How can I use ReadyGO to conduct accessibility reviews?

Step 1: Create an Accessibility Review Team in ReadyGO

Assemble a ReadyGO Team responsible for reviewing courses and supporting educators through accessibility remediation.

Suggested Team Members:

• Accessibility Specialists: Interpret WCAG requirements and advise on complex remediation, such as media captioning and document accessibility.
• Instructional Designers: Review course content and help educators fix issues during course development or refresh.
• Disability Services Staff: Share insight into the barriers students using assistive technologies encounter most often.
• Faculty Members: Provide subject-matter expertise and help prioritize content that matters most to learners.
  
  

Step 2: Organize Courses into ReadyGO Batches for Review

To manage the review process, first determine how to organize your ReadyGO Batches for this initiative:

• If only some courses need review, create a dedicated batch (e.g., “2026 Accessibility Review”) to track progress separately.
• If all courses will be reviewed, mirror your existing term and subaccount structure and apply the remaining steps as needed.

It's also possible that only some courses will need review, but they are already organized based on that need. In this case, there's no need to create an additional batch, but apply the remaining steps to those already existing batches as necessary.

Step 3: Create a New ReadyGO Status

Establish a unique ReadyGO Status for tracking where each course stands in the review process.  Example statuses include “Pending Accessibility Review,” “Accessibility Remediation in Progress,” and “Accessibility Review Complete.”

Step 4: Build a Checklist for Quality Reviews

Create a focused ReadyGO Checklist to help course designers identify, fix, and prevent common accessibility issues.

• Share it with educators: Use the ReadyGO Instructor Tool to make the checklist available within Canvas courses.
• Provide just-in-time support: Link resources such as the ULEARN Accessibility Guide in task descriptions.

Customize your checklist for your institution’s goals. This list of examples, which focuses on high-impact areas, may help you get started.

Example checklist tasks: 

• Course has been scanned with TidyUP and UDOIT and results reviewed: A recent TidyUP and UDOIT scan reflects the current state of the course, and High Impact issues are addressed first.
• Images include meaningful alternative text: Informative images have concise, descriptive alt text, and decorative images are marked as decorative. (WCAG 1.1.1)
• Headings are used in logical order: Pages use heading levels in sequence to create a clear structure for screen reader users. (WCAG 1.3.1, 2.4.6)
• Link text is descriptive: Links describe their destination rather than displaying raw URLs or vague text like “click here.” (WCAG 2.4.4)
• Color contrast is sufficient and color is not used alone for emphasis: Text meets contrast requirements, and information conveyed by color is also conveyed another way. (WCAG 1.4.1, 1.4.3)
• Videos include accurate captions: Captions are present and reviewed for accuracy, not just auto-generated. (WCAG 1.2.2)
• Documents are accessible and text-based: Scanned PDFs and image-only documents are replaced with accessible, text-based versions. (WCAG 1.1.1, 1.4.5)
• Tables are used for data, not layout, and include headers: Data tables include header rows so relationships are clear to assistive technologies. (WCAG 1.3.1)
• Source documents support alternate formats: Files are uploaded in formats that allow students to generate accessible alternates (e.g., MP3, HTML, ePub) through UDOIT.

Step 5: Create a Dedicated Quick View for Accessibility Reviews

Streamline collaboration and progress tracking by creating a custom ReadyGO Quick View and share it with your institution. This customized view surfaces the accessibility data your team needs to prioritize its work.

Suggested Columns to Include:

Start with the columns on the ReadyGO Preset Quick View, then add the following:

• UDOIT accessibility metrics

  • UDOIT Score %

  • UDOIT Score by Impact Category

  • Scores for High Impact issue types (e.g., Color, PDFs)

  • UDOIT Error Count

  • UDOIT Total File Issues

  • UDOIT Issues Fixed

• TidyUP content cleanup metrics
  • TidyUP Unused Content
  • TidyUP Unused Files

Optionally, add Filters to focus only on high-priority courses, such as those with the highest enrollment, most unused content, and/or lowest scores.

Step 6: Set Up ReadyGO Alerts for Course Quality Checks

Consider setting up ReadyGO Alerts to quickly identify courses with many issues or low scores.

Suggested Alerts to Create:

• If a course’s overall accessibility score falls below your target (e.g., 80%)
• If a course’s score on High Impact issue categories falls below your target
• If a course has more than X image issues

Step 7: Reach Out to Instructors with Targeted Support

Use ReadyGO to identify courses that need support and connect instructors with relevant accessibility resources.

• Identify courses that need support: In the Courses Table, use Filters to narrow results to a particular group of courses (e.g., Total Students greater than X and Image Issues greater than X).
• Contact instructors in bulk: Use ReadyGO’s bulk messaging feature to share relevant resources, such as the ULEARN Accessibility Guide.
• Tailor outreach to common issues: Send guidance that addresses each group’s specific needs.
• For example, if your English department sees the most issues with headings out of order while your Chemistry department struggles most with missing alt text, send heading structure guidance to English and alt text guidance to Chemistry rather than generic advice to both.

Step 8: Measure Progress and Iterate

Review ReadyGO Reports to measure progress over time.

• Alerts, Status, and Tasks Completed Over Time: Watch accessibility alerts decline, courses move through your review statuses, and checklist tasks get completed as the review progresses.
• Checklists Overview and Checklist Completion: See how far courses have progressed through your accessibility checklist and identify where educators may need more support.
• UDOIT Score and UDOIT Number of Issues: Track course accessibility scores and issue counts to confirm that remediation is having an impact.
• TidyUP Unused Content and TidyUP Deleted Content: Track cleanup progress as deleted content goes up and unused content goes down. Removing unused files and pages means educators don’t spend time remediating content students never see.

Update each course’s ReadyGO Status as it moves through review, and raise your targets in rolling cycles. For example, aim for 80% on High Impact issues in the first term, then increase to 90% the next.

You Can Do It!

ReadyGO makes it easier to organize, track, and act on accessibility reviews at scale. By following these steps, you’ll have the tools to focus effort where it has the greatest impact, support educators with just-in-time guidance, and ensure courses remain accessible for all learners.