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Accessibility Resources

In accordance with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and The ADA 1990, the University is required to provide equal access and equal opportunities for individuals with documented disabilities. Faculty and students have several online and on-campus resources available:

Accessibility in Canvas

Canvas is fully committed to delivering product experiences that conform to the highest levels of global accessibility standards. We know that a mature digital accessibility program must establish a sustainable organizational culture around accessibility.

Guide to Accessibility in Canvas: This guide provides information about using JAWS, NVDA and Overvoice in Canvas, as well as extensive information on other accessibility resources available on Canvas.

Read Speaker & TextAid

ReadSpeaker enables users to listen to any text content or online document, providing a fully enhanced learning experience. ReadSpeaker is fully integrated with Canvas. Features of ReadSpeaker Include:

  • Document Reading: Listen to any online document.
  • Web Reading: Copy text from anywhere on the web and paste it in the Text/Aid window to listen.
  • Text Selection: Select any part of the text and listen to only that section.
  • Text Highlighting: Have the text highlighted as it is being read and choose the colors used for highlighting.
  • Text Settings: Customize the text display and formatting for more comfortable reading. Choose the text color, size, and typeface.
  • Screen-masking: Focus on a part of the screen for easier reading.

ReadSpeaker in Canvas (video) for Faculty ||  Readspeaker for Students (video) ||  ReadSpeaker Chrome Extension - listen to web pages.

Use Readspeaker on a Canvas Quiz

Use Readspeaker on a Canvas Quiz with Respondus Lockdown Browser

Readspeaker Canvas Training video series

About TextAid and How to add it to a Canvas Module:  TextAid is a literacy support, reading and writing assistant tool, which also translates text to a number of different languages. Instructors need to add the TextAid link in their course module and make it available for the students.

Create Accessible Documents & Multimedia

Transcription and Captioning: Videos should include captions or a link to a transcript of the video content. It’s a best practice to work from a script or detailed outline when creating video content for your students. This makes it easy to convert to a caption file or add a complete transcript that’s available for your students to download when reviewing your videos. This is useful with:

  • Infobase (formerly Hoonuit): video and tutorials contain captions and embedded PDFs are accessible to screen readers, ReadSpeaker, and built-in browser tools. These are ideal accessible resources for inclusion in any Canvas course
  • Panopto Video || Camtasia Videos:  Both of these products have a voice to text feature that will convert the narrator's voice into captions.  You must edit the captions for accuracy.

Campus Accessibility Resources

The MSU Office of Student Disability Support Services provides both digital and physical resources for students, as well as education for employees.