How do I enable Alternate Formats in my course?
You will learn how to enable Alternate Formats in your course. This is a UDOIT feature that can make alternate formats of PDFs, Word docs, etc. which you have posted to your course in Canvas.
The choices, which students can themselves request, include audio, text, ePub, HTML, and optimized PDF.
Note: This feature is currently on by default in all of our Canvas courses. However, professors can still enable or disable it at the course level.
1. Enter your course and click on the UDOIT navigation item.
Tip: The UDOIT navigation item has been added to all courses. However, only instructors can view this item.
2. Wait for the scan to complete.
If this is your first time navigating to the UDOIT app, then there will be an automatic scan of your course files. Wait for the scan to complete.
3. Click on the exclamation mark.
If you don't have an exclamation mark follow these steps.
1. Click on the Three Dots menu.
2. Select Course Settings.
3. Tick the box to 'Allow students to generate additional file formats'.
You have now enabled students to create alternate formats.
4. Click on Course Settings.
5. Tick the box to 'Allow students to generate additional file formats'.
6. Click on Modules or Home.
Tip: Navigate to where your files are visible to your students. The Modules page is likely the easiest. In this case, the Homepage is the Modules page but your course might be set up differently.
7. Click on the arrow by the desired file.
8. View the types of formats available to you and your students.
Tip: The current PDF is a scan from a copy machine. This new optimized version will convert it to text and add the necessary tags to the file, so that it can be more easily used by your students.
1. Click Request Optimized PDF.
2. Click on the Download icon.
3. Click on Files.
4. Drag the new PDF to your Files area to replace the original.
Before you complete this step, you may want to open the new PDF and make sure that the formatting looks good. You could even run a scan on it in Adobe Acrobat or contact Titan Accessible to have them review it.
5. Click on Replace.
Now, when a student clicks on this file, the new one will display.
Article Summary
You have now learned how to set your course to allow students to create alternate formats for your files.