Digital Accessibility Checklist for Faculty

Use this checklist to review course content, identify accessibility improvements, and take practical steps toward creating an inclusive learning experience that supports compliance with digital accessibility standards.

You can download the Digital Accessibility Checklist for Faculty (DOCX).

Get Started

1

Understand Accessibility Requirements

  • Review the HB21-1110 FAQ to understand your responsibilities.
  • Use Ally in Canvas to identify one area in your course that may need improvement. (For example: Course images are missing alt text.)

Review Your Course Content

1

Content & Structure

  • Use built-in heading styles (do not just make text bold and larger).
  • Organize content into clear sections.
2

Images & Media

  • Add alt text to course images.
  • Check that video content has captions.
  • Check that audio-only content includes a transcript.
3

Links & Documents

  • Use descriptive link text (avoid vague text like "Click here").
  • Avoid PDFs when possible. Instead, share a Word doc, PowerPoint slides, or link to a HTML webpage.
4

Color & Design

  • Check that there is sufficient color contrast between text and background. (For example: CU gold and white does not have sufficient color contrast.)
  • Do not use color alone to convey meaning. (For example: Using red text to indicate something is required is inaccessible for some color-blindness.)

Take Action & Maintain

1

Choose An Improvement

  • Select one course module to revise for accessibility this semester.
  • Implement at least one accessibility improvement. (For example: Fix heading styles in Canvas and course documents.)
2

Ongoing Review

  • Check new content before publishing.
  • Document known issues for future updates.
  • Set a reminder to review content before next semester.
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