Panorama Accessibility Tool

Overview

Panorama is a tool designed to help you identify and remediate accessibility concerns in your Canvas courses. It scans your course content and files to provide you with an accessibility score, a breakdown of any issues, and options to fix any identified accessibility concerns.

Video Walkthrough

Getting Started

There is no initial setup involved with Panorama. It is enabled by default and scans course content automatically. Once an item has been scanned, an icon will appear next to it indicating whether the item has accessibility issues classified as minor, major, or severe. Students will not see the icons indicating any accessibility concerns. They will only see the alternative formats icon.

Icon Description
The minor issue icon The green hexagon indicates "minor issues" (accessibility scores of 91% or greater).
The major issue icon The yellow triangle indicates "major issues" (accessibility scores between 60%-90%).
The severe issue icon The red octagon indicates "severe issues" (accessibility scores below 60%).
The in-progress icon The purple incomplete circle indicates that Panorama is still processing the item.
The alternative formats icon The blue circle indicates alternative formats are available for students.

Alternative Formats

Once Panorama scans your course, students will see the Alternative Formats icon (where available) next to published items. The student can click on the icon to see a list of available alternative formats.
Note: Alternative formats are not available for Canvas Quizzes
The alternative formats menu

Available Formats

  • Source File: View the document in its original format, suitable for download viewing.
  • PDF: View the document in PDF format, suitable for both online and download viewing.
  • Text File: View the document in a pure text format without any formatting styles, suitable for both online and download viewing.
  • Immersive Reader: Allows for customizations to text preferences, grammar options, and reading preferences while following along with the audio playback.
  • Audio Podcast: Audio playback for documents, suitable for both online and download listening.
  • Gradient Reader: Enhances visual word recognition when reading by providing a guiding color gradient.
  • EPUB: View the document in the ebook format, suitable for any ebook reader application.
  • Braille: View the document in the braille grade 2 format, suitable for download viewing (a braille reader is required).
  • Enhanced HTML: HTML documents can be displayed in a dedicated tab to customize the appearance of the document using the Website Accessibility tool.

Content Accessibility Report

When Panorama has finished scanning items in your course, you can click the icon next to it to view the accessibility score.
The accessibility report button

Click on Accessibility Report to view the full breakdown of identified issues.
The accessibility report breakdown

Scoring

The accessibility report presents you with a score, the number of minor, major, and severe issues, and the total number of issues identified. The overall score is calculated using a "strict detraction" model, which means it starts with a score of 100 and points are deducted based on the number and severity of identified issues.

  • Minor Issues - 1 point each
  • Major Issues - 10 points each
  • Severe Issues - 25 points each

Addressing Issues

When Panorama identifies accessibility issues, it provides information about why it is an issue and how to fix it. There are a couple ways to address identified issues.

Using the "Fix Issue" Option

Many identified issues can be fixed directly in the Accessibility Report menu. Those items will have a Fix Issue button next to them.

  1. Click on Fix Issue.
    Image of a major issue listed with fix issue button next to it
  2. You will be given a description of the issue and a space to provide the fix.
    Panorama panel with space to fix the identified issue
  3. Enter the required update and click Add Change.
  4. If you have additional fixes to make, click Fix Issue next to the item. If you are finished, click Apply Changes at the bottom of the Panorama panel to save your fixes.

Manually Fix Issues

If a file does not have the Fix Issue button or if you prefer to manually edit the file, you can use the Update Document section to upload a new copy of the file.

If you do not have a copy of the file in question, you can download the source file directly from the Panorama panel.

  1. Click the 3 dots to the right of the number of issues at the top right.
  2. Choose Download Source File to save a copy of the file to your computer to edit.
    Panorama panel with the Download Source File option indicated in the menu
  3. Once you have fixed the document on your computer, you can use the space provided in Panorama to upload the new version.
    Panorama panel showing the space to upload a new version of the document
  4. Click Update.

Restore Prior Version

When you make changes to an item in your course using Panorama, it is saved as a new version. This allows you to revert to a prior version should the need arise.

  1. While in the Accessibility Report area, click the three dots to the right of Update Document.
    Image indicating the location of the Version History option
  2. Select Version History.
  3. All prior versions of the item will appear in a list. You can preview or restore a prior version by clicking the three dots to the right of the version in the list.
    Menu showing the Restore Version and Preview options

Support

If you have any questions about using Panorama or would like additional support, please don’t hesitate to reach out to YuJa Panorama Support, which provides 24/7 assistance by email and phone.

For general questions about our new accessibility tool, please contact the Office of Online and Digital Education at ode-helpdesk@umich.edu.

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