Greetings Denise
Thank you for starting this discussion in the Community. I know you're seeking first hand experience from other schools (and you're in the right place), but I also wanted to make sure to provide you some resources and insights from us!
We're passionate about accessibility and its core to Instructure’s mission, which is to make teaching and learning easier - for everyone. Accessibility is front and center in every thing we do and decision we make. It is one of the primary reasons for our open, inclusive company culture. And with our open culture, we'll be first to admit that we have not reached a point where we can declare, “mission accomplished!”. There’s always more to do (things that can be done better, partners we can influence to join us, etc).
Our design approach for our software is equally inclusive and not just accepts, but seeks out diversity of input. Including accessibility as a key component of design from the beginning is distinctly different than bolting it on after it’s built, which is how most of the software industry approaches accessibility.
From the beginning of a priority, and along the way, we reach out to diverse groups that can help us advance our mission further. Here's just a few examples:
- We reach out to Canvas schools that specialize in education for hearing or visually impaired users (e.g. see Languages of Learning video). We work with them as leaders in their industry to understand how technology can make education more inclusive.
- We have an accessibility product team that provides direction and quality assurance testing on everything we build
- We meet regularly with accessibility focused organizations like Access Technology Higher Education Network and WebAIM to discuss challenges they are seeing and review product designs and key decisions ahead of implementing them.
- We post designs of new features in our Canvas Studio for people to review and provide feedback before we build.
I hope these additional insight and resources were helpful! You're asking your questions in the right space. The community, and more specifically, the accessibility group is where you'll find other Canvas users with similar questions and interests. You can also ask your CSM (Customer Success Manager) for references for schools that specialize in this area. They can share first hand experience from staff and students.
This discussion post is outdated and has been archived. Please use the Community question forums and official documentation for the most current and accurate information.