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Academic Strategy & Affairs

Toolkit November 2025

Message for deans/associate deans

Units that prefer direct to chairs will skip this.

Dear deans and associate deans,

To support your internal communications around the ADA accessibility rules, we are sharing our third digital accessibility toolkit. As with the first two, you decide how or whether to use or adapt the drafts:

  • Cover letter for chairs/directors
  • Faculty email
  • Newsletter blurb
  • Slide deck (attached)

This toolkit’s focus is accessible documents – finding accessible versions of assigned readings and creating accessible assignments and handouts. Updates include a Canvas banner coming soon to label past courses as “archive” which puts them out of scope for the new rule.

Feel free to use these materials in whatever way works best for your unit. If others in your area should receive future toolkits directly, please send their contact info our way.

The full toolkit is below and also available, along with past toolkits, on the ASA website.

Thank you for your continued leadership and support.

Best regards,

Phil Reid

Draft cover letter to chairs, directors or other program leaders

Subject: October digital accessibility toolkit – Accessible readings and assignments

Dear colleagues,

The third digital accessibility toolkit for unit leaders is now available. As with the first two, it includes draft emails, newsletter blurbs, and slide decks to help you communicate with instructors and save you time.

This month’s focus is accessible readings and assignments: encouraging instructors to find accessible versions of assigned readings and learn how to create accessible assignments and handouts. These steps reduce issues with PDFs and improve Canvas Ally scores.

As always, this and past toolkits are available on the ASA webpage, and step-by-step guidance for faculty can be found on Making Course Materials Accessible on the Teaching@UW website.

New this month:

Canvas banners coming soon that label past courses as “Archive,” clarifying they are inactive and therefore not subject to the updated ADA rule.

As always, feel free to adapt these draft materials to fit your unit’s needs—or skip a month and double up later. If you would like someone from the Digital Accessibility Initiative to join a leadership or faculty meeting, contact digitalaccess@uw.edu.

Thank you for your ongoing partnership as we navigate these changes together.

Draft Email to Faculty

Subject: Improving accessibility in assigned readings, assignments and handouts

Dear Colleagues,

With updated ADA rules coming in April, we are aiming for progress, not perfection. Tackling a few tasks each month will set us up to better serve students now and prepare for future terms.

This year, we should prioritize efforts that help us hit the UW target of 80% Ally course accessibility score in Canvas. These two actions will help:

  1. Find accessible versions of assigned readings
    Many of us have inaccessible PDFs of articles or chapters in our courses that we assign students to read. While it may not always be possible, the easiest way to make your assigned readings more accessible is to find the full-text HTML format version of your readings via UW Libraries and link to it in your course. Making assigned readings accessible on the Teaching@UW website walks you through the steps.
  2. Create accessible assignments and handouts
    When you create new materials, learn to make them accessible from the start with structured headings, descriptive link text, built-in lists, and accessible tables.
    Visit Making assignments and handouts accessible on the Teaching@UW website for step-by-step guidance.

Coming Soon: Canvas banners to “Archive” past courses

Soon you will see Canvas banners that label your previous years’ courses as “Archive.” This clarifies they are historical, inactive and therefore not subject to the updated ADA expectations around making course materials accessible. (If you do not use Canvas, you can add “archive” language to past courses in the platform you use.)

Upcoming workshops and just-in-time resources

Take advantage of these opportunities to learn more:

Thank you for supporting our students by improving digital accessibility.

Newsletter Copy – DRAFT

Accessible Course Readings: Alternatives to Inaccessible PDFs

New ADA rules arrive in April. As we continue to make progress, two actions can have a big impact on accessibility of course materials:

  1. Link to assigned readings via UW Libraries, whenever possible.
  2. Create accessible assignments and handouts with headings, descriptive links and more.

Explore these Teaching@UW resources to get started and join colleagues at the ATS Lunch & Learn: Does it really have to be a PDF? – Tuesday, November 4, 12–1 p.m.

Slide Deck – DRAFT

Access the Google slides & speaker notes UW NetID

Slide 1: Monthly Accessibility Focus

Reminder: goal is steady progress, aiming for 80% Ally course scores

  • Inaccessible PDFs can present accessibility issues in our courses
    • articles we have downloaded or link to
    • PDF scans of print materials
    • assignments or handouts we have created
  • Two things we can focus on this month to make progress:
    • Select accessible course readings, whenever possible
    • Create accessible assignments and handouts from the start

Presenter Notes:

  • A quick reminder that we are working on taking manageable steps toward accessibility.
    • The goal is not perfection, but steady progress.
    • University leadership has set a target of 80% Ally scores in Canvas courses, and each month we can focus on areas to improve our courses.
  • Inaccessible PDFs are common and create accessibility issues in most UW courses.
  • They fall into several categories:
    • articles and other readings we have downloaded over the years.
    • links to PDF versions of articles or readings on non-UW webpages.
    • PDF scans of print materials.
    • and content we created ourselves, saved and shared as PDFs.

Slide 2: 1 – Find Accessible Versions of Readings

  • Follow the step-by-step instructions on the Teaching@UW: Making assigned readings accessible webpage to check if the articles or readings you assign are available online with full text via UW Libraries.
  • If so, use the permalink to share them with students.
  • If a reading you use is not available online:
    • Consider replacing it if another reading could achieve the same learning goals.
    • If not, continue to use it for now and watch for further guidance.

Presenter Notes:

  • UW Libraries is an excellent resource for more accessible versions of articles and book chapters of e-books since they prioritize the selection of digital resources that are compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. But even they cannot guarantee the accessibility of specific digital materials because they are often created by other institutions or publishers.
  • Finding out whether there is or is not an accessible version of your reading takes practice.
  • Teaching@UW can walk you through using the Libraries page to locate online, full-text resources which are likely the most accessible version available.
  • Sharing these readings with the permalink provides students with consistent access to the resource.
  • Sometimes, a reading is not available online. You are the best judge of whether there might be an alternative reading or if the inaccessible one is truly essential.
  • If there is no alternative:
    • For students with formal accommodations, DRS will make the readings accessible.
    • And watch for further guidance.
    • While we do not currently have staff or tools to address all inaccessible PDFs, UW-IT has limited support for large classes and is vetting PDF conversion tools for purchase.

Slide 3: 2 – Create Accessible Assignments & Handouts

  • Save course materials you create in the original file type to preserve accessibility
    • If you must create a PDF, use “export to PDF” or “save to PDF”
    • DO NOT “Print to PDF” which strips out accessibility tags
  • Use headings, meaningful text for hyperlinks, and built-in lists with bullets or numbers
  • Run accessibility checkers before finalizing
    • e.g., built-in checkers in Word, Powerpoint and Canvas pages

Step-by-step guidance is available in Making assignments and handouts accessible on the Teaching@UW website.

Presenter Notes:

  • When creating course materials to share with students, keeping them in the original file type rather than saving as or printing to PDF, can preserve their accessibility.
    • Many of us developed a habit of saving as a PDF to protect our documents, but PDFs are now easy to edit but are much harder to make accessible.
    • It is also no longer the case that documents need to be saved as PDF to retain formatting, since original file formats are better now at keeping format intact.
    • If you feel you must have a PDF, use “export to PDF” or “save to PDF” which may retain some of the accessibility features present in the original file.
    • DO NOT save your file with “Print to PDF” since that will strip out the structural elements needed for accessibility.
  • When creating assignments and handouts, simple formatting choices—like using headings and descriptive links—make a big difference.
  • Run accessibility checkers before finalizing. There are built in checkers in Microsoft Word and Powerpoint. Canvas pages have a built-in checker. Google does not have a built-in tool but you can use an add-on called Grackle.
  • Teaching@UW has a webpage with clear guidance to walk faculty through the process.
  • There is also a video on the Making your syllabus accessible page that covers many of the same points.

Slide 4: Coming soon: “Archive” past courses

  • Inactive content labeled as “archive” is not subject to the updated ADA expectations for accessibility.
  • Canvas banners will soon automatically label previous years’ courses “Archive.”
  • If you do not use Canvas, add “archive” language to past courses in the platform you use.

Presenter Notes:

  • The ADA rule updates are clear that content created before the April 2026 deadline that is inactive and labeled as archive is considered out of scope and does not need to be made accessible.
  • To make this easy for faculty, UW-IT will soon add a banner that marks Canvas courses from the previous academic year as “Archive.”
  • If you use another platform other than Canvas or host your course on a webpage, you will need to add your own archive label to those courses.

Slide 5: Support & Resources

Upcoming workshops:

Resources:

Presenter Notes:

  • As instructors we have access to a range of support options—from workshops to just-in-time web resources on Teaching@UW, to help troubleshooting via help@uw.edu.
  • We also can support each other, consulting with knowledgeable colleagues and our local IT, as well as with those at a similar point in the learning curve as we are.
  • I encourage everyone to take advantage of these resources and reach out with questions.
  • We are all learning together as we prepare for the updated ADA rules. Let’s learn this month to provide accessible readings to our students and create more accessible assignments and handouts.