Check and fix before publishing in Canvas
Before publishing your content on Canvas, it is important to run a check and fix to ensure that your content is accessible and meets the University’s baseline practices. This will help to provide a consistent and inclusive learning experience for all students.
Canvas baseline practices
The University of Auckland has updated its Canvas baseline practices, which are aimed at providing students with a more consistent and inclusive online learning experience across their programs. The practices are based on Universal Design for Learning and accessibility requirements, and are informed by student feedback, international research, and good practices from peer institutions. The aim is to improve consistency, accessibility, and mobile-friendliness in the Canvas experience, while also supporting flexibility and innovation for teachers who wish to extend beyond the minimum baseline practices.
Canvas accessibility check
Create a barrier-free experience for all students
Canvas meets the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 to an AA level. WCAG 2.0 are the World Wide Web Consortium’s current official guidelines for web accessibility.
Guides on accessibility
- Our Canvas course Inclusive design for Canvas outlines the minimum essentials to create an inclusive, accessible Canvas course
- Our poster Inclusive Design for Online Accessibility (PDF) is a visual reminder of practical approaches to designing and testing for accessibility
- Our guide Structure content and style – Common-sense approaches for inclusive Canvas course design (PDF) offers three approaches toward inclusiveness
- Our guide Create an accessible Canvas course (PDF) offers University of Auckland disability advisors’ top six accessibility recommendations
Related Canvas Guides
Validate links in content
Before you publish your course, it is recommended that you check that all the links are valid. This will help identify in advance any error messages your students might encounter.
This tool searches through course content and notifies you if there are any invalid or unresponsive course content links, such as:
- Unpublished Canvas content (such as a page, discussion or assignment that has a set release date)
- Broken links to Canvas content that has been deleted or been renamed since the link was created (such as a course file or page)
- Unreachable external links or images that cannot be reached
Note: The link validator does not validate links to email addresses.
This feature can be found in the course settings. If the link validator does not detect any broken links in your course, Canvas will display a confetti celebration.
Support
Support options are available through the Staff Service Centre or the 24-hour hotline. Please visit the learning technology support page for details.
Page updated: 18/04/2023