Meeting the ADA Title II Digital Accessibility Requirements
Instructional Accessibility Efforts
Instructional Accessibility Efforts
Making course content accessible is both a legal obligation under the updated ADA Title II guidelines and a core commitment to equitable education. George Mason uses Panorama, integrated directly into the Canvas LMS, as the primary tool for identifying and remediating accessibility issues in course documents, media, and other instructional materials.
This page provides an overview of our accessibility score goals, the accessibility liaisons embedded across each college and school, a link to the Panorama Basics web page, a link to the Canvas LMS Accessibility Dashboard, and a running log of Panorama platform changes made to support faculty in meeting those goals.
The Canvas LMS Accessibility Dashboard tracks course accessibility scores across all colleges and schools, highlights trends over time, and includes an Apples-to-Apples Comparison view showing semester-over-semester progress. This data is reviewed regularly by ATI leadership and shared with academic leadership to support ongoing planning efforts.
George Mason's institutional goal is for all Canvas courses to achieve a Panorama accessibility score of 80% or higher by December 2026 and 90% or higher by December 2027. Courses scoring below this threshold are considered to present accessibility barriers for students and should be prioritized for remediation. Beginning Fall 2026, a Low Accessibility Score Banner will appear in any course where the score falls below 80%, prompting instructors to take action.
What the score means:
PLEASE NOTE: A high Panorama score does not guarantee full accessibility. Complex content such as STEM, fillable PDF forms, and scanned PDFs may still present barriers that automated scoring does not capture. Consult with the ATI for assistance in these situations.
Each college and school has a designated Instructional Accessibility Liaison who supports faculty in their unit with understanding Panorama, interpreting accessibility scores, and identifying resources and training opportunities. Liaisons serve as the primary point of contact between their unit and the ATI for instructional accessibility matters.
| College / School | Liaison | |
|---|---|---|
| Honors College | John M. Woolsey | [email protected] |
| College of Visual and Performing Arts (CVPA) | Sha T. Norman | [email protected] |
| College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHSS) | Marguerite Rippy | [email protected] |
| College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHSS) | Lisa C. Breglia | [email protected] |
| College of Science (COS) | Ahmad Taheri | [email protected] |
| College of Public Health (CPH) | Terri Ann Guingab | [email protected] |
| Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution | Paul Snodgrass | [email protected] |
| Schar School of Policy and Government | Lucas Nunez | [email protected] |
| Schar School of Policy and Government | Ming Wan | [email protected] |
| Mason Online | Ala Showers | [email protected] |
| Mason Online | Elizabeth Catesby Porfirenko | [email protected] |
| College of Education and Human Development (CEHD) | Dominique Banville | [email protected] |
| Antonin Scalia Law School | Carlos Sandoval | [email protected] |
| Antonin Scalia Law School | Michelle M. Trumbo | [email protected] |
| Costello College of Business (CCB) | Tonya Howe | [email protected] |
| College of Engineering and Computing (CEC) | Elizabeth Pickard Dean | [email protected] |
The following changes have been made to George Mason's Panorama configuration to better support instructional faculty with meeting the 80% accessibility score threshold. Changes are organized by update period. Select an entry to view details.
The following changes were implemented in response to feedback gathered at the September 28th Instructional Accessibility Liaisons meeting. The goal of these updates is to make Panorama scores more accurate, more actionable, and less burdensome for faculty.
Panorama accessibility scores now reflect only published course content rather than unpublished materials. This provides a more realistic view of course accessibility and reduces confusion about overall course scores.
A number of minor issues that had limited impact on the student experience have been removed from Panorama's scoring model. This change focuses faculty attention on barriers with a greater impact on student access.
A banner alert has been enabled for all Canvas courses with an accessibility score below 80%. Faculty will see this banner when they log into an affected course. The banner can be dismissed for the remainder of the session by clicking the "X"; it will reappear after the next login.
A new PDF remediation workflow using the Structural Remediation Advanced Editor was added to the Panorama Basics website. This first-pass remediation solution offers a practical, self-service option for faculty to make their PDFs accessible.
A new PDF remediation workflow using the Structural Remediation Advanced Editor was added to the Panorama Basics website. This first-pass remediation solution offers a practical, self-service option for faculty to make their PDFs accessible.
Updates shared as part of the GMU ADA Title II Liaisons – September 2026 communication and the accompanying Instructional Accessibility Updates newsletter.
The Canvas LMS Accessibility Dashboard was updated to incorporate Fall 2026 course data. An executive summary was shared with university leadership. Overall trends show that communication and training efforts have had a positive impact on both accessibility scores and the percentage of courses meeting the 80% benchmark.
Updates shared as part of the GMU ADA Title II Liaisons – July 2026 communication.
A new Apples-to-Apples Comparison view was added to the Canvas LMS Accessibility Dashboard, allowing stakeholders to compare program and college/school accessibility data from Summer 2025 versus Summer 2026. This view is one of the most effective ways to illustrate semester-over-semester progress.
Yuja released a significant Panorama user interface update during the summer. The ATI's Panorama resource page was updated to reflect these changes ahead of the Fall 2026 semester. Liaisons were asked to review the updated resource and share it with faculty in their units.
Updates shared as part of the GMU ADA Title II Liaisons – June 2026 communication.
A new Canvas LMS Accessibility Dashboard was created to help track the accessibility of Canvas courses by programs, college, school, and/or unit.
Updates shared as part of the initial January 2026 Executive Summary to Deans.
Each college, school, and/or unit identified accessibility liaisons to assist with supporting George Mason's instructional accessibility efforts. An initial meeting with the group was hosted in March 2026.
Contact the Assistive Technology Initiative at 703-993-4329 or request a consultation opens a new window for guidance on Panorama, document accessibility, or course remediation.