Accessibility Tools for Everyone

Panorama is a tool that helps make online course content more accessible and is built directly into Canvas. When you click a Panorama icon next to a file or Page, you can download different formats of the instructor's content directly from your course. Panorama also has a 'web accessibility tool' that is designed to make reading on the web easier.

Accessing Alternative Formats

Select the Download Alternative Formats icon wherever you see it to download the content in a different format:

Choose the version of the content that best fits your needs. 

You can visit the Panorama website for more information on Accessing Alternative File Formats in Panorama and their Guide for Getting Started with Panorama for Students.

Web Accessibility Tool

Panorama also includes a web accessibility widget that can make reading content in Canvas easier. Access this by clicking the icon on the bottom right of your screen to see all the available options and to customize your own preferred settings.

Video Demo: Using the Web Accessibility Widget

ReadSpeaker is a text-to-speech program that helps turn text into spoken words for websites, online documents, and forms. It’s built into Canvas, so you can have text from menus, headings, user input, and compatible documents read aloud. You can listen to the entire webpage or document at once, or specific sections that you choose.

To use ReadSpeaker anywhere within Canvas, look for the play button tab on the left-hand menu.

Click on it, and the function tool bar will appear near the top of the webpage.

You can move the tool bar by clicking and dragging it around the webpage. You can configure reading speed, text color, highlighting by sentence and words, zoom or use a reading ruler. 

Guides:

• • ReadSpeaker in Canvas video (2 minutes, gives a tour of this tool)
  • How to Access ReadSpeaker in Canvas video (less than 1 minute)
  • Using ReadSpeaker to Take Quizzes in Canvas video (less than 1 minute)
  • ReadSpeaker Settings in Canvas video (5 minutes, how to change highlighting colors of text and background, adjust reading pace, increase and change font, etc.)
  • Download document in MP3 Audio Format Using ReadSpeaker video (less than 1 minute)
  • Readspeaker TextAid instructional video (5 minutes - for students and faculty)

Canvas Immersive Reader  is a learning tool designed to help people of all ages and abilities read easier online. Some important features include "read text out loud," "break it into syllables," and "increase spacing between lines and letters." It provides support for students with learning differences like dyslexia, and enhances the experience of reading on the web for everyone.

You can find this tool in the top right corner of Canvas Pages and Assignments, but it’s not available in Quizzes, Discussions, Grades, or other areas outside of the course.

Key features of this tool:

• Change font size, text spacing, and background color
• Choose between two fonts optimized to help with reading
• Read text aloud
• Change the speed of reading
• Highlight sets of one, three, or five lines for greater focus

Guides:

• How to Use the Immersive Reader in Canvas video (4 minutes)
• Immersive Reader in Canvas: Improve Reading Comprehension for All Students informational webpage
• How do I use the Microsoft Immersive Reader in a course?