[ARCHIVED] Quick Overview Of JAWS and Canvas

[mylearning]

I'm having trouble providing service to a visually impaired student who is leaving "Windows Eyes" for JAWS.  Can someone provide a quick overview of JAWS and Canvas?

[christopher_phi]

I don't know of a guide to using Canvas with JAWS - but it would be a great idea. However, there are some helpful tips in the Accessibility within Canvas guide on navigating with a screen reader. In addition, this list of keyboard shortcuts in Canvas may be helpful. 

[laurakgibbs]

I'm commenting here just so I can easily follow this discussion. I would be really glad to know about a resource like this also.

[DebeeArmstrong]

I know this post is several years old but I'm a proficient JAWS user so I started searching the community forums for JAWS and the other screen readers I used.

I was stunned at the ignorance I saw here. Canvas isn't lying, this is a super accessible LMS; it's just that people who help screen reader users don't know how to use the screen readers!

I wonder if I could put up some zoom videos on YouTube or something. The thing is I cannot show a course that is copyrighted or one for which I don't have permission. Not sure how to take my knowledge and make it widely available.

[Mary-H]

I am working on finding information to help students, and if you could write a guide from a student perspective using JAWS, that would be great. You are right, I do not use JAWS daily, so don't have your experience to help students.

I talked to our Canvas administrator on campus. She suggested you contact your school's Canvas administrator who could forward it to Canvas and the accessibility team. 

It is good to know it is accessible and I am just unskilled in using JAWS.

Thank you for your willingness to do a guide.

[scottdennis]

Hi Mary,

Webaim has a pretty good guide on what the keystrokes are for JAWS. There isn’t really anything specific to Canvas you need to worry about.  If you use standard JAWS commands, you should be able to navigate Canvas: https://webaim.org/resources/shortcuts/jaws