Canvas LMS Standards and Guidelines

The following standards and guidelines pertain the use of the university LMS, Canvas. 

• Course Shell Requirement: All courses must have a shell in Canvas, as per the VCU LMS policy.
• Basic Template Usage: Every course may use the university baseline template but it is not required.
• Syllabus Placement: The syllabus must be provided in text format (versus just a linked PDF) within Canvas and must be on the Syllabus page that is native to Canvas. Simply linking to a PDF of a syllabus does not meet the standard.
• Integration Instructions: Instructions for using third-party integrations and any associated costs to students must be included in the syllabus.
• Cost Disclosure: All third-party integrations with costs to students must be listed in the course description to inform students before registration.
• Required Content: Each course must include required course materials on the home page or a course overview page.
• Accessibility Checks: All documents uploaded to the LMS must be checked for accessibility by content creators using the UDOIT accessibility tool in Canvas.
• PDF Restrictions: Scanned PDFs are not allowed unless made accessible using the UDOIT accessibility tool in Canvas.
• File Storage: The LMS file library cannot be used for storage; all files uploaded must be actively used in the course and appropriately linked.
• Use of TidyUp tool: The TidyUP tool in Canvas should be utilized to delete uploaded files that are currently not being utilized in a Canvas course. This will decrease the amount of errors picked up by the accessibility tools in Canvas and increase accessibility compliance scores for courses.
• Use of UDOIT tool for accessibility: The UDOIT tool should be utilized to find accessibility errors on uploaded files and course content native to Canvas. Files and content with accessibility errors need to be remediated for accessibility.
• Handwriting Restrictions: Handwritten content on electronic documents is not allowed. All content on electronic documents must be machine readable.
• Use of Images: All images must have adequate alternate descriptions.
• Use of Text on Images Requirements: All images containing informative text must have the text provided below the image to ensure it is machine-readable.
• Image Size Limit: No images over 1MB are allowed.
• Third-Party Integration Approval: All third-party integrations (LTIs) must be submitted to IT Governance and Academic Technologies for approval, whether at the sub account or root level.
• Communication of New Integrations: New root-level integrations must be communicated to faculty before the semester starts with documentation. All sub account integrations must be communicated to faculty by the requesting department within two weeks of integration and availability to faculty within the requesting department. Requesting department must provide documentation for the use of sub account integrations. Sub account tools are not centrally supported by IT and are supported by the requesting department.