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Navigating Canvas with JAWS   JAWS is a commonly used accessibility screen reader and is one of the screen readers supported for use with Canvas. This post will discuss some basics of using JAWS with Canvas.   Navigating through Canvas you can use JAWS shortcuts to locate, bypass, and select without having to move through all individual elements like any other website.   Here is a link to a guide for JAWS shortcuts:  https://dequeuniversity.com/screenreaders/jaws-keyboard-shortcuts   Page Regions   The Canvas website layout has a few landmarks/regions that make up the page layout. In a course, you will have the following regions:   Skip to Content: The first element on any Canvas page that a screen reader user will hit is the “Skip to Content” link.  This bypasses all of the navigation items on the page. Global Navigation: This is a list of links to access your account settings, courses, calendar, inbox and help menu.  Link to Global Navigation Canvas Guide Course Navigation: This is a list of links to access different course areas like Assignments, Discussions, Modules, Grades, Course Settings, etc.  Link to Course Navigation Canvas Guide Breadcrumbs List:  Shows where you are in a course Main Content: After the Course Navigation you’re at the main content of your course link.  If you’ve just entered a course, the main content section will be your course’s home page. Complementary Region (If there is any):  Complimentary content.   Navigation Between Courses   If you’re trying to get to a specific course and you’re at your main dashboard, you can do as follows to get to a specific course: Press “R” twice (this moves through regions of the page with JAWS), this will get you to the global navigation region.  Use the down arrow until you hit “Courses” and press Enter.  This puts you in the courses tray (you will reach a close button first which closes the tray, then the tray heading <H2>, and then your list of courses).  Use the up/down arrows to navigate your list of courses until you find the correct one and press enter.   Navigation Within Courses   Once you’re in the course, if you press “R”, the first region is the skip to content region (if you press enter, it will skip all of the global/course navigation and take you to the main region of the page).  If you do not use the skip to content link and press "R" again and this is your Global Navigation Region which JAWS will read how many navigation items there are, Press "R" again, you get the Breadcrumbs Navigation Region, this will show you exactly where you are in the course, Press "R" again, you get to the Course Navigation Region (List of links to areas of your course).  Once you get to the region you’re looking for, you can use the up/down arrows to navigate the buttons/links in that region.   Example:  If you want to get directly to your course modules from anywhere in a course, you can do the following: Press “R” 4 times (this should get you to the courses navigation region) Press “Down Arrow” until it reads Modules and press enter.   This will take you to the modules index page of your course If you press “H” (this moves through Headings of the page with JAWS), it will take you to the <H1> on the page (every Canvas page has an <H1> at the top of the main content region).  If you press the “Down Arrow”, it will move you through all the elements of your Course Modules List.  This is where you can add modules, add module items, edit any existing modules, etc.       ... View more

Most of the functions in Microsoft Teams have a slightly different Keyboard Navigation method than most functionality within Canvas. Microsoft Teams will primarily use the Tab key to move between a group of objects, and then from that group, use the Arrow Keys to navigate within the controls of that group. However, if the focus indication is placed over a larger set rather than on a single control in a group, you will need to press the Enter/Return key first in order to interact with that group. Example: Keyboard Navigation for a Message Pressing the Tab key will create a focus box around the entire message Pressing the Enter/Return key will place focus around the top half of the message Pressing the Down arrow will move focus to the Reply section of the message Pressing the Up arrow will move focus back up to the top half of the message Message Top Half: Pressing the Enter/Return key will display the Emoji Reactions, which can be selected with Arrows & Enter/Return key Pressing the Tab key will move you to the “ …” menu, which you can navigate with Arrows & Enter/Return key Message Bottom Half: Pressing the Enter/Return key will open the reply text field Pressing Tab will place focus in  lower settings and attachment menu bar Pressing Tab again will place focus on the Send icon Pressing Tab again will place your cursor in the text field Hopefully this document helps give a good indication of how to navigate smoothly with the controls in Microsoft Teams. Additionally, Microsoft has extensive accessibility support documentation that includes screen reader walkthroughs & keyboard shortcuts. ... View more

With things changing and students transitioning to online classes from home, we want to ensure that they have the resources to learn and access content in Canvas.  The following offers alternative technologies users can utilize if they do not have access to the same technologies available through their institution.  The following are free accessibility tools that users can download which have been thoroughly tested within Canvas by our Accessibility team. NVDA is a great screen reader for Windows platform and is free to use.  We suggest pairing NVDA with Firefox when navigating Canvas. You can download them through the following links: NVDA Download Firefox Download Below is a user guide that has many of the keyboard commands and features that you can access through NVDA. https://webaim.org/resources/shortcuts/nvda If you’re a Mac user at home but use a Windows machine in class, you can use VoiceOver paired with Safari which is already available on your Mac computer, iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.  There is no need to download or setup anything.   Below is a getting started guide with the basic commands for VoiceOver.  https://webaim.org/articles/voiceover/ We also have Android and iOS apps available that you can download through their respected app stores.  Both apps have been tested in Canvas with iOS VoiceOver and Android’s TalkBack. iOS:  https://apps.apple.com/us/app/canvas-student/id480883488 Android:  https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.instructure.candroid&hl=en_US For additional information on Accessibility within Canvas or our apps, please visit our community guides which have a lot of useful information:  Accessibility within Canvas Canvas Student App If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to our customer support department and we’re more than happy to further assist you. ... View more