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Sustainable Accessibility in Canvas, Part 3: Prioritizing and Improving Your Materials

In previous installments of this series, you learned how to start inventorying your learning materials in UVACanvas (Part 1) to focus your work on improving accessibility. Then you learned how to start assessing the accessibility of those materials (Part 2). You explored automated tools like the UDOIT Accessibility Report and Microsoft’s Accessibility Assistant to help identify areas of improvement. Now, in Part 3, it’s time to dive in and start making those improvements.

A simple flowchart with three boxes. Number 1, Take Stock: Inventory your Canvas materials to manage the scope of your work. Number 2, Assess Your Courses: Use accessibility tools and checkers to identify opportunities. Number 3, Prioritize and Improve Your Materials: Take a structured approach, and track your progress.

Strategic prioritization

As you prepare to start making improvements, your first look through your inventory or list of pending items can be daunting or downright intimidating. It’s important to remember that improving accessibility is not a sprint or a project — it’s a new way of working that you adopt and continue to develop over time. To make that work as effective and sustainable as possible, it’s important to approach that “to-do” list strategically.

As you review the materials in your inventory from Part 1, and the specific opportunities for improvement identified by the assessments from Part 2, consider two key questions:

  • “How much impact will this improvement have for my students?” Consider factors such as class size, how often or how much students will use the materials, and whether the materials are required or optional in support of your learning objectives and assessments.
  • “How much effort will this improvement require of me?” Consider whether this improvement uses skills you already possess or will need to develop, how complex, repetitive, or time-consuming that work will be, and whether any parts of that work can be reliably automated.
A graph with 'Effort' on the X axis and 'Impact' on the Y axis, divided into four quadrants. Quadrant 1 (high impact, low effort) is labeled 'Quick wins.' Quadrant 2 (high impact, high effort) is labeled 'Planned approach.' Quadrant 3 (low impact, low effort) is labeled 'When possible.' Quadrant 4 (low impact, high effort) is labeled 'Workarounds.'

When considering those questions, mentally situate each document or task on a graph like the one above. What quadrant does that task or material fall into?

  • Quadrant 1: Quick Wins is for changes that will have high impact and require low effort. These are your quick wins and should be the items you move to the top of your to-do list. Complete these items first to build momentum and achieve real improvements for your students promptly.
  • Quadrant 2: Planned Approach is for changes that will have high impact and require greater effort. These items will require a planned approach, so you’ll want to block out dedicated work time on your calendar to make progress on them. You’ll also want to consider when your students will need these materials, and sequence your work so the first things they need are the first ones you work to improve.
  • Quadrant 3: When Possible is for changes that will have lower impact but also require low effort. These are your “grab bag” items. Keep them in a list so you can grab and do them as you have time in between other activities, and without imposing on the time you’ve set aside for Quadrant 2 planned activities.
  • Quadrant 4: Work-arounds is for changes that will have low impact and require high effort to achieve. For items in this quadrant, it’s worthwhile to take a little extra time to brainstorm creative work-arounds or new approaches that could support your learning objectives, and be more accessible, sustainable, and/or impactful. As with Quadrant 2, you’ll need to block out time on your calendar to address these items, but because Quadrant 4 has lower impact than Quadrant 2, you’ll want to prioritize accordingly.

Short-term alternatives

The reality is that you can’t do it all at once. Even when you’ve prioritized the most important materials first, it’ll still take you time to work through your punch list. So when it comes to the work that’s not at the top of your priority list, it’s also important to pre-plan how you can minimize the identified barriers your students may encounter in the meantime.

If you wait to think about alternatives until a student approaches you to report a barrier, you’re placing extra stress and burden both on yourself and on your students. You’ll be more agile and able to address students’ needs in a timely way if you:

  • put some thought into what you’ve learned from your assessments,
  • anticipate the kinds of barriers students could face while using your materials, and
  • think about temporary alternatives you could implement while you’re working on more permanent improvements.

For example, here’s the kind of advance planning that you and your students will find helpful:

  • If you’re aware that some of your course readings or content could present a barrier, can you identify alternative sources – possibly in other formats – that students could use to understand the material? For example, are there accessible videos, audio recordings or podcast episodes that could substitute for readings, or vice-versa?
  • If you’re aware that one of your class assignments or activities could present a barrier, can you think of alternative ways that students could demonstrate their mastery of the learning objective(s)?
  • If some of your class activities require students to be present in person to participate or earn credit, can you think of other ways that students could gain the same value and/or credit if an illness or disability prevents them from attending class that day?

If you document these ideas for yourself — possibly as part of or linked to the inventory you created earlier — you’ll be better able to respond when you become aware that a student is facing a barrier with materials or assessments in one of your courses.

Take action and track your progress

You’ve prioritized your work, you’ve blocked out time — now, you can roll up your sleeves and jump into it. But before you do, make some notes about where you’re starting:

  • How many documents or items in your inventory need to be addressed?
  • What scores do you currently see in assessment tools like UDOIT?
  • How many “issues” or tasks are on your to-do list(s)?

It’s useful to capture this information up front, and then periodically check in and capture the same metrics later, so you can see (and show) the progress that you are making as you do the work. Also, as you improve and resolve issues with materials in your inventory, “check them off” in a column on your inventory spreadsheet.

Conclusion

Developing more accessible and inclusive learning environments isn’t a project or side quest — it’s an integral part of our growth as educators. It requires intention, strategy, planning, and execution. The more you do it, the more it becomes second nature and fully integrates with the way you plan and develop your courses. You’ll find that as you integrate accessibility earlier in your planning and design processes, it will become easier than addressing it only after testing or only after problems have been reported. Designing and building learning environments that are accessible from the outset requires much less effort than retrofitting or overhauling them later.

For now, it’s important to take a planned, strategic approach to the work in front of you, so it can be both effective and sustainable over the long term:

Taking the time to follow these steps is a continuous act of caring for your students, ensuring they can reach their maximum potential and, most of all, showing them that they belong. You may never know the impact these individual actions can have, but their cumulative effect can be life changing.

If you have questions or would like to discuss further, please feel free to leave a comment below or contact cte-accessibility@virginia.edu.

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Accessibility, Digital Pedagogy

Expanding Student Choice in Course Content Formats: A Spotlight on SensusAccess

sensusaccess logo

The Learning Tech blog continues its Tool Spotlights series by highlighting instructional technologies that support digital accessibility in teaching and learning. This post focuses on SensusAccess, a tool that helps students and instructors create alternative, more accessible versions of digital documents. SensusAccess converts  individual files into formats that support a wider range of learning needs and assistive technologies. Explore how SensusAccess can create  more flexible, inclusive, and accessible learning environments that support student choice.

What pedagogical challenge does this tool address?

Students interact with course materials in many different ways depending on their learning preferences, devices, environments, and accessibility needs. A scanned PDF may be unusable for a student wanting to search for key terms, while using a screen reader or mobile device. Similarly, long-form readings can create barriers for students who benefit from audio access, text reflow, or alternative formats.

SensusAccess helps address these challenges by allowing students or instructors to automatically convert documents into a variety of more accessible formats, including:

These options not only support students who use assistive technologies, but also   benefit all learners who prefer flexible ways to engage with course content. For example, a student might listen to a reading while commuting, enlarge text on a mobile device, or navigate a structured document more efficiently with a screen reader.

Rather than identifying accessibility problems within an entire Canvas course, SensusAccess works at the document level by helping remediate or transform individual files into formats that are easier to use and navigate. This makes it especially useful for improving uploaded readings, scanned articles, handouts, and legacy course materials.

What are the tool’s key considerations or limitations?

While SensusAccess can significantly improve access to digital materials, the quality of the converted output depends heavily on the quality and structure of the original file. Poorly scanned PDFs, handwritten notes, or documents without proper heading structure may still require manual editing after conversion.

It is also important to remember that accessibility is not simply about file conversion. Effective accessible course design includes:

  • Using meaningful heading structures
  • Writing descriptive link text
  • Providing alternative text for images
  • Captioning multimedia content
  • Designing materials with readability and navigation in mind

Automated tools like SensusAccess can help reduce barriers, but they work best when accessibility is considered from the beginning of the content creation process.

How does the tool integrate with UVACanvas and existing workflows?

SensusAccess appears in UVACanvas as a Course Navigation link, allowing students and instructors to stay within their Canvas course when converting documents. There is no need to create an external account or install outside applications.

Want to get started using SensusAccess?

Check out the UVA Library’s SensusAccess Document Converter resource to get started or the article How do I convert documents using SensusAccess? created by the UVACanvas team.

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Accessibility, Digital Pedagogy, Tool Features

Sustainable Accessibility in Canvas, Part 2: Assessing Your Courses

The first part of this series focused on starting an inventory of your learning materials in UVACanvas to help you manage the scope of your accessibility work. That process included deleting what you don’t need and archiving items for historical or reference purposes.

A simple flowchart with three boxes. Number 1, Take Stock: Inventory your Canvas materials to manage the scope of your work. Number 2, Assess Your Courses: Use accessibility tools and checkers to identify opportunities. Number 3, Prioritize and Improve Your Materials: Take a structured approach, and track your progress.

Now what’s left is what you’re keeping. The next step is to assess the accessibility of those remaining materials, to learn which ones are in good shape and which ones need some improvement. In this article, we’ll explore tools and practical techniques you can use to assess your courses.

Automated accessibility assessment

There are lots of ways to test or review the digital accessibility of your course materials. The most comprehensive approaches involve automated testing, manual methods like screenreader or keyboard-based testing, and usability testing performed by people with disabilities.

But when you’re working on your own Canvas course materials, you likely won’t have the time or resources to test everything at these three levels. Here we’ll focus on how you can check your own materials with automated assessment tools.

While these tools are a great way to improve accessibility very quickly, it’s important to also understand their limitations. An automated tool can detect if alternative text is present for an image, for example, but only a human can tell if that alternative text helpfully describes that image in context. Some kinds of accessibility issues can’t be detected by automated tools at all.

While automated tools can be very helpful, they’re no substitute for applying good practices like those described in the Seven Pillars of Digital Accessibility when you’re creating new materials.

UDOIT Accessibility Report

The best starting point for assessing your Canvas courses is a tool called UDOIT (Universal Design Online content Inspection Tool), which we discussed in our previous article. In your course navigation menu on the left, select “UDOIT Accessibility Report” and the tool will scan your course, identifying opportunities to improve its accessibility and coaching you on what to do next. UDOIT scans two types of materials:

  • Canvas content: these are items you’ve created in Canvas, such as pages, modules, announcements, assignments, discussions, etc.
  • Files: these are items you’ve uploaded to Canvas, such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or PDF documents.

The tool builds a list of “issues” for you to work on and summarizes them in a “Course Accessibility Score,” expressed as a percentage. The following screenshots are intended to help you feel more comfortable with navigating the UDOIT interface and understanding its assessment of your materials. The next article in this series will dig further into how to prioritize and work with those findings to improve your materials.

Screenshot of the U-DO-IT main dashboard, showing the main tabs (Home, U-FIX-IT, Review Course Files), as well as a Course Accessibility Score of 79%, and the scorecard categories "High Impact," "Medium Impact," and "Low Impact."

The findings of the UDOIT scan will be presented on a “dashboard” like the one above, that prominently features the Course Accessibility Score (in this example 79%), but also breaks that down into a “Scorecard” with three accordions: High Impact, Medium Impact, and Low Impact issues.

Screenshot of the U-DO-IT dashboard with the "High Impact" accordion expanded, and showing Issue Types including Page Headings, Links, Images, Color, MS Word, PDF, Video Captions, and Excel.

When you open one of the high, medium, or low impact accordions, you’ll see a list of Issue Types that correspond to that impact level. Click on one of the Issue Types (in this example, we’ll select ‘Color’) to see the individual instances of that issue type found in your course. Depending on the issue type, this will take you to a filtered issue list in the UFIXIT tab (for issues with Canvas content) or the Review Course Files tab (for issues with uploaded files). As you can see in the screen shot below, you can toggle between these tabs at the top of the UDOIT Accessibility Report.

Within each list of issues of a given type, you’ll notice these errors are classified as “Errors” or “Suggestions”:

“Errors” (identified with a red exclamation point icon in a circle, as seen in the following screenshot of “Colors” issues) are barriers that will definitely need work to meet accessibility standards.

Screenshot of a U-FIX-IT issue list filtered to Active Issues of issue type "Color," showing three instances of insufficient color contrast with the background. There is a red exclamation mark icon to the left and a Review button to the right of each listed issue.

“Suggestions” (identified with a blue “i” for information in a circle, as seen in the following screenshot of “Links” issues) are items that may need work, but will require human review to be certain.

Screenshot of a U-FIX-IT issue list filtered to Active Issues of issue type "Links," showing three instances of nondescript link text. There is a blue information mark icon to the left and a Review button to the right of each listed issue.

Click on the “Review” button at the end of the row to see details about a specific issue instance.

Screenshot of a U-FIX-IT dialog box for a specific issue of insufficient text color with the background. The dialog box shows a preview of the item with the problem area highlighted in yellow, and another area that shows the background color, text color, and a contrast ratio of 4.29 between them.

When you click ‘Review’, a dialog box will open with information and coaching on how to improve the issue. Review the coaching instructions and look for the yellow highlighting in the Preview box for an indicator of where the problem is located. In our example, the text “Complete in advance of the first session” is text in the page that is highlighted. For many types of issues with Canvas content, you’ll be able to address the issue from right within the UFIXIT dialog box. In other cases, you might need go out to the individual page to make improvements.

As you address issues, you can click the “Next Issue” button in the bottom right of the pop up box to move to the next issue of that type, or you can close that dialog box and click back to the “Home” tab to return to your dashboard and continue the process with other issue types. Being comfortable with navigating through the UDOIT interface will help prepare you for prioritizing and improving your course accessibility, which are processes I’ll explain more in the next article in this series.

Again, it’s important to emphasize that because UDOIT is an automated assessment tool, it only scans for certain types of issues (and you can review that list: What Does UDOIT Look For?) As a result, a 100% Course Accessibility Score in UDOIT doesn’t guarantee your course is 100% accessible.

You may find, after review, that some of the issues categorized as “suggestions” are actually not accessibility barriers at all. For example, UDOIT may flag a link as having non-descriptive text when in fact, UDOIT just doesn’t understand the link text correctly. In those cases, you can manually resolve them using the “Mark as Resolved” checkbox. But even if the UDOIT score is not a perfect measure of your course’s accessibility, every point you advance toward a 100% score is a step toward a better, more usable, and more accessible course for all students.

Beyond UDOIT: Assessing Files

Just as with content created in Canvas, UDOIT only scans for certain issues in uploaded files. This ULEARN Accessibility Guide explains more about the issues UDOIT looks for in uploaded files.

You can fill some of the gaps in UDOIT’s findings by also scanning those documents with other automated tools. Microsoft’s Accessibility Assistant (also known as the Accessibility Checker) is available in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, as well as OneNote, Outlook, Visio and Sway.

The ribbon in Microsoft Word, with the Review menu and Check Accessibility icon highlighted and expanded.

The “Check Accessibility” option can be found in approximately the same place in all those applications: If you select the “Review” menu in the Ribbon, you will see a Check Accessibility button and dropdown that you can expand for additional options.

Like UDOIT, Microsoft’s Accessibility Checker and Assistant will identify opportunities to improve your document and guide you on how to make those improvements. Still, the same caveat applies: as automated tools, they won’t catch everything, but they are a good start, can help a lot, and may find opportunities that UDOIT misses.

When it comes to assessing PDF files, UDOIT also provides fairly limited feedback. If you have access to Acrobat Pro, its Accessibility Checker can help provide a more complete and helpful assessment of your PDF documents.

Of course, the difference between UDOIT and tools such as Microsoft Accessibility Checker is that UDOIT scans your entire course, while these other tools assess documents one at a time. That means you may need to prioritize your assessment work by determining the most important, essential or impactful documents first. To help you with that prioritization, refer back to the inventory you created as part of the previous article in this series.

What’s next

Hopefully this assessment process will reveal that you’ve got lots of materials that are already “good to go” and don’t require additional improvement work, or are “low-hanging fruit” that you can improve quickly and easily. Once you set these items aside, you can focus on the ones that need improvement. Like the rest of the process described in these articles, you should approach improvement strategically, considering both the effort that will be required to improve a given item as well as the impact that improvement could have for your students.

The next article in this series will guide you through prioritization and improvement of your materials, so your efforts can have the most benefit for the most students on an optimized timeline.

Questions? Please feel free to leave a comment below or contact cte-accessibility@virginia.edu.

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Accessibility, Digital Pedagogy

Making Digital Content Accessible: A Spotlight on UDOIT

The Learning Tech blog continues its Tool Spotlights series, highlighting instructional technologies that support teaching and learning. This post focuses on a tool called UDOIT (Universal Design Online content Inspection Tool), which supports accessible course design by scanning Canvas content to identify and help remediate common accessibility barriers.

 In the sections below, we explore how UDOIT can support the essential instructional goal of creating accessible, student-centered course environments.

What pedagogical challenge does this tool address?

Accessible course design enables more students to access more of your course in more ways, with greater success. Whether it’s a commuter student who listens to readings to make the most of their time, a neurodivergent student who depends on structure for comprehension, or a student trying to read the screen from the back of the room, accessible design and content ensure everybody gets the most from your course. 

UDOIT supports accessible course design by creating an accessibility report which automatically scans courses content within Canvas and identifies common barriers to learning materials. UDOIT provides instructors with clear explanations of problems and step-by-step guidance for fixing them via the UFIXIT feature. UDOIT can not only review your Canvas course as a whole, but also scan individual course documents to identify accessibility issues or assist in creating an accessible Canvas page based on a document’s content. In addition, UDOIT includes a student access component that allows students to request and download alternate formats of files that have been scanned.

What are the tool’s key considerations or limitations?

While UDOIT is a powerful tool for identifying accessibility issues, it is not a fix-all on its own. It works best when paired with an intentional process for improving digital accessibility of your course (See “Sustainable Accessibility in Canvas, Part 1: Taking Stock”) and grounded in instructional design practices and a basic understanding of accessibility principles.

Here are some best practices for using UDOIT in your course, which we will discuss more in depth as part of the Sustainable Accessibility in Canvas blogpost series:

  • Focus on high-impact areas first: Start with your homepage and syllabus, as these are the most frequently visited areas of your course.
  • Prioritize “easy fixes”: Use the tool to quickly batch-fix common issues like missing headers or broken links before tackling more complex items such as document improvement.
  • Check your source files: While UDOIT identifies issues in PDFs and Word documents, you may need to go back to the original source file to make permanent structural changes.
  • Don’t aim for perfection overnight: Use the tool as a guide for continuous improvement rather than feeling pressured to clear every flag in a single sitting.
  • Use UDOIT remediation features: Whenever possible, use the quick fix option to remediate issues directly within the Canvas interface without needing to open the Page editor. UDOIT has SpeedFIXIT Beta which uses AI support to suggest alt text for images and color combinations with improved contrast.

How does the tool integrate with UVACanvas and existing workflows?

“UDOIT Accessibility Report” appears in UVACanvas as a Course Navigation link, allowing instructors to run scans and fix errors without leaving the course site. There is no need to create an external account or install outside applications.

Want to get started using UDOIT?

Check out this UDOIT User Guide to get started or browse the article collection created by the UVACanvas team.

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Accessibility, Digital Pedagogy

Sustainable Accessibility in Canvas, Part 1: Taking Stock

Conversations about digital accessibility in higher education are gaining momentum, supported by clearer standards that take effect for public institutions in April 2026 under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

While some instructors may feel unsure about what this means for their courses, equal access in digital spaces has long been part of our shared responsibility; what’s new is more specific guidance to help us put that commitment into practice. Rather than viewing accessibility as a last-minute requirement, we can approach it as an ongoing, meaningful part of inclusive teaching.

If you’re an instructor wondering where to begin or how to proceed for the courses you teach, this blog series offers a step-by-step approach to making your learning materials and assignments in UVACanvas more accessible in an integrated, sustainable way.

Overview

A simple flowchart with three boxes. Number 1, Take Stock: Inventory your Canvas materials to manage the scope of your work. Number 2, Assess Your Courses: Use accessibility tools and checkers to identify opportunities. Number 3, Prioritize and Improve Your Materials: Take a structured approach, and track your progress.

This series will break the process down into three sections:

  • Part 1 [this article] will walk you through how to take stock of your Canvas materials and help you manage the scope of your work by archiving or deleting materials.
  • Part 2 will walk you through how to assess the current state of your Canvas course materials in terms of their accessibility.
  • Part 3 will walk you through how to prioritize and then begin improving the accessibility of your Canvas course materials.

Start with an inventory

Everyone has a role to play in ensuring UVA is an accessible, inclusive environment for all students, faculty, staff, and visitors. As an instructor, it’s essential that your digital course content (e.g., readings, videos, websites) and learning materials (e.g., assignments, assessments) are accessible for all students.

For courses you’re teaching now, have taught recently, or are planning to teach in the near future, your first step is to identify where these materials reside, and create an inventory of what they are. You’ll then use this inventory to assess whether these materials need improvement to be more accessible, and to help you plan and prioritize your approach.

Not sure where to start? We’ll share some strategies below for inventorying your materials in Canvas. We’ll also share a template you can use to support your work as you proceed through the three blog posts in this series.

A box labeled "Take Stock: when inventorying your course materials, decide whether to:" has lines leading to three other boxes: "Delete," "Archive," and "Keep."

Start high level then iterate

Most of the planning processes we’ll discuss in this blog series can be done iteratively — starting at a high level, then moving to more detailed levels as you go.

Inventorying is no different. Before you start trying to inventory individual files and documents, you may want to first list the “buckets” of things you need to work on at a high level. For example, you could start by listing all the courses you maintain in Canvas. Then you could break down the different types of learning materials in those courses, and once you’re ready to assess and work on them, you can create inventories of individual files or documents so you can track your progress.

How to inventory in Canvas

If your course materials are in Canvas, the following course menu items would include items to include in your inventory:

  • Pages
  • Files
  • Assignments
  • Modules
  • Quizzes
  • Syllabus
  • Assignments
  • Discussions

If you find it cumbersome to manage an inventory that’s spread out across so many different places, consider collecting your inventory in a single spreadsheet so you can manage it all in one place. We invite you to download this sample Excel workbook to get started; you’ll be able to use it throughout this series of blog posts.

This sample inventory workbook has one worksheet (tab) for each of the blog posts in this series. Start with the worksheet (tab) labeled “Part 1.” For now, just fill in Column A with the name of the item, and Column B with where that item is found in your course (e.g. pages, assignments, resources).

Managing your scope

Once you’ve built an initial inventory of course content and learning materials, it’s a perfect time for some cleanup. The time you invest in document hygiene early in the process can really pay off in reducing your workload in future stages of this process, so it’s a good step to take before moving ahead with assessment and improvement, which we will cover in blog posts 2 and 3.

Deleting items

Review your inventory to identify any materials that are outdated, no longer used, or are duplicated. Delete those extraneous items from your Canvas course site. As you do so, mark them for deletion in Column C in your inventory workbook, or simply remove them from your inventory. As you do this, you will reduce the inventory of items to work on, and streamline your upcoming steps.

If you’re not sure if something is still relevant or used, review your learning objectives. How directly does this item support the learning objectives of the course as you’re currently delivering it? Would those learning objectives be supported as strongly without this item?

If you have reviewed your learning objectives and still hesitate to delete a certain item, just remove it from your Canvas course and store it somewhere accessible to you only, in case you need to bring it back at some future point. For now, you can still remove it from your inventory of items to work on.

Archiving items

Next, review your inventory for documents or materials that you can archive. If an item meets all three of the following criteria, it doesn’t need to meet the Title II accessibility standards until or unless a student specifically requests it:

  1. The item is available only for historical or reference purposes, and
  2. The item is kept in a clearly marked archive section, and
  3. The item is no longer updated.

Any items that meet all three of these criteria can be moved to an archived Canvas course, or you can clearly mark them as archived material where they are – and avoid any further updates. Examples of potentially archivable materials might include:

  • Supplemental readings that are optional, not for credit, and not required to understand the material
  • Completed assignments from past students of your course, provided only as optional examples

Mark these archived items accordingly on your inventory (Column D of our sample inventory worksheet) so they can go to the bottom of your priority list for subsequent stages of the process.

Next steps

Once you’ve finished deleting and archiving, what’s left is what you’re keeping.

The same flowchart as the previous image, but now the "Keep" box has a line leading to a new box: "2. Assess Your Courses: Use tools to check the accessibility of materials."

In the next article in this series, we’ll discuss tools you can use to assess the accessibility of those remaining materials so you can find out which ones are in good shape, and which ones could use some improvement. The final post will provide guidance on how to prioritize and work on those improvements in a way that is sustainable, manageable, and effective.

Questions about any of this? Please feel free to leave a comment below or contact cte-accessibility@virginia.edu.

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Accessibility, Digital Pedagogy

Collaborative Learning and Peer Feedback: A Spotlight on Peerceptiv

The Learning Tech blog continues its Tool Spotlights series, highlighting instructional technologies that support teaching and learning. Today’s post focuses on a tool called Peerceptiv, which supports peer feedback, revision, and collaborative learning through intentional group formation, team member evaluation, structured peer review using instructor-designed rubrics, and live presentations. Together, these features help instructors design stronger collaborative experiences by forming balanced teams, promoting accountability within group projects, encouraging students to engage more deeply with course criteria while reviewing their peers’ work, and facilitating interactive presentation activities.

In the sections below, we explore how Peerceptiv can support two common instructional goals: managing group work and facilitating meaningful peer feedback.

Part 1: Supporting Student Collaboration through Group Formation and Team Member Evaluation

What Pedagogical Challenge Does This Tool Address?

Group work is a valuable instructional strategy that promotes collaboration, communication, and problem-solving skills. However, instructors often encounter two persistent challenges: forming balanced groups and ensuring all students participate meaningfully within their teams. Manually assigning groups can be time-consuming, particularly in large courses, and it can be difficult to account for factors such as schedules, preferences, or skill levels.

Peerceptiv helps address these challenges through automated group formation and structured team member evaluation tools. Instructors can create surveys to gather information about students’ availability, preferences, and collaboration styles. Peerceptiv then uses this information to automatically assign students to balanced groups. Within each group, the platform also enables students to evaluate their teammates using customizable rubrics, helping instructors assess individual contributions and promote accountability within group projects. If you’ve used CATME in the past, Peerceptiv is a great alternative that also integrates into Canvas.

Key Considerations or Limitations

Peerceptiv can significantly improve group management and accountability, especially in large-enrollment courses. However, instructors should establish clear structures for group work and team evaluation to ensure the process runs smoothly.Best practices for collaborative learning include:

  • Clarifying group expectations and roles before the collaborative work begins
  • Encouraging ongoing team communication throughout the collaborative learning experience 
  • Preparing students for peer evaluation by providing clear criteria and modeling constructive feedback during in-class collaborative work time
  • Monitoring and checking in with collaborative groups for potential inter-group tensions and bias

 If you want to learn more about collaborative learning, check out this Teaching Hub collection on Essentials for Collaborative Learning Groups.

Part 2: Facilitating Peer Feedback through Peer Review and Live Presentations

What Pedagogical Challenge Does This Tool Help Address?

Providing meaningful feedback on student work is essential for learning, but it can be challenging to provide detailed feedback on every assignment—particularly in writing-intensive or large-enrollment courses. When feedback is limited or delayed, students may miss opportunities to revise their work or reflect on how to improve.

Peerceptiv helps address these challenges by incorporating structured peer review and interactive presentation activities into the learning process. When engaged with structured peer review, students evaluate each other’s work using instructor-created rubrics and provide written feedback aligned with the assignment criteria. This process allows students to receive multiple perspectives on their work that can deepen their learning experience while strengthening their ability to analyze and critique academic work.

Peerceptiv also supports live presentations, enabling students to present their work and receive structured feedback from their peers in real time. By engaging in both giving and receiving feedback—and by presenting their ideas to others—students develop a deeper understanding of course expectations and benefit from iterative learning through reflection and revision.

Key Considerations or Limitations

To ensure that peer feedback activities are effective, instructors should provide clear guidance and structure for the process. Students may need support in learning how to give constructive, respectful, and actionable feedback.

Best practices for implementing peer review include:

  • Clearly communicating the purpose of peer review (learning, feedback, and revision—not just grading)
  • Ensuring students understand expectations for respectful and constructive critique
  • Providing detailed rubrics for providing feedback that are aligned with learning objectives
  • Beginning with a practice activity, such as reviewing a sample submission and modeling approaches for giving actionable feedback

Peer review may be less effective for assignments with highly subjective criteria or sensitive personal content, where students may feel uncomfortable providing feedback. Additionally, Peerceptiv is particularly useful in large-enrollment courses where instructor feedback is more time-intensive, although it can also be used effectively in smaller classes.If you want to learn more about peer feedback, check out the Teaching Hub collections on The Theory & Practice of Feedback and Improving Student Feedback Literacy

How Does Peerceptiv Integrate with Canvas?

Peerceptiv integrates directly with Canvas, allowing instructors to incorporate group formation surveys, peer review activities, and team member evaluations within their existing course structure. Students can access Peerceptiv assignments through Canvas without needing to create separate accounts.

Grades from Peerceptiv assignments can also sync with the Canvas Gradebook, enabling instructors to incorporate peer evaluation results into their existing grading workflow.

Want to Get Started Using Peerceptiv?

Interested in getting started with Peerceptiv? Check out the Peerceptiv Quickstart Guide for step-by-step instructions, example assignments, and additional resources to help you integrate Peerceptiv into your course.

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Digital Pedagogy, Tool Features

Teaching with Social Annotation: A Spotlight on Hypothesis

This spring, the Learning Tech blog will feature a series of “Tool Spotlights” highlighting a variety of instructional tools. Each post will follow a consistent format built around three guiding questions and will conclude with a link to a quickstart guide to help readers get started. Throughout the series, we will explore the broader teaching and learning context — for example, examining how social annotation can support student engagement and interaction — and introduce the featured technology as one way to support that approach.

What problem does this tool help solve?

Social annotation helps address common challenges with student engagement and reading comprehension by making reading an active, visible, and interactive process rather than a solitary task. Hypothesis supports social annotation by allowing students and instructors to collaboratively highlight, comment on, and discuss readings directly in the text.

What are the key considerations or limitations?

Key considerations include ensuring readings are accessible and compatible with Hypothesis (e.g., well-structured PDFs or web-based texts). Instructors may also need to provide students guidance on effective annotation practices to avoid superficial engagement. Here are some best practices for using social annotation in the classroom:

  • Begin with a low stakes or practice assignment like annotating your syllabus
  • Model what “good” annotation looks like for your students
  • Model what a “good” response looks like for your students
  • Create clear expectations around social annotations and how students engage with each other, specifically when students disagree
  • Use focused annotation prompts, for example:
    • Identify a key claim in this section and explain how the author supports it.
    • Highlight a piece of evidence and evaluate its strength. Is it convincing? Why or why not?
    • Identify a counterargument that the author addresses (or fails to address).
    • Build on someone else’s example with an additional example from the text.
  • Assess annotation activities for quality not quantity

Additionally, while Hypothesis is well suited for discussion-based and close-reading activities, it may be less effective for courses that do not rely heavily on textual analysis or shared readings.

How does it integrate with Canvas and existing workflows?

Hypothesis integrates directly with Canvas using the Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI), allowing instructors to create annotation assignments within a Canvas course. Students access readings and annotations seamlessly through Canvas, with no separate accounts required, and grades can be passed back to the Canvas Gradebook, aligning well with existing instructional workflows.

This integration is important because it keeps learning activities embedded within the core course environment, reducing cognitive load for students and minimizing barriers to participation. By situating social annotation alongside other course materials, instructors can more intentionally align readings, discussion, feedback, and assessment.

Want to get started using Hypothesis?

Check out this Quickstart guide to get started!

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Digital Pedagogy, Tool Features

Learning Tech Tool Vendors Provide Complimentary Learning

Learning Tech has established partnerships with multiple vendors, providing the UVA community with a variety of centrally funded learning technologies. These partnerships not only offer usage of these tools, but also present many educational opportunities to deepen understanding of the tools and explore innovative ways to integrate them into courses. The events listed below can help faculty and staff deepen their understanding of a tool, as well as learn about how the various tools could enhance teaching and learning in the classroom. In the coming months, several exciting vendor-hosted events are on the horizon, a few of which are highlighted below.

  1. Hypothesis: AnnotatED 2025
    April 9-10 2025
    12:00-3:00 pm

    This year’s AnnotatED virtual conference explores the dynamic role of social annotation in education. Thought leaders, practitioners, and educators from around the world will share insights, best practices, and innovative strategies. Some key themes that will be explored are enhancing learning and engagement through social annotation, future trends in educational technology and collaboration, building inclusive and collaborative learning environments, and improving student engagement and retention. Learn more and register. 
  1. The possibilities of H5P – Amazing community content!
    Wednesday, May 21, 2025
    10:00-11:00 am

    This webinar will showcase the winning content from the second annual H5P Awards. This session will allow you to see the endless possibilities of using H5P to enhance teaching and learning content. Last year’s submissions and winners truly showed the brilliant creativity and possibilities within H5P; three out of the five were from higher education institutions. Learn more and register.
  1. Humanizing Your Course with VoiceThread
    Tuesday, July 1, 2025
    1:00-2:00 pm

    In this session, we will explore the ways that VoiceThread can help your students develop an AI-aware skillset and avoid the academic pitfalls of having a homework-completing co-pilot available 24/7/365. Understanding the human advantage is a critical component of AI readiness curriculum, and VoiceThread is the perfect platform to showcase, preserve, and develop these human-advantaged skills. Learn more and register.

Learning Tech’s partnerships with vendors like Hypothesis, H5P, and VoiceThread provide the UVA community with invaluable resources to enhance teaching and learning. By participating in upcoming events such as AnnotatED 2025, the H5P Awards webinar, and the VoiceThread session, gives opportunities to enrich your teaching practices and foster a more engaging and effective learning environment.

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Events

Closing the Digication Chapter: UVA’s Learning Tech Transition

The ePortfolio tool Digication will be removed from the Learning Tech catalog in July 2025. At that time, students will no longer be able to access the tool; instructors will retain access through July 1, 2026. Given their impact, any changes to the catalog require careful consideration and review of the relevant data. Michael Palmer, the Barbara Fried Director of the Center for Teaching Excellence and co-chair of the University Teaching and Learning Technology Committee (UTLT), joined us to discuss some aspects of this important process.

Q: What is UTLT?

Michael: The UTLT committee is tasked with establishing and nurturing a vibrant digital teaching and learning ecosystem guided by data-informed decision-making. UTLT oversees research, identification, piloting, acquisition, and integration of new learning technology; assessment and periodic review of existing learning technologies; and eventual sunsetting of tools. UTLT also oversees the development of Learning Tech, the University’s gateway to all licensed, third-party learning technologies residing outside of the learning management system.

Q: What is the process for adding new centrally funded tools to the UVA digital ecosystem?

Michael: There are five criteria that guide acquisition of new, centrally-funded learning technologies:

      • Tools must fill a functional need not present elsewhere in the digital ecosystem.
      • Tools must clear all required approvals, which include a pedagogical review, security and privacy reviews, and an accessibility review.
      • Interest in tools must be widespread (i.e., across multiple schools) and expansive (i.e., interest from many instructors).
      • Tools must be cost-effective, either on a per-instructor or per-student basis.
      • Funding must be sufficient to renew licenses for at least three years.

Q: What is the process for retiring a centrally funded tool like Digication?

Michael: All tools go through periodic review. This involves the Learning Technology Advisory Board (LTAB), which is responsible for making recommendations on the renewal, discontinuation, integration, and adoption of third-party (non-LMS), institutionally-licensed learning technologies based on materials presented on data usage, cost, tool concerns, changes and a recommendation from the Assistant Director of Learning Technology management. Retirement is considered for tools that no longer meet 2-3 of the five original acquisition criteria.

Q: What were the reasons behind the retirement of Digication from the UVA digital ecosystem?

Michael: Digication has been in the UVA digital ecosystem for nearly a decade and supports instructors who use e-portfolios to help assess their students’ learning. Interest in the tool has declined steadily over the years and usage in the past year was limited to only a few departments in one school. In addition, Digication has an unusually high cost per instructor (and per student) compared to other tools. Because other licensed tools in our ecosystem can replicate most of Digication’s functionality—e.g., WordPress combined with the textual annotation tool, Hypothesis—UTLT made the decision to sunset Digication.

What resources are available to help with the retirement of Digication?

We recognize that changes such as losing access to a tool can be challenging for the UVA teaching community. To help instructors with the transition, we’ve compiled a set of  resources.

  • To preserve your work:
    • Export ePortfolios: Digication allows users to export their ePortfolios as PDFs or HTML files. This feature can be accessed through the ePortfolio’s settings. Instructions on downloading ePortfolios.
    • Backup Files: Ensure all media, documents, and other files uploaded to Digication are backed up on your local storage or cloud services. 
    • For more information, refer to Digication’s Help Desk.
  • FAQ for Students
  • FAQ for Faculty & Staff
  • Coming soon: Alternative tools to use in lieu of Digication

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News/Announcements

Unlocking Knowledge: The Power of Global Search within the CTE Ecosystem 

In today’s academic environment, finding the right resources related to using learning technology quickly and efficiently can be easier said than done. That’s why we’re excited to introduce a new global search feature on Learning Tech that’s designed to streamline the search experience, making it easier for faculty, staff, and students to access the wealth of information available. 

The global search feature is a powerful tool that not only searches Learning Tech; it also aggregates content from other sources within the CTE ecosystem, including Teaching Hub and the main CTE website. In doing so, you’re able to quickly find what you’re looking for, while also discovering something new. 

To access the global search, select the search bar in the middle of the homepage or the orange magnifying glass icon in the top right. (If you prefer keyboard shortcuts, Control-K (Ctrl+K) works, too.) Then you’ll get a search popover, seen below, where you can enter a keyword and view some featured content such as an upcoming event or new tool. Enter a keyword and explore the results.

Screenshot of the search popover that appears when searching Learning Tech

What Does This Look Like for Learning Tech?

When you search Learning Tech for a specific tool, you’ll find not only the link to that tool’s page, but also related events, Teaching Hub collections, and other resources—all conveniently located in one place. For example, if you search Canvas, you’ll find the following:

  • Canvas tool page  
  • Tools that integrate with Canvas 
  • Upcoming Canvas training events 
  • Relevant CTE workshops 
  • Teaching Hub curated collections of Canvas resources, and other helpful materials
Screenshot of the search results on Learning Tech when entering Canvas as the keyword

Key Benefits

We think you’ll enjoy using the new global search and appreciate its: 

  • Efficiency: The global search feature saves you time by providing quick access to a wide range of resources. Whether you’re looking for teaching strategies, upcoming events, or instructional materials, the search tool brings everything to your fingertips.
  • Discovery: The new global search allows you to find what you’re looking for and also discover something new in the process. By pulling content from various sources, it offers a more complete picture of available resources, meaning you won’t miss out on valuable information that might be located on a different part of the site.
  • User-Friendly Interface: The search tool is designed with the user in mind. It offers optional filters to narrow down your results by source and/or type. Plus, you can view the content in a list, table, or grid—whichever you prefer.

By providing a centralized location for all resources, including tool pages, guides, related events, and Teaching Hub collections, it streamlines the search process and enhances the user experience. Whether you’re looking for specific tools like Canvas or exploring new teaching strategies, the global search ensures you have all the relevant information at your fingertips, making it easier than ever to find what you need and something new within the UVA CTE community. Questions? Email us at learningtech@virginia.edu.

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News/Announcements