UDOIT Resources for Instructors

UDOIT is a tool integrated in Canvas that helps instructors enhance the usability and accessibility of their course content. The Universal Design Online content Inspection Tool (UDOIT) scans your Canvas course content, generates a list of accessibility issues and provides guidance on how to correct them.

Here's a quick 1 minute introduction video: 

For more resources see: UDOIT User Guide

• Why is SJSU using UDOIT?

  • SJSU’s institutional philosophy emphasizes our commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility and belonging for all students. UDOIT is a key component to helping San José State University enact this commitment as well as adhering Section 508 federal policy and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

    While UDOIT is designed with the needs of students with disabilities in mind, it’s actually a tool that has the potential to positively affect the experience of all the students in our courses. For example, captioned video content may be useful not only for a student who is Deaf or Hard of Hearing, but also students who do not have quiet, distraction-free environments in which to learn.

    Through the easy-to-use interface UDOIT enables faculty to design courses that are inclusive of all students' needs.

• When I make updates in UDOIT will they copy over when I copy my Canvas course? 

  • Yes, all of your updates will copy over.

• What are the top 5 accessibility issues that are found in Canvas courses? 

  • The top five accessibility issues are images missing descriptions (ALT text), scanned PDFs, untagged PDFs, missing headings and contrast issues. UDOIT will scan your course for these and many other accessibility issues.

• What is the difference between the UFIXIT tab and the Review Files tab? 

  • The UFIXIT tab focuses on color, alt text, headings and hyperlinks while the Review Files tab focuses on PDFs, Word and Excel files.

• Can students see my UDOIT score? 

  • No, students cannot see your score or any score indicators on any of your content. 

• Can UDOIT scan all documents and text boxes in a Canvas course?

  • No, UDOIT doesn’t scan Google docs, question banks, questions in Canvas quizzes, or discussion posts.

    Please be careful when deleting files because question bank files will appear as "unused" files.

    For Google docs, please use GrackleDocs as an alternative. It’s a very useful add on to Google docs, slides and sheets!

• Can UDOIT scan video content?

  • Yes, it will scan YouTube, Vimeo and Kaltura videos for edited captions. As of 2025, UDOIT is working on adding this feature for Panopto. 

    For all Panopto videos, please be sure to edit your captions. Panopto's auto-generated captions are great, but not 100% accurate to adhere to accessibility standarts.

• What are some best practices for creating accessible course content?

  • When creating course content from scratch, see guidelines for creating accessible content. You’ll find guidance on creating accessible text documents, slide-based presentations, HTML and WYSIWYG content (including Canvas Pages), video content and PDFs.

• How do I fix my PDFs?

  • The main issues with PDFs is when they're scanned or untagged. See PDF Accessibility for guidance on how to fix these types of accessibility issues.

• I would like to make changes that will quickly improve my course accessibility. What should I do first? 

  • Focus on your “easiest to fix” content first.

    1. Go to the get started button in UDOIT. 
    2. Select easiest issues to fix.
       
       Many of these easiest issues to fix require you to add some quick ALT text or fix the headings in your documents. 
• What is TidyUP and how can it help me save time?

  • TidyUp is a clean up tool that locates unused files and duplicate copies. Save time by first deleting unused files, and then scannig your course using UDOIT.

    Important: TidyUp and UDOIT do not scan question banks, so those files will always show as "unused".

Want to learn more? 

See the UDOIT User Guide for more training resources!