YuJa Panorama is UC Merced's LMS-integrated accessibility platform. It automatically scans course content for accessibility issues, provides instructors with actionable remediation guidance, and gives students on-demand access to alternative formats for any course document — directly within CatCourses.
Key Resources
The UC Merced Teaching Commons maintains a Panorama resource page for instructors.
Video tutorials covering Panorama features and workflows: YuJa Panorama Video Playlist
Request a consultation or support session: CatCourses consultation request form
What Panorama Does
Panorama connects to CatCourses and scans all course files and pages for accessibility issues. It scores each document against WCAG 2.2 criteria and displays an accessibility icon next to each file so instructors and students can see the accessibility status at a glance. Learn more about how scores are calculated: Understanding Panorama accessibility scores.
| Role | What Panorama Provides |
|---|---|
|
Instructors |
Accessibility scorecards for all course files, issue-by-issue remediation guidance, AutoPilot AI fix proposals, and course-level accessibility reports |
| Students | On-demand alternative formats for any course document, including audio, EPUB, braille, immersive reader, and translated formats |
For Instructors
Clicking the icons next to files opens the Accessibility Report for that file, where you can review every detected issue and choose how to address it.
Fixing Accessibility Issues
From the Accessibility Report, you have several options for each issue:
- Fix Issue: Manually enter a correction directly in the report, for example, adding missing alt text to an image, then apply the change to your document.
- Learn More: Opens a how-to-fix guide explaining how to resolve the issue in the source document. Review detailed remediation guidance: Resolving accessibility issues in your documents .
- Replace the Document: If you have already fixed the source file outside Panorama, upload the corrected version to replace the original.
Viewing Course Accessibility Reports
The Course Report in Panorama gives you an overview of accessibility performance across all files in a course, including cumulative scores, popular alternative format downloads by students, and a content summary. Access it from the Panorama menu within CatCourses.
Training Resources for Instructors
- Getting Started with Panorama for Instructors Covers accessing accessibility reports, reviewing scores, using AutoPilot, and generating alternative formats for your files.
- Panorama LMS Accessibility Platform Overview Full feature reference covering all Panorama capabilities.
- Overview of Accessibility Features Index of all Panorama feature guides.
For Students
Accessing Alternative Formats
Every file in your CatCourses course has an Alternative Formats icon next to it. Clicking the icon opens a menu where you can convert the document into a format that works best for you — no special software needed and no request to your instructor required.
If a format icon is grayed out or unavailable, your instructor may have disabled alternative formats for that specific file.
Training Resource for Students
- Getting Started with YuJa Panorama for Students Covers how to find the Alternative Formats icon in CatCourses, how to use each format type, and how to use the Website Accessibility Widget and other student-facing tools.
Additional Resources
- Panorama's Accessibility Checklist A checklist of the accessibility criteria Panorama evaluates, aligned to WCAG 2.2.
- Accessing Alternative File Formats in Panorama Detailed walkthrough of every format option available in the Alternative Formats menu.
- UC Merced Teaching Commons: Accessible Teaching Faculty-focused accessibility guidance including Canvas best practices, document accessibility, and video captioning.
