Reflect on the three principles of universal design from CAST. Include the following:
- How you can implement all 3 within an online course or training module - I added these on each of the 3 principles sections but a variation of options for students is the best approach and with all of the amazing Web 2.0 Tools the options for reaching students is endless. There are also innovative ways to accommodate accessibility in your eLearning to make sure all students are heard and recognized for their skills and abilities. This makes the classroom better for all and learning from each other is a big benefit of learning online. In a traditional classroom, students sit and mostly listen to the teacher. Online you can form your own voice and identity and have your talents recognized. It is also great to offer the convenience of online learning for someone who cannot make it to the campus or lives far from the college. This can be a physical or obstacle or a visual barrier. With the Jaws software, they can participate and learn from their own home location. This opens so many options for so many people: the true meaning of Universal Design.
- Multiple means of representation - For purposeful, motivated learners, stimulate interest and motivation for learning. This is also referred to as the “what” of learning. A way to incorporate this into your eLearning or LMS courses is to provide multiple options for each lesson. This can include digital (video or audio), visual examples for students to review and chunking or simplifying content for complicated subjects. Project idea: give a list of different digital project options. IE Thinglink, Gliffy or YouTube for students to create a short project for an assignment. The accessibility can be related to the following but not limited to: Cognitive/Intellectual, Visual, Motor/Mobility and Auditory and also ESL and ELL students.
- Multiple means of action and expression - For resourceful, knowledgeable learners, present information and content in different ways. This is also referred to as the “how” of learning. A way to incorporate this into your eLearning or LMS courses is to offer multiple ways for the students to use technology to communicate their ideas/projects. You can also have students evaluate their own projects and provide feedback during the learning/working process. A project you can create in your eLearning could be: the student creating a PPT or an audio recording or Podcast.
- Multiple means of engagement - For strategic, goal-directed learners, differentiate the ways that students can express what they know. This is also referred to as the “why” of learning. A way to incorporate this into your eLearning or LMS courses is to allow for varying levels of difficulties for students. Offer additional ways for students to contribute as feedback, forum, and student reviews. A text to audio option for reading material is a great suggestion for someone who has dyslexia or visual impairment. Students could create a Form or Quiz in Google Docs to interact with fellow students and the material. This is a free form of software available on most digital devices. Most LMS has the option of creating a forum where the students can get and give feedback to assignments. This creates a sense of teamwork that is great for students in their future job roles and leadership goals.
For online content, you need to consider accessibility because it makes learning better for everyone. While these start out as a way to help anyone with learning or physical barriers it really makes the training clearer and easier to access for all of us. There are great tools now for adding accessibility to your training. *The NVDA Screen Reader Access, the CC options on YouTube and other text to audio options are just a few. **For Web Accessibility (WCAG is an acronym for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines published by Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) and World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) there is Wave, Jaws, Dynomapper and SortSite to name just a few.
Reflect on the guidelines included in the checklist and creating accessible documents.
- What guidelines do you need to focus on when creating online content and documents for your learners. Which of these guidelines do you already do when creating content for your learners?
This explanation of accessibility definitions and the items we should be looking out for when designing online eLearning courses are taken from the Software Testing Help website and they provide many tools to use to make sure all students are able to learn equally.
Accessibility is the term that refers to the accessibility of any software system to people without or with physical disability or impairments. Such impairments include the following:
- Visual Impairments – Color blindness, low vision, complete or partial blindness, etc
- Hearing Disabilities- Hyperacusis, Deafness, etc
- Learning Disabilities – Dyslexia
- Cognitive Impairments – Autism or any kind of head injury
- Deftness, paralysis, cerebral palsy, etc
Following tasks are being verified by Accessibility Testing Tools:
- Descriptive Link Text
- Avoid Pop-ups
- Small and simple sentences
- Simple language
- Easy navigations
- Use of CSS layouts instead of HTML
According to working specifications, Accessibility Testing Tools are categorized as:
- Screen Reader Software: Read out the contents on the screen
- Speech Recognition Software: Converts the spoken words into text
- Special Keyboard: Ease of typing using this keyboard especially people with motor impairments
- Screen Magnification Software: Dedicated to vision-impaired users thus it is used to enlarge the display such that the reading will be easier
