Course Design Tips for Canvas Check Course Content

Canvas has several tools to assist you with checking course content for accuracy and accessibility. Below you will find information about three (Student View, Link Validator, and Ally Accessibility Checker) as well as links to additional resources for using each tool.

Be sure to click on each tab below to read more!

Student View

Use the Student View to preview what the course will look like from the student perspective. This is a great way to confirm that your students can access the content that you intended them to view, and that the content is organized and easy to navigate.

How to activate Student View

To enter the student view, simply click the Student View button in the upper right corner of the screen.

Image indicating where the Student View is located on the Modules page:

Screenshot of Canvas Module Page with the "Student View" button highlighted.

How to tell if you are in Student View

The magenta box around the frame will indicate that you are in Student View, and then you can browse your course as needed. To return to browsing as an instructor, simply click Reset Student and then Leave Student View in the lower right corner.

Image indicating how the Student View looks, and location of the Reset Student and Leave Student View buttons:

More information on using Student View

Validate Links in Content

The course link validator can run a quick check on all of your course links to make sure they are working and pointing to the correct content. This is especially important because links may be pointing to content that is in a shell from a previous quarter, and your current students will not be able to access that shell.

How to run the link validator

Click the Settings button in the course navigation menu on the left.
In the sidebar on the right, click the Validate Links in Content button.
Click the Start Link Validation button.
Canvas will display Broken Links and the details connected to them.
Take some time to click and update links.
Run the Link Validation again to confirm your updates.

Animated Gif of steps 1-6:

More information on validating links

Ally Accessibility Checker

What is Ally?

This tool is a great way to make sure that all students are able to engage with your course content. You may have noticed these colored gauges in Canvas.

Ally gauges

Each color is related to a level of accessibility:

- Red: Needs help! (0% - 33%)
- Orange: A little better (33% - 66%)
- Light Green: Almost there (66% - 99%)
- Green: Perfect! (100%)

How to fix a file with a low accessibility score:

1. From the Modules or Files tab, click on the gauge

Image of Canvas Module page with arrow pointing to Ally gauge.

2. Follow the prompts on the right to fix any accessibility issues.

image of Ally accessibility report

3. In many cases, you may need to fix the file in the corresponding software. For example, if it is a Word document, you will need to download the file, make the changes, and then re-upload it to Canvas. Remember to delete the old file!

How to check and fix a page with a low accessibility score:

1. Enter the Rich Content Editor (RCE) clicking the Edit button for the page.

image showing the edit button

2. The Ally checker is located in the toolbar and represented by the blue circle with a person inside.

image showing ally button icon

3. Click the button to run the accessibility checker. Similar to running a file, prompts will appear on the right to guide you through improving your page accessibility.

image showing ally report in pages

SBCTC's Library of Accessibility Resources