Instructor Toolkit: Accessible Course Materials

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At the University of Guelph, accessibility is not just a legal requirement—it’s a fundamental part of creating inclusive, equitable learning environments. As instructors, you play a critical role in ensuring that all students, including those with disabilities, have equal opportunities to succeed.

Some examples of common barriers include: 

• Creating your own formatting in a document, using bold and italics to create visual headings. 
• Using automatic captioning and not proofreading it for errors. 
• Forgetting to include alt text on images.  

Accessible course design helps remove barriers to learning, fosters student engagement, and aligns with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). This guide will support you in making your teaching more inclusive, benefiting not only students with disabilities but all learners in your classroom.

Video: Why accessible education matters

Why Accessible Education Matters transcript available on YouTube.

For a moment, we’ll forget about regulations. Instead, let's think about the people these barriers impact - how it limits their ability to access content freely and easily.  

As we revise the old, and look at creating new content, here are four pillars of accessibility that can help us to centre the person in conversations about creating accessible web content: 

• Percievable:
  • People need the information in their brains in order to use it. People have to be able to consume the information so they can then process it. In order to do this, people rely on different forms or modalities of information that suit their abilities. For example, a student may use a screen reader which allows them to listen to the content of the page as it’s read aloud. To make this possible, content needs to be transformable to meet each one of these forms of communication. The most easily transformable content is text based. For example, we can create descriptive transcripts that allow someone who is visually impaired to experience a video.  Also, text in the form of closed captions makes the audio content of a video intelligible to a person with a hearing impairment.   
• Operable:
  • People use different devices to access the same information. When people explore content, they will use different tools (e.g., screen readers, text magnifiers, speech recognition, etc.) to give them the best experience, and the fewest barriers. Some platforms and settings make navigating content difficult and limits access for certain users.  
• Understandable:
  • People can understand and use the information. People can find the content and put it in their brains, but then what? We need to make sure that: 
    • Writing is clear and concise 
    • Alternative formats are easily available 
    • People can easily navigate to the information they are looking for  
• Robust:
  • People have the right to choose the technologies they use. People will use technologies that they prefer, that enhance their web experience, and that help them to access the information they are looking for. If we create barriers to content, this may prompt the person never to come back to our resources.  

Source: Constructing a POUR website

Video: Introduction to the POUR principle

Introduction to the POUR Principle transcript available on YouTube.

Section 32 of the Canadian Copyright Act stipulates that copies can be made in another format for people with disabilities when the content is not commercially available in a format required to meet the needs of the student requiring accommodation. When an accessible version is received/created, LAS only shares it directly with the student with the accommodation.  

However, video content is excluded from this section which means we cannot make copies of videos to make them accessible. Please see the LAS Captioning Procedure to learn more. 

Where can I get help with copyright and Accessibility?

One way to ensure that course materials are accessible is to place them on course reserve using the Ares Course Reserve system. Course materials placed in Ares can be easily integrated into CourseLink.

All content submitted to Ares is reviewed, and remediated as necessary, to ensure compliance with the AODA:

• When linking to library-licensed content such as journal articles or e-books, Course Reserve staff select the most accessible version available.
• Documents submitted in Word or PDF format are edited to ensure they can be read by screen readers and other assistive technologies.
• Streaming media content can also be hosted in Ares via the library’s various streaming media platforms, the majority of which provide captioning as well as transcripts.
• When Course Reserve staff seek copyright permission for some content posted in Ares, they simultaneously acquire permission to reproduce the content in accessible formats.

Using Ares to deliver course materials to students ensures that every student enrolled in the course is provided with the most accessible copy available, even those students who may not be registered with SAS. Instructors are encouraged to submit their content to Ares well in advance of the start of a new semester, in order to ensure that accessible copies will be available on the first day of classes. If you have questions, comments, or specific accessibility requirements, please contact Course Material & Reserve Services.