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Digital accessibility ensures that everyone can effectively use digital content and technologies. And in today’s higher education landscape, digital materials are a cornerstone of the learning experience. It's crucial that our resources and websites are accessible and user-friendly for everyone, including students with disabilities. By focusing on digital accessibility, we enhance the overall quality of our courses and learning for all students.
St. Thomas now has an accessibility tool called YuJa Panorama that launched in the summer 2024.
For Starters
- Panorama replaced the Blackboard Ally accessibility tool in the Canvas learning management system, beginning July 1, 2024.
- If after reading this article you need additional support, please select “Request Service”, select “Academic Technology Accessibility (Canvas, YuJa Panorama, other)” and share your question or need.
- Although this accessibility tool has many useful features, you also have people on the Digital Accessibility Service Team (DAST) here further guide your success.
How might Panorama affect you?
- If you used to use the Ally checker tool, Panorama identifies more accessibility issues; it's a more thorough accessibility checker tool. However, please keep in mind that just because an accessibility issue is flagged, you still are the one who decides which issues to prioritize fixing.
- Faculty and those in a Instructor role in Canvas will find an icons by each Canvas page and also files that you can select to find the document’s Accessibility Score and Alternate Formats. For each accessibility issue identified, written information, at times videos, and step-by-step instructions are offered for fixing the issue.
- We are all learning the best ways to leverage this powerful tool, and overtime will turn on new features with this tool.
We hope that as you begin using Panorama, you'll become further knowledgeable about and committed to accessibility practices. We look forward to furthering our collective work on accessibility.
What about all those Icons?
Panorama provides distinctive icons to provide instructors with useful information about the degree of accessibility for the files in your course. Instructors can click on the icons to access Panorama's accessibility report and alternative formats. The two following images depict examples of some of the icons that instructors may find useful as you learn this new tool.
This first image depicts various file types and Canvas assignments, with Panorama accessibility icons to the right of each file or item. A red arrow points to a pdf file with a green smiley face accessibility icon.
The second image Alternative Formats Menu depicts 3 different arrows. One arrow points to the right at a speed gauge icon, another arrow points down and to the right at a download icon for a PDF, and the third arrow pointing down and to the left indicating the download option for the original source file. The image also depicts 9 other format options.
For further step-by-step detailed directions, read the Getting Started in Panorama for Instructors in Canvas and more on YuJa's Panorama Resource site.
Icon Key
The following Icon Key table provides the icon, what the icon means (title and description), and who has access to that icon. Important: Students will only view the blue universal accessibility person icon below, and students will never see the file scores. Only Canvas instructors and TA's will view these file scores.
| Icon Title and Icon |
Description |
Who Views that Icon? |
|
Green smiley face icon
|
The green smiley face indicates that there are either no issues or only minor accessibility issues identified by Panorama. The file score could be between 70-100%. The more minor issues the score moves closed to 70%. |
Instructor role in Canvas |
|
Yellow triangle with person
|
The triangle icon indicates one more more major accessibility file issues have been identified by Panorama. The file score could be between 30-70%. The more major issues the score moves closer to 30%. |
Instructor role in Canvas |
|
Red pentagon with person
|
The red pentagon indicates one or more severe accessibility file issues have been identified by Panorama. The file score could be between 0-30%. The more severe issues the score moves closer to 0%. |
Instructor role in Canvas |
|
Incomplete circle around person's body
|
A file is being processed and not ready to view the score yet. |
Instructor role in Canvas
|
|
Blue circle around person with arms and legs outstretched
|
The icon is always displayed to students. This serves as their access to the alternative format menu for a given file. An instructor may also view these icons when viewing the page as a student view.
|
Student role in Canvas.
|
|
Empty page or alternative formats disabled for that file.
|
In some cases, instructors, programs, and/or administrators may disable specific alternative file formats depending on the course. |
Faculty role in Canvas
Student role in Canvas
|
Fixing Issues
You can fix (some) issues directly within Canvas without needing to upload a new file.
Image description: The left side image shows a Cooking Tools page that is missing a title as Issue #1. The right side image depicts the accessibility report with an overall score of 95%. And, there is still additional information on what the issue is and instructions on how to fix the identified issues.
Additionally, you gain access to comprehensive course reports and analytics, showing which alternative formats your students are using. If you need additional support with any of these tools, please submit a ticket (select Submit Ticket located on the upper right side of this page).
The included customization tool allows both you and your students to adjust Canvas pages to your personal preferences, such as contrast, font, and font size. Your settings can be saved for future visits to Canvas.
YuJa Panorama also Supports UDL
Whether teaching fully online, hybrid or in person, St. Thomas faculty are encouraged to incorporate Universal Design for Learning (UDL) approaches into their teaching and learning. Additionally, the Center for Faculty Development’s Inclusive Classroom Institutes are an excellent opportunity to weave digital accessibility into your UDL strategies.
By incorporating both digital accessibility and UDL, we enhance the quality of our digital content and experiences for everyone. YuJa Panorama helps you create content that works seamlessly on phones and tablets, provides alternative format options to your Canvas content, and checks and improves accessibility of content added into Canvas.
For Further Learning
- Please get connected to current information on accessibility by enrolling in the Digital Accessibility Basics badge and learning hub.
- Please submit a ticket to our St. Thomas Digital Accessibility Panorama support if you need further assistance beyond this article and other Knowledge Base articles.
- Visit YuJa's Panorama Resource Site for information, tutorials and more!