Issues with Quiz Accessibility

[BrittanyGreer]

Has anyone had an issue with screen readers not reading all the quiz answers? 

[chriscas · Accepted solution]

Hi @BrittanyGreer,

I have not heard of any issues like that with quizzes (classic or new) in Canvas.  I suppose it's possible that something about a specific quiz answer was not entered by the quiz creator in an accessible way.  I would suggest reaching out to your teacher or your school/institution's Canvas team (usually in the eLearning / IT / Digital Education area) with details about what your screenreader had difficulty with to see if they could make any adjustments to the quiz.

I hope this helps a bit.  Good luck with your courses!

-Chris

[LatashaSummers]

no, u probably have zoom in cause my screen sometimes looks blurry to me and i have to zoom in.

[chriscas · Accepted solution]

Hi @BrittanyGreer,

I have not heard of any issues like that with quizzes (classic or new) in Canvas.  I suppose it's possible that something about a specific quiz answer was not entered by the quiz creator in an accessible way.  I would suggest reaching out to your teacher or your school/institution's Canvas team (usually in the eLearning / IT / Digital Education area) with details about what your screenreader had difficulty with to see if they could make any adjustments to the quiz.

I hope this helps a bit.  Good luck with your courses!

-Chris

[DannyMcDonald]

Hi Chris. A student at my institution has had the same issue recently (in the past several days) where their screen reader skipped over answer choices. As of now I do not see a solution. Any guidance is appreciated.

[DonnaLove]

Our blind student's screenreading software also cannot read the answer options in Quizzes.  It only can read the question text.  Also, the Canvas Immersive Reader option is not present when a Quiz is open. This is all very disappointing.

[DonnaLove]

I forgot to add that we are using Classic Quizzes.  It sounds like it won't get any better if we change to New Quizzes.  I couldn't find anything about accessibility for Quizzes in the Canvas Guides.

[saustin]

Good afternoon, the response below came from the topic "Quizzed not working with JAWS on Chrome and Edge"

10-17-2023 09:04 AM

One example. The Reader (Kurzweil) worked for the first 9 questions and starting at question 10 it no longer read the questions of the test or the answers. The problems may be related to multiple choice questions. Attempted to log in/out Kurzweil, same symptom persisted. Attempted to change settings options in Kurzweil, same symptom persisted. Attempted to move student to a new station, same symptom persisted. Restarted their workstation and the same symptom persisted. 

It appears the key factor is the 'New Quizzes' feature within Canvas, as it seems there are several question types exhibiting the issue and it's not present in classic quizzes. Natural Reader and Read Aloud do not work at all.
The free/limited TextHelp Read & Write Chrome extension appears to work inconsistently. Yesterday it worked OK (not perfectly), but this morning it is behaving similarly to Kurzweil when reading Multiple Answer questions - it bounces back up to the top of the page after reading the question.

[saustin]

One example. The Reader (Kurzweil) worked for the first 9 questions and starting at question 10 it no longer read the questions of the test or the answers. The problems may be related to multiple choice questions. Attempted to log in/out Kurzweil, same symptom persisted. Attempted to change settings options in Kurzweil, same symptom persisted. Attempted to move student to a new station, same symptom persisted. Restarted their workstation and the same symptom persisted. 

It appears the key factor is the 'New Quizzes' feature within Canvas, as it seems there are several question types exhibiting the issue and it's not present in classic quizzes. Natural Reader and Read Aloud do not work at all.
The free/limited TextHelp Read & Write Chrome extension appears to work inconsistently. Yesterday it worked OK (not perfectly), but this morning it is behaving similarly to Kurzweil when reading Multiple Answer questions - it bounces back up to the top of the page after reading the question.

[DannyMcDonald]

Chris, I'm not the Canvas admin on our campus, and the new IT person is still learning the role at this particular campus. How do I know if we have the New or Classic quiz in Canvas?

[paul_fynn · Accepted solution]

Hi Danny

New Quizzes runs through an external app, Classic Quizzes is internal to Canvas. Look and feel is very different. See https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Instructor-Guide/How-do-I-create-a-quiz-using-New-Quizzes/ta-p/11... 

If New Analytics is important to you (ie you want student interactions to be reported to the Canvas User Logs and New Analytisc) then stick with Classic Quizzes until Canvas resolve the issue of Canvas not returning the event data from New Quizzes.

[paul_fynn]

Adding to Chris's response, in our institution we have determined that New Quizzes, along with all of our other quiz and polling tools, is not fully accessible to students with visual challenges in a way that would avoid disadvantaging some students or allow us to be fully compliant.

We have two strategies to address this:-

1. We encourage our teachers to give students a practice quiz with exactly the same style and construction of questions so that they can identify anything that is an issue in the practice
2. Any student can apply to our Dyslexia and Disability Services to have
   1. a reader and/or
   2. a scribe

DDS have a team of people who are trained to log on over Teams and support students by reading and entering the quiz for them

In practice many of our 'extra time' students find that they get on better with Canvas New quizzes than other assessment types.

[haley_marek]

Hi Brittany -

We are also getting reports of screen reader skipping random question choices. Were you able to resolve?

[JoyJoyJ]

Hi @BrittanyGreer We are having a lot of problems with new quizzes in Canvas. Specifically with the screen reader Kurzweil. Which screen reader have you been having issues with?

[maccabeejane]

Hello, Yes. I'm a student with low vision and they never work for me. I've had some rather serious and unfortunate incidents happen that I've tried unsuccessfully to report.

[mtuten]

Hi,

[Update Note: I see where you have described the issue you are experiencing in a separate topic. Based on that information, I would actually disregard my recommendation to send Canvas a email. I will post my alternate recommendation in the other channel]

If you are referring to Canvas' classic quizzes, there is probably very little you can expect in the way of improvement. For Canvas New Quizzes, you can try doing the following.

• Send the email to support_a11y@instructure.com.
  • Consider also CCing your institution's IT support department and/or accessibility support department so that they are also informed and may be able to assist in keeping track of the outcome of your email
• Briefly summarize the issue covered in the email's subject line. 
  • I recommend including "New Quizzes" and "Accessibility" somewhere in the subject line
  • If you have multiple concerns or the concern applies to multiple question types, be prepared to submit separate emails for each concern or question type.
• Include as much of the following information as possible in the body of the email as possible:
  
  • (Highly recommended) Disclose that you experience low vision
  • A brief description of the issue
  • A brief description of the expected behavior
  • A link to the page where you encountered the issue
  • The type and (if possible) version of operating system (ie. Windows, MacOS, iOS, Android, Chromebook) on the device where you encountered the issue.
    • You can usually find the operating system information in the "System" or "About" section of the "Settings" app. You can also (sometimes) see if the information is available on the "Software Update/Check for Updates" section of the "Settings" app.
  • The browser version (and screen reader, if applicable) used. If you are a screen reader user, be sure that you can replicate the issue on one of Canvas's screen reader supported browsers before submitting tickets.
    • Directions for checking your browser version or ask the internet to check your browser version for you.
    • How to check your screen reader's version:
      • JAWS - Open JAWS, activate the JAWS window, open the "Help" menu and select "About" (Alt + H then A), and listen without pressing any other keys. The version number will be the third thing JAWS reads.
      • NVDA - Open NVDA, hold the NVDA modifier key and press N to open the NVDA menu, open Help (H), select "About," and listen. The version number will be the second or third thing NVDA reads.
      • VoiceOver - Open System Preferences, open "Accessibility," open the "VoiceOver" tab, click "Open VoiceOver Utility," navigate away from the utility's window to the menu bar across the top of the screen, open the "VoiceOver Utility" menu, select "About VoiceOver Utility," and listen. The version number is the second thing VoiceOver reads.
      • Read & Write - R&W is technically not a screen reader but is included here due to its common use. 
        • On Windows - Open the menu button, select "Show more settings," and then open the "About Read&Write" tab.
        • On Mac - In the menu bar across the very top of the screen, open the "Read&Write" menu, and then select "About Read&Write." 
  • Any additional information that could be helpful (screenshots, screen recordings, WCAG criterion, etc)

This past spring, I evaluated New Quizzes for accessibility and submitted 72 tickets this way. Most of the tickets have been escalated to their engineering team and I'm beginning to see some fixes. Even if there is a chance that I have already submitted a ticket on the same topic as you, please still submit. More voices expressing the same concern will help them prioritize. Also, I do not have any known disabilities, so my voice does not have as much weight as yours.

I hope this helps, and thank you for being brave enough to post. 😊

[maccabeejane]

Hi There,

Thank you for your detailed suggestions. I appreciate your efforts to guide me through this process. I will try to follow your recommendations and send an email to support_a11y@instructure.com with the relevant details.

I’m unfamiliar with message boards and how they work. This one is huge, confusing, and doesn't seem very student-friendly, perhaps by design. Its robust gamification and lack of transparency are quite evident. The stark white background and light medium gray font in Canvas hurt my eyes. I've resigned myself to the idea that if I leave school, it will be because of the continued mistreatment and hardship I've been made to endure. It’s important to let others know how serious these issues are and how they affect students like me.

Canvas doesn't give me the reader option, so I use my own tools. It doesn’t even read nor does it allow my technology to read the messages that flash during a test or quiz. I must stop continuing the quiz or test and wait for the message to appear again to take a screenshot of what the Canvas system is telling me.

I've spoken to Canvas chat support about this several times, sometimes during tests and quizzes. I've told them that these instances eat up my allowed time under the law for my disabilities. It is my understanding that the extra time allotted to me on tests is NOT for Canvas' failings to be disability-friendly as it claims, but for my making necessary allowances and adjustments that I need for my disability.

The average low vision student, such as I, must sometimes improvise workarounds which take more time and is why the time is granted. I have found myself in quizzes and tests struggling to keep up with the platform, which fails all students to some extent, not just those with disabilities.

I don't care for the full functionality of VoiceOver because sometimes when things are read aloud, nuance is lost, and I misunderstand questions. However, VoiceOver cannot speak messages that flash and that are embedded into the Canvas page. Additionally, when I click on a Canvas page question to read, an answer is automatically selected for me whether I disagree with it or not because I’ve simply interacted with the page. This has led to incorrect answers being recorded to my detriment. I’ve encountered professor errors in tests and quizzes midway, and I’d have to try to contact the professor to discuss them. Therefore, I try to use my computer's Zoom feature to read as much as possible. Sometimes during test proctoring, this hasn't been allowed.

I don’t fully understand what you are trying to tell me or if you’re genuinely trying to help, but I do appreciate your time and effort. My eyesight wasn’t always like this, and I’m doing my best to adapt. This situation has been challenging and disheartening, but I’m determined to find a solution.

Thank you again for your replies.

PS: To further prove my point I've been trying to post this reply since 16:50 PST but I repeatedly fail authentication. I am not a robot. Why is Canvas even checking for robots? It is now 21:29 PST and I will try once again to post this reply.

[mtuten]

Hey,
To hopefully simplify things, I responded to you latest post from this and the other topic in the other topic.