption to your table. If you already have a descriptive heading immediately above the table, an additional caption isn’t required.

Avoid using complex tables:

You should avoid using complex tables because they can be challenging to make accessible and confusing to navigate for screen reader users. It may be better to convert a large complex table into two or more simple tables.
See WebAIM’s article about Creating Accessible Tables for more information.

 

Additional resources about online course accessibility:

Beginner’s Accessibility with the Rich Content Editor
How to use the Accessibility Checker in the RCE
Color Contrast in Canvas – an article about adjusting color contrast in the RCE.
Adjusting color contrast with the accessibility checker  – a good resource on fixing color contrast issues in Canvas course pages.
Inserting tables using the Rich Content Editor  – an article about working with data tables in Canvas.

Digital accessibility essentials: Basic digital accessibility for educators presentation

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Here are some links to my Digital accessibility essentials presenation that I presented to a group of educators in Extension on May 2, 2024:

The presentation covers the Whys of accessibility (empathy & compliance), the Hows of accessibility (how to use assistive technology), and the Whats of accessibility (what to do to ensure good digital accessibility). The Hows of accessibility section shows how people with visual disabilities use screen readers to consume digital content and highlights how to get started with screen reader testing.

The screen readers mentioned in the presentation are the traditional kind that read live text from websites and documents already on the user’s device. Below are some links to a new group of other apps the actually read text out in the environment to help people with visual disabilities.

Information about other assistive technologies

Here are some other tools and apps, different from traditional screen readers, that can help the visually impaired: https://business.bemyeyes.com/10-essential-accessibility-tools-apps-for-the-visually-impaired

Apps like TapTapSee, Google’s Lookout, SuperSense, or MS Seeing AI use a smartphone’s camera and voiceover capabilities to take a picture or video of anything in the environment and identify it with a voice in real time.

What to do to ensure good digital accessibility

The presentation covers using the accessibility checkers built into MS Office products like Word and PowerPoint to check the accessibility of our digital documents. It also covers how there are similar accessibility checkers in learning management systems like Canvas that can help use ensure good digital accessibility in our online courses. For those of us doing blog posting as part of our educational efforts, the WAVE tool, is essential. It’s an easy way to check webpages for accessibility issues and is available as a browser extension.

How to upload and link to a PDF into your Canvas course

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TOC:

How to upload and link to a PDF into your Canvas course

You might wonder How can instructors link to PDFs in their Canvas courses? To link a PDF file in a Canvas course, you can use the Files area feature. As an instructor, you can upload one or multiple files, view all details about your files, preview files, publish and unpublish files, set usage rights, and restrict access to files. Here are the steps to link a PDF file in your Canvas course:

  1. Go to the course where you want to link the PDF file.
  2. Click on the Files tab in the course navigation bar.
  3. Click on the Upload button to upload the PDF file.
  4. Once the file is uploaded, click on the file name to open the file details page.
  5. Copy the URL of the file from the address bar of your browser.
  6. Go to the page where you want to link the PDF file.
  7. Click on the Edit button to edit the page.
  8. Highlight the text that you want to use as the link text.
  9. Click on the Link to URL button in the Rich Content Editor (RCE).
  10. Paste the URL of the PDF file in the URL field.
  11. Click on the Insert Link button to insert the link.

Congratulations! You have successfully linked a PDF file in your Canvas course.

How to check and fix the accessibility of a PDF before uploading to your course

You can use the accessibility checker feature in Adobe Acrobat to review the accessibility of your PDF and fix issues. To check and fix the accessibility of a PDF take these steps in Adobe Acrobat Pro:

  1. Open the PDF in Adobe Acrobat Pro.
  2. Run an accessibility check by selecting Accessibility, Accessibility Check, Start Checking or Tools > Accessibility > Full Check.
  3. Read the report and follow the prompts.
  4. Fix the issues identified in the report.
  5. Save the PDF.

Alternatively, you can use the ‘Make Accessible’ tool in Acrobat to automatically fix some issues.
If you need more detailed instructions, you can watch this video that shows how to use the accessibility checker in Adobe Acrobat Pro to identify and fix some common accessibility issues in a PDF document. The video covers how to:

  • Run the accessibility checker and review the results.
  • Fix the logical reading order, bookmarks, tagged annotations, and figures with alternate text.
  • Modify the tags panel to correct the nesting and tag types of headings, links, and lists.

Please note that the accessibility checker may not detect all accessibility issues, so it’s important to manually review the document as well.

Additional resources

Here are some additional resources about linking to files in Canvas course:

Articles about linking to files in Canvas courses:

Videos about linking in Canvas course pages:

What are Groups in Canvas? 

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Groups in Canvas are used as a collaborative tool where students can work together on group projects and assignments. So if an instructor anticipates having group assignments they can setup groups in a course. Learn more about Groups in the Canvas Instructor’s guide. Groups might be useful in the type of online course where a cohort of students follows a fixed schedule and learns together. Groups might be less useful for self-paced asynchronous courses where students start at any time and don’t interact very much with other students.

What is H5P?

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H5P is a web-based service that allows instructional designers to create interactive learning activities to reinforce course content and make learning more engaging. H5P learning objects can be embed in Canvas, WordPress, Drupal, or .html files. At Ohio State H5P learning objects are often embedded in Canvas course pages. You can view some examples of types of learning objects on H5P.org.

What is Carmen Canvas?

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Carmen Canvas is the name for the Canvas LMS (learning management system) instance used for academic courses at The Ohio State University. They generically call the learning management platform ‘Carmen’ for conistency accross the years. So that one LMS can be swapped out with another and still retain the name ‘Carmen’.

Camen first started in 2005 when the university switched from using the WebCT learning management system to using the Desire to Learn platform. Later, in 2016, the LMS was swapped out with the Canvas learning platform but the ‘Carmen’ brand was retained. Carmen Canvas is the regular version of the Canvas LMS, while Scarlet Canvas is the Canvas Catalog product version used for public-facing enrichment courses.

Draft course development steps checklist for Canvas courses

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Educators can work with an instructional designer or a Canvas admin to develop online courses in Scarlet Canvas. Some online course development steps for Canvas courses are:
Course planning and development:

  • Fill out the course development planning worksheet to better define your course audience, content, and objectives. There are Qualtrics and MS Word versions of the course planning worksheet available.
  • Use the backwards design methodology thinking of learner outcomes first. Outline learning objectives for the course. Learning objectives are typically listed in the introductory pages of the first module.

Course building in Canvas:

  • Setup course modules and pages. Embed video content from MediaSite checking that closed captions are working. A good practice is to include a ‘meet your instructors’ page in the first module with educator bios.
  • Quizzing – Decide on a quizzing / learning checks strategy. Many courses include a short quiz at the end of every module that unlocks the next module on a passing score. Some courses have longer pre and post course assessments in the first and last modules. Questions can be stored in question banks and imported into various module quizzes. Studies have shown that taking quizzes helps participants better retain what they learned.
  • Decide if including learning objects from H5P would enhance learning in the course. Participants have different learning styles. Some types of learning objects might help them retain more knowledge.
  • Course evaluation – Setup course evaluation surveys in Qualtrics and add links in the Canvas course. Typically a link to a course evaluation is added in the last module, the course completion module.
  • Decide on how to issue course completion certificates to participants. If using automated certificates from Canvas catalog, turn them on in the course listing settings and paste in the certificate HTML template. Tweak the HTML template to fit the specific course.

Reviewing course pages for accessibility, branding compliance, and educational experience quality assurance.

  • Review course page accessibility using resources like the WAVE tool, the internal Canvas accessibility checker, and/or Lighthouse tool in Chrome.
  • Review course for branding compliance and educational experience quality assurance.
  • Add instructors to the course and give them the Teacher role in Canvas.
  • Share the course shell with a small cohort of educators and do a peer review.
  • Analyze feedback from the peer review and decide what changes to make. Keep technical changes in a changelog.txt text file in the course files.
  • Test changes made with a test student account. Check that course registration and payment are working as expected. Setup any special promo codes and test that they work.

Course launch, marketing, and post-launch monitoring:

  • Make final changes, open the course for enrollment, and promote the course in social media and other outlets.
  • Monitor how the course is working out for participants. Review feedback from participants and instructors for ideas to improve the course. Note small technical improvements and fixes in the changelog.txt text file.

What is Scarlet Canvas?

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Scarlet Canvas is Ohio State’s public-facing LMS platform for non-credit, professional development, continuing education, and enrichment courses. This learning management platform is powered by the Canvas Catalog product from Instructure which can provide automated course completion certificate issuing and public course listings in a course catalog. Canvas courses in the system may be unlisted or publicly listed in the catalog. Ohio State Extension uses the Scarlet Canvas LMS for many of its enrichment  and public outreach courses. Instructors and learners can login into Scarlet Canvas at: https://scarlet.instructure.com/.

See these Canvas Links & Resources for more information about working with the Canvas LMS.

The benefits of using quizzes in online courses

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Cognitively the act of taking a quiz, calling up knowledge from memory, makes that memory stronger and easier to access. So students who are more frequently quizzed retain more knowledge of the subject they are studying. Retrieval practice, such as with flash cards and practice quizzes has been found to be a powerful study method. Quizzes are beneficial learning check exercises to include in online courses as well. In academic courses it’s a common expectation that some of the assignments will be quizzes. Drafting quiz questions is a common checklist item on a course quality QA guide.

Contents:

Here are some of the benefits of using quizzes in online courses:

  • Retrieval practice occurring during quizzes can greatly enhance retention of the retrieved information. An even higher level of retention than from restudying or rereading the course material.
  • Quizzes permit students to discover gaps in their knowledge and focus study efforts on difficult material.
  • An indirect effect of quizzes was found that if quizzed frequently, students tended to study more and with more regularity.
  • Quizzing has been found to enable better metacognitive monitoring for both students and teachers because it provides feedback as to how well learning is progressing. Quizzes can be a beneficial self-learning check for students.
  • Every time a student calls up knowledge from memory like when taking a quiz, that memory solidifies becoming more stable and more accessible.

A Scientific American article noted that “research in cognitive science and psychology shows that testing, done right, can be an effective way to learn. Taking tests can produce better recall of facts and a deeper understanding than an education devoid of exams2.” In the academic world more frequent quizzing leads to better grades and academic performance. Practice quizzing in the academic realm can reduce high-stakes test-taking anxiety in students. In the continuing education and enrichment space the key benefit is better retention of useful knowledge and quizzes become lower stakes learning opportunities.

Enhancing quizzes as a learning opportunity with feedback and reflection

In order for a quiz to effectively function as a learning opportunity students need to receive feedback: information about what they got right and what they got wrong. So it’s important to thoughtfully setup feedback in online course quizzes. Learning management systems, like Canvas, have the ability to show feedback on both correct and incorrect answers. See this what options can I set in a quiz article for more information about setting up automatic feedback on question responses.

Getting students to engage in reflection after a test also helps reinforce what they learned. Some instructors use a quiz evaluation/reflection exercise called a ‘test wrapper’2. In it students are asked how think they could have studied better and if there’s any areas the instructor could help with.

Using quizzes as a method to ensure video lessons are fully watched by students

Having a quiz about a video is my instructional design colleague Amy’s recommended way of encouraging participants to watch full video lessons. Here’s some more info about Using Canvas quizzes as learning checks to assess that videos are watched. After the video in a course module the instructor can place a quiz to act as a learning check. Then assign a passing score that’s required to open the next module.

Recommendations for use of quizzes in Extension courses

Low-stakes quizzes are useful in Extension courses for ensuring video lessons are fully watched and getting participants to think about the material they just viewed (thereby retaining more knowledge from the course content). Some participants occasionally choose to not watch whole videos lessons missing out on key knowledge. A quiz acts as a self-learning check for them to reflect on what they learned and a method to assess they are ready to move on to the next lesson. Many Canvas LMS courses use a passing score on an end-of-module quiz to unlock the next module. It provides a time to pause and reflect on what was learned to wrap up that module lesson before jumping into the next lesson.

Since an online Extension course is lower stakes than an academic course, it’s a good idea to kept quizzes less formal, with a lighter tone. Quizzes don’t have to tedious, they can include questions designed to be fun and crafted for the intended age group. For example questions written for a 4-H age group might be different in tone than those written for an adult class. Using fun question types can make a quiz more like edutainment than an academic assessment. Both Canvas LMS quizzes and H5P learning objects have question types than can be used to create entertaining and engaging exercises. Taking a lighter, edutainment approach to quizzing also helps reduce traditional test-taking anxiety in participants putting them at ease.

Canvas LMS quizzing resources

Here are some additional resources related to using quizzes in the Canvas learning management system:

Written by Jon Gladden, FCS eLearning Developer

References:

1) Roediger, Henry & Putnam, Adam & Sumeracki, Megan. (2011). Ten Benefits of Testing and Their Applications to Educational Practice. 10.1016/B978-0-12-387691-1.00001-6. Retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/291166244_Ten_Benefits_of_Testing_and_Their_Applications_to_Educational_Practice . Accessed on 14 Sep 21.

2) Paul, Annie Murphy. Researchers Find That Frequent Tests Can Boost Learning. Scientific American 313, 2, 54-61 (August 2015). Retrieved from: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/researchers-find-that-frequent-tests-can-boost-learning/ Accessed on 14 Sep 21.