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Accessibility Guidelines for Teaching and Learning

Understanding Accessibility

Accessibility involves designing learning environments, materials, technologies, and activities so that students can access information, participate in learning, and demonstrate their knowledge and skills. It includes considering the experiences of students with visible and invisible disabilities, as well as barriers that may arise from different learning environments and circumstances.

At the University of Toronto, accessibility is both an institutional responsibility and an important consideration in teaching and learning. Proactively identifying and reducing barriers can help create learning experiences that are more accessible, inclusive, and usable for students.

Accessibility is not simply a matter of whether a course or resource is accessible or inaccessible. Different aspects of a learning experience may present different barriers, and accessibility can be improved through ongoing review, feedback, and adjustments.

Legal Obligations: AODA and Your Responsibilities

Accessibility is not only a legal obligation—it is an ethical commitment to equitable education.

As an instructor or staff member, you are required to follow AODA’s Integrated Accessibility Standards Regulation (IASR), which includes ensuring that all publicly accessible online educational content meets WCAG 2.0 Level AA standards.

In practice, this means that instructors and staff are encouraged to consider the following principles when designing and delivering course content:

  • Ensuring that all students can access and understand course materials, regardless of how they engage with content
  • Designing with assistive technologies in mind—such as screen readers or voice input—so materials are usable by a wide range of learners
  • Recognizing and accommodating students with disabilities as part of creating an inclusive and legally compliant learning environment

For more information and advice, connect with the University of Toronto’s AODA Office.

Accessibility Considerations

Accessibility involves more than meeting technical standards. Barriers can arise through the design of course materials, physical and digital environments, communication, and learning activities.

Consider the following dimensions:

  • Digital Accessibility: Can students navigate online materials and tools using different devices, input methods, and assistive technologies, such as screen readers or keyboard navigation?
  • Physical Accessibility: Can students access and participate in activities within classrooms, laboratories, studios, and other learning spaces? Consider mobility, sensory, and other accessibility requirements.
  • Cognitive Accessibility: Is information organized and presented in ways that support understanding, memory, attention, and navigation? Consider how structure, clarity, and consistency can reduce unnecessary cognitive demands.
  • Social and Emotional Accessibility: How might communication practices, classroom interactions, and expectations affect students’ opportunities to participate? Consider how the learning environment can support respectful interactions and reduce barriers associated with particular activities or expectations.

Students may also encounter temporary or situational barriers, such as an injury, an inaccessible device, or a noisy learning environment. Considering these different circumstances can help instructors identify accessibility barriers that might otherwise be overlooked.

Accessibility is an ongoing process. Instructors may not be able to address every barrier independently, but they can identify opportunities for improvement, make changes within their areas of control, and connect with relevant University supports when needed.

Accessibility and Universal Design for Learning

Accessibility is an essential component of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), an approach to course design that proactively reduces learning barriers and welcomes learner variability. UDL brings together accessibility, inclusion, and usability to consider how students access course materials, participate in learning activities, and demonstrate their learning.

While accessibility focuses on identifying and reducing barriers to access and participation, UDL provides approaches for considering these barriers alongside other aspects of the learning experience. This includes designing learning methods, materials, and environments that respond to learner variability.

Visit Teaching and Universal Design for Learning at U of T to explore UDL approaches, resources, programming, and strategies for reducing learning barriers and welcoming learner variability.

Designing for Accessibility: The POUR Principles

The POUR principles—Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, and Robust—provide a framework for designing accessible digital content and technologies. Developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), these principles underpin the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and can help instructors identify and reduce accessibility barriers in course materials and online learning environments.

Consider the following principles:

  • Perceivable: Information and content must be presented in ways that users can perceive. For example, provide text alternatives for meaningful images, captions for videos, and sufficient colour contrast between text and background.
  • Operable: Users must be able to navigate and interact with content using different input methods. For example, ensure that online materials and activities can be accessed using a keyboard rather than requiring a mouse.
  • Understandable: Information and interfaces should be clear, consistent, and predictable. For example, use meaningful headings, descriptive instructions, and consistent navigation to help students understand and interact with content.
  • Robust: Content should be compatible with different technologies, including assistive technologies. For example, use properly structured documents and accessible digital formats that can be interpreted by screen readers and other tools.

The POUR principles provide a useful starting point for reviewing the accessibility of course materials and digital learning environments. The following sections offer practical strategies for applying these considerations in teaching and learning.

Accessible Course Content

Accessible course materials help students access information, engage with content, and participate in learning activities using different technologies and formats. Decisions about how materials are created, organized, and distributed can reduce barriers for students with disabilities and improve usability for a wider range of learners.

The following strategies build on the POUR principles and offer practical considerations for preparing accessible course content.

Course Readings and Learning Materials

  • Share required readings, textbooks, and other learning materials as early as possible so students have time to obtain accessible versions or make necessary arrangements.
  • When selecting readings and textbooks, consider the availability of accessible digital formats, including compatibility with screen readers and text-to-speech tools.
  • Where possible, provide accessible electronic versions of supplementary readings and handouts. Avoid distributing scanned images of text when accessible alternatives are available.
  • Provide lecture outlines, slides, handouts, or other supporting materials in advance when appropriate. These can help students prepare for class, follow explanations, and review information afterward.
  • Consider how specialized terminology, unfamiliar references, and assumed background knowledge may affect students’ understanding. Provide explanations, glossaries, or contextual information where helpful.

Documents (Word, PDF, etc.)

  • Use built-in heading styles and structured layouts to help students navigate documents, including those using screen readers.
  • Provide meaningful text alternatives for images, charts, and diagrams. Mark images that are purely decorative as decorative so assistive technologies can skip them.
  • Ensure PDFs contain selectable text, a logical reading order, and appropriate document structure. Avoid scanned documents that consist only of images of text.
  • Use accessible tables with clearly identified headers and simple structures. Avoid using tables solely for visual layout.
  • Use built-in accessibility checkers in applications such as Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Adobe Acrobat to identify common accessibility issues. Remember that automated checks do not identify every barrier.

Multimedia and Visual Information

  • Provide accurate captions for videos and transcripts for audio recordings. Review automatically generated captions for errors, particularly in technical terminology, names, and specialized vocabulary.
  • Describe meaningful visual information presented in videos, demonstrations, or lectures. Where appropriate, provide accompanying text descriptions for charts, diagrams, images, or other visual content.
  • Avoid relying solely on visual or auditory information to communicate essential instructions or concepts. Reinforce important information through appropriate alternative formats.
  • Consider whether multimedia materials are accessible using different devices and assistive technologies, including keyboard navigation.

Formatting and Layout

  • Use clear, readable fonts and appropriate text sizes to support legibility.
  • Ensure sufficient colour contrast between text and background, and avoid using colour alone to communicate meaning.
  • Organize content with meaningful headings, short paragraphs, and lists where appropriate to make information easier to locate and navigate.
  • Use consistent layouts, labels, and formatting conventions across course materials to help students understand how information is organized.
  • Avoid unnecessarily complex layouts, decorative elements, or visual clutter that may interfere with reading or navigation.

Hyperlinks

  • Use descriptive link text that identifies the destination or purpose of a link, rather than generic phrases such as “click here” or “read more.”
  • Ensure links can be identified without relying on colour alone.
  • Avoid displaying long URLs within paragraphs when descriptive hyperlink text can be used instead.
  • Check that links to required readings, videos, and other course materials work and are accessible to students.

For additional strategies and examples, explore CTSI’s UDL Express: SLIDE into Document Accessibility, which introduces practical considerations for creating more accessible documents.

Accessibility in Quercus

Quercus (Canvas) includes built-in features that can support accessible teaching and learning. However, the accessibility of course content and activities also depends on how materials are created, organized, and presented. Instructors can use Quercus features and design practices to identify and reduce common accessibility barriers.

Consider the following strategies:

Use the Accessibility Checker

The Rich Content Editor in Quercus includes an Accessibility Checker that can help identify and address common issues, such as missing alternative text, insufficient colour contrast, and improper heading structure. The checker is available when editing content in Pages, Assignments, Discussions, Announcements, Quizzes, and other areas that use the Rich Content Editor.

Automated accessibility checks are useful starting points, but they do not identify every barrier. Review content manually as well, particularly the meaning and context of images, the clarity of instructions, and the organization of information.

Use Immersive Reader

Microsoft Immersive Reader is available in supported Quercus Pages and Assignments. It allows students to listen to written content, adjust text size and spacing, and customize how text is displayed.

Immersive Reader does not read all embedded or non-text content, such as videos or images. Instructors should continue to provide accessible alternatives, including captions, transcripts, and meaningful text descriptions where appropriate.

Organize Course Content Consistently

Clear and consistent organization can help students locate information, navigate course materials, and understand expectations.

  • Use descriptive titles for files, Pages, Modules, and other course items.
  • Organize Modules using a consistent structure and naming conventions.
  • Use meaningful headings to organize information within Quercus Pages.
  • Avoid vague or duplicated titles that make it difficult to distinguish course materials.
  • Consider hiding unused Course Navigation links to reduce unnecessary clutter.

Preview Your Course with Student View

Student View allows instructors to preview how course content and activities appear to students. Use it to check whether materials are available, instructions are clear, and course navigation is understandable.

Student View can help identify common usability issues, but it does not replace accessibility testing with assistive technologies or feedback from students who use them.

Accessible Assessments

Accessible assessment design involves considering how students interact with assessment methods, materials, and environments. Decisions about instructions, formats, technologies, timing, and assessment conditions can create barriers that affect students’ opportunities to demonstrate their knowledge and skills.

Designing accessible assessments does not mean reducing academic standards or changing essential learning outcomes. Rather, it involves identifying and reducing unnecessary barriers while ensuring that students can demonstrate the intended knowledge and skills.

Consider the following strategies:

Methods: Instructions and Supports

  • Provide clear instructions that explain the assessment’s purpose, requirements, expectations, and evaluation criteria.
  • Communicate assessment details in advance, including formats, time limits, permitted resources, submission procedures, and other relevant arrangements.
  • Use rubrics, marking guides, examples, or practice activities to help students understand expectations and prepare for assessments.
  • Consider whether assessment formats and time constraints are essential to the learning outcomes or may introduce unnecessary barriers.
  • Where appropriate, provide opportunities for practice, feedback, or familiarization with assessment formats and technologies.

Materials: Files and Resources

  • Ensure assessment instructions, rubrics, templates, worksheets, and other materials are provided in accessible formats.
  • Use structured headings, readable text, sufficient colour contrast, and meaningful text alternatives for images and diagrams.
  • Consider whether students can access and use required assessment materials with screen readers, keyboard navigation, or other assistive technologies.
  • Provide opportunities for students to become familiar with required technologies and identify accessibility concerns before an assessment.

Environments: Physical, Digital, and Social Contexts

  • Consider how physical assessment environments, including classrooms, laboratories, studios, and examination spaces, may affect accessibility. Where possible, address barriers related to seating, movement, lighting, acoustics, and access to equipment.
  • Communicate relevant assessment logistics in advance, including locations, seating arrangements, required materials, and restrictions on devices or resources.
  • For online assessments, review how questions, instructions, and submission processes appear and function in Quercus or other platforms.
  • Consider whether interactive question types, such as drag-and-drop, hotspot, or image-based questions, present barriers for students using assistive technologies. Where appropriate, identify accessible alternatives or consult relevant campus supports.
  • For collaborative assessments, establish clear roles, expectations, and communication processes to support equitable participation.

Academic Accommodations

Proactive accessibility practices can reduce common barriers, but they do not replace individualized academic accommodations. Students may require approved accommodations such as additional time, alternative formats, breaks, or assistive technologies.

Instructors should communicate assessment expectations and relevant information early so students can plan ahead and connect with their campus Accessibility Services office when needed.

For information about academic accommodations, contact Accessibility Services at St. George, Accessibility Services at UTM, or AccessAbility Services at UTSC.

For additional considerations related to assessment planning, accessibility, and academic integrity, explore CTSI’s Designing Accessible and Inclusive In-Person Assessments resource.

Accessibility Supports and Resources

The following University and external resources provide additional information, tools, and support for creating accessible teaching and learning experiences.

U of T Supports

External Resources

Last Modified:

16 October, 2026

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0 International License

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