When creating video content for your course, accessibility should remain a central consideration. Accurate captioning and appropriate audio description not only promote equitable access to course materials, but will also be required for compliance with the University’s updated digital accessibility policy beginning in April 2026. Proactively addressing caption quality now will help guarantee that your content remains accessible and meets policy guidelines. It is essential to order or edit captions for any video you require students to watch in your course. If you are linking to videos you do not own, take the time to carefully review the existing captions for accuracy, completeness, and timing. Auto-generated captions are often a starting point, not a finished product. If the captions are inaccurate and you are unable to contact the owner to correct them, the video should not be used in your course. Providing content that is inaccessible to some students creates unnecessary barriers ...

Research data show that students are using mobile devices to access course materials. In response to those data and to support University of Minnesota students and instructors, staff members from Academic Technology Support Services developed and facilitated the first Meet your students where they are: Design your Canvas course to be mobile-friendly session. In this post, we’ll share the mobile device access data, provide key takeaways shared by webinar participants, and invite you to enroll in another opportunity to explore mobile-friendly Canvas courses. Research Data The use of mobile devices for learning is on the rise. A 2018 survey of 64,536 college students from 130 higher educational institutions found that 95% of those students had smartphones (Galanek, Gierdowski, & Brooks, 2018). Additionally, demographics also make a difference in the use of mobile devices. While 95% of students owned smartphones, the students who identified as “non-white, first-generation college stu...