Pope Tech Canvas Accessibility Tools
Canvas Accessibility Help
Support at Western
Academic Systems Help
Accommodations
Civil Rights and Title IX Compliance (CRTC)
Web Communication Technologies
- Preparing Sites for the Title II Rule on Web Accessibility
- Micro-Accessibility Course (self-enroll Canvas course)
- Western’s Accessibility Training (self-enroll Canvas course)
- webhelp@wwu.edu
American Disabilities Act
Pope Tech
Two accessibility tools by Pope Tech are available in all Western Canvas courses.
Pope Tech accessibility tools in Canvas
- Pope Tech Accessibility Guide is a page editing tool accessed via each content page.
This remediation tool allows instructors to test and repair various accessibility issues in any Canvas content that has the page editing/rich content editing tools (pages, discussions, announcements, and quiz/assignment descriptions).
For an overview of the Accessibility Guide tool, see Get Started with the Canvas Accessibility Guide by Pope Tech, and scroll to the bottom of this page for access information.
- Pope Tech Accessibility Dashboard is a course scanning tool accessed via the Accessibility Dashboard item in the left navigation in Canvas, and includes:
- Instructor Dashboard quickly identifies accessibility errors and alerts within your entire course, enabling you to drill down to make remediations with the Accessibility Guide tool on each content page.
- My Dashboard allows instructors to view and scan all their active Canvas courses, accessed in the same window.
See the video series, Pope Tech Dashboard Primer & Accessibility Playlist for an overview of the Pope Tech Instructor Dashboard and more, by WWU's AJ Barse, and scroll to the bottom of this page for access information:
Importance of web accessibility
Incorporating accessibility into Western Washington University’s culture is not only the right thing to do, but it also provides many benefits to the campus community. Accessible technologies allow all members of the university to learn, work, and contribute in their own way.
Additionally, the U.S. Department of Justice recently updated it regulations for Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The final rule has specific requirements about how to ensure that web content and mobile applications (apps) are accessible to people with disabilities. These rules apply to active courses contained in a learning management system.
For more information, please see Canvas Accessibility.
Accessing the Pope Tech Accessibility Dashboard via Canvas
As of July 2025, Pope Tech's Accessibility Dashboard is installed by default in all Canvas courses, viewable only to instructors via the Accessibility Dashboard item in the left navigation. Once selected, instructors can scan and view results for the course in view as well as their other active courses. Results look like the following image, showing the number and type of errors and alerts (e.g., 143 very low contrast, and 4 empty links). Each error and alert is hyperlinked allowing the instructor to navigate to the page and correct the items via the Accessibility Guide tool.
Accessing the Pope Tech Accessibility Guide in Canvas content
Instructors can also use the Accessibility Guide tool directly on any content in Canvas that utilizes the rich text editor, such as course content pages, discussions, announcements, and quiz/assignment descriptions. To activate the Accessibility Guide tool while editing a content area, select the button indicated with the "P" logo, at the bottom of the rich text editor to the left of the save and publish buttons.
Support
For additional support with accessibility in Canvas, please contact: CanvasHelp@wwu.edu
Why Pope Tech?
All Pope Tech products have undergone a rigorous review for privacy and information security as part of the Western Washington University contract approval process.
- The Accessibility Dashboard tool only scans course content so it can point out accessibility issues.
- It is against their terms of use to scan sensitive personal information, and they do not make your course content public.
- Pope Tech accessibility scanning and data storage are performed on secure Amazon Web Services servers (the same ones used by Canvas).
- Pope Tech does not make your content public or share it, and Pope Tech does not sell your information.
Pope Tech in Canvas
While we have placed the Accessibility Dashboard in the course navigation for all courses, please note the following:
- The teacher and TA roles can see the Accessibility Dashboard when it is active in the navigation, but students cannot.
- You have the ability to hide the Accessibility Dashboard in your navigation settings; however, the product is still part of Canvas. This only greys out visibility for you.
- The Accessibility Dashboard is another name for the Pope Tech Instructor Dashboard.
- The first time the Accessibility Dashboard is accessed, you will be prompted to authorize its access to your account in order for you to perform an accessibility scan.
- The accessibility scans only examine your course content, not student content.
- ATUS has made this tool available to you to assist you in making your content more accessible and to help Western be in alignment with the ADA federal ruling.