What is UDOIT Advantage?
UDOIT Advantage (often referred to as just "UDOIT"--pronounced like "You do it") is a tool from Cidi Labs that scans Canvas content, checking for digital accessibility issues. For Canvas-native content, it will generate a list of errors and, for many of those errors, will provide guidance and tools for addressing the issues. It can also can files for accessibility issues, though the file scanning capabilities are not as robust.
Features include:
- Accessibility reports and dashboards for each course
- Convenient, one-click quick fix options for some errors
- Previews to help instructors identify problematic content
- File scanner capable of generating alternative versions of PDF and Word documents
ULEARN Accessibility Guide
To help you get started on your own, we'd recommend referring to the ULEARN Accessibility Guide created by the folks at Cidi Labs. This is a companion to UDOIT, and it contains the following information for every error in UDOIT:
- A short description of the error
- What you may experience
- What students may experience
- Why addressing the issue matters
- How you can fix it
How do I use UDOIT?
COLRS has put together a guide for using UDOIT as part of our Canvas Course Accessibility Process. This guide contains information on how to enable UDOIT in the course navigation, how to navigate to and through the UDOIT interface, and how to begin remediating course content.
Common errors for UIS instructors
While the ULEARN Accessibility Guide should be your go-to source for how to remediate content in UDOIT, there are a couple of errors that UIS instructors often encounter. The tips below may help you figure out your plan.
Content may exceed recommended length for readability
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Instructors often see this error if they are using the DesignPLUS syllabus template or have otherwise created their syllabus in the Canvas textbox. We do need to adhere to our institutional policies for the syllabus, so we may not be able to edit it down. If you see this error in regards to your syllabus, you can mark it as resolved.
Headings may be missing
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In our experience, when you write more than two paragraphs on a Canvas page, you will likely see this error. Headings can definitely be helpful for breaking content into sections, but depending on the type of content, they may not be appropriate. Evaluate the content and decide if there are natural "sections" that you can use headings to make clear. If there are no sections, you can mark it as resolved.
Heading levels have been skipped
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Often, we see this error because Heading 2 and Heading 3, by default, increase the font size quite a bit, and that can be too large or awkward-looking. It is still an accessible practice to choose a heading style (like Heading 2) and then modify the text itself so that the font size is more in line with your preferences, as long as it is applied consistently. Follow the rules in the ULEARN Accessibility Guide for adding headings, and then modify based on your preferences.
Could not connect to Kaltura to check captions
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Sometimes, Kaltura and UDOIT have a hard time communicating with one another, and UDOIT is unable to determine if the captions are accurate. This does not meaen there is an issue; rather, it just means that the captions need to be verified. If the captions are accurate, you can mark this as resolved. If the captions are not accurate, the captions will need to be corrected. The Office of Digital Accessibility may be able to help with this.
Why is it important to use UDOIT to address accessibility issues?
Under Title II requirements, digital materials need to be made accessible before being shared with students. As instructors, the content shared with students in Canvas falls under the "digital materials" umbrella and is a major component of ensuring that UIS adheres to the requirements. Beyond the requirements, though, we know that accessibility work is essential for building an inclusive community that enables all students to be successful.
In 2023, the National Center for Education Statistics released a report that showed many students in higher education have a disability. "[S]ome 21 percent of undergraduates and 11 percent of graduate students reported having a disability," including hearing, vision, cognitive, and motor disabilities. According to the CDC, the general adult population of the U.S. reports an even higher rate, with 27% having some type of disability: 12.1 percent of U.S. adults have a mobility disability with serious difficulty walking or climbing stairs; 12.8 percent of U.S. adults have a cognition disability with serious difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions; 7.2 percent of U.S. adults have an independent living disability with difficulty doing errands alone; 6.1 percent of U.S. adults are deaf or have serious difficulty hearing; 4.8 percent of U.S. adults have a vision disability with blindness or serious difficulty seeing even when wearing glasses; and 3.6 percent of U.S. adults have a self-care disability with difficulty dressing or bathing.
Improving the accessibility of our courses benefits all students, including those with disabilities, those using mobile devices, and those studying in a variety of environments. For instance, video captions assist those who cannot hear the video as well as those viewing a video in a loud or quiet space.
UDOIT streamlines a lot of this work by identifying specific locations in a course where there might be an issue and providing options for fixing the issue without leaving the program. The filtering and organization options in UDOIT allow instructors to find a workflow that works best for them and can ensure that nothing is missed.