Early Bird

A great tool for faculty members

EquatIO gives Canvas content creators the ability to create accessible equations for mathematics, physics or chemistry.

By Gabe Christie

August 19, 2020

Throughout Metropolitan State University of Denver’s Canvas learning-management system integration process, careful consideration was given to ensuring that faculty and students have access to the best possible platform and the most accessible tools. As part of this process, the Instructional Accessibility Group identified that the built-in Canvas Equations feature was inaccessible. This means that content created with the built-in Canvas Equations feature would potentially be unavailable to some students, especially those with limited internet connection and those using screen readers.

While this limitation was reported to Canvas, a fix has not been yet been implemented. The IAG worked diligently, however, and has successfully identified and implemented a better solution: EquatIO. EquatIO is a web-based equation-creation platform from Texthelp, the same business that provides campus users the Read&Write program. EquatIO will give all Canvas content creators the ability to create accessible equations for mathematics, physics or chemistry.

To support faculty members as they begin using EquatIO, the IAG has developed a series of guides that outline how to use EquatIO effectively in Canvas and Google Suite and on the desktop app. These guides are available on the IAG’s Accessibility and Mathematics area.

Given the immense amount of hard work and dedication faculty members demonstrated throughout the Canvas migration and ACT-20 workshops, the IAG and Center for Teaching, Learning and Design anticipate that EquatIO will help make the creation of accessible materials even easier.