Strategies for Accessible E-Learning

Why Teach Accessible Classes?

No matter if you’re teaching a full semester class or a one-off workshop, you will be teaching disabled learners, whether they disclose their disabilities or not. All of your students deserve an equitable learning experience and accessible practices eliminate barriers for all users.

man using a braille keyboard writer
Image by Sigmund on Unsplash

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)

One of the most important standards when it comes to accessibility on the web is the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. These guidelines are split into four components: Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, and Robust, or POUR.

Perceivable

  • Everyone can identify your content not matter how they perceive information.
    • Use text, audio, and video alternatives for content.
    • Make your lessons adaptable for different student needs.

Operable

  • Learners should be able to navigate your course with ease.
    • Have large and obvious navigation buttons.
    • Give enough time or eliminate timed progression counters.
    • Make your content keyboard navigable.

Understandable

  • Content should be clear and concise.
    • Avoid using jargon and keep text content simple.
    • Use specific language: Instead of “click here” use “click next.”

Robust

  • Content can be accessed by assistive technologies (such as screen readers).
    • Make sure your content is compatible with assistive technology.
    • Update any dead links or finicky buttons.
    • Learners should be able to access course materials with reasonably outdated software.
a teacher with a student, pointing to something on a laptop
Image by Desola Lanre-Ologun on Unsplash

Best Practices

Now that I’ve gone over the basic web accessibility standards, here are some practical tips that use can use to make your class materials more accessible.

Course Structure

  • You want your course structure to be easily digestible, so break up lessons into manageable chunks.
  • Asynchronous courses are courses that allow learners to complete work and attend lectures at their own pace. You may want to consider some form of this to allow your students flexibility.

Text and Links

  • Headings and titles should be formatted properly. Instead of just bolding your text, use headings in numerical order. In Word, you can accomplish this by selecting Home > Styles and selecting the heading you want.
heading one and heading two in the Word styles interface

Images

  • Always include alt-text with your images. There will be different ways of doing this in different programs. Alt-text describes the image for users who cannot see it. For instance, in the alt-text I describe the image below as “a beagle with its tongue out.”
  • If the image is purely decorative, you can set it as such.
a beagle with its tongue out
Image by Milli on Unsplash

Videos

  • Videos should have error-free captioning. It can be useful to include a written transcription.
  • Video interfaces should be navigable using a keyboard (spacebar to start and stop).

Tables

  • Avoid using tables if you can, they can be challenging for screen readers to decipher.
  • Tables can be made accessible with proper web design. For a instructions on how to create accessible tables visit WebAIM’s Accessible Tables Guide.

Color Contrast

examples of good and bad color contrast
Image made with dopelycolors
  • Make sure that your content is readable, whatever colors you use. Avoid going wild: dark text on light backgrounds and light text on dark backgrounds are standard.
  • If you want to check your color contrast, try the WCAG Color Contrast Checker.
  • Avoid providing information that solely relies on the student being able to distinguish color i.e. red meaning “stop” and green meaning “go.”

Resources to Learn More

When it comes to accessible practices, there’s a lot of information to cover. If you want to learn more, here are some resources to get you started.

By working to make your classes accessible, you can create a better learning experience for all your students.

Tech Teaching: Pedagogies for Teaching Technology and other Software Tools to Learners

When I began my role as a graduate assistant at the Scholarly Commons, my background in technology was extremely limited. As I have worked in this space, however, I have not only had the opportunity to learn how to use technology myself but teach others how to use these same tools through consultations and workshops. As technology begins to encompass more of our lives, I wanted to share a few tips for providing instruction focused on digital technology and software. While these pedagogies also apply to other teaching contexts, specific examples in this post will cater to digital technology.

Photo of two people working together on laptops.
Photo Credit: Christina Morillo

Active Learning

A crucial component of learning technology is allowing learners to directly engage with the technology they are looking to understand. By having direct engagement with the tool, learners will have a better grasp of how that tool works instead of just hearing about its functions in the abstract. If possible, it is highly encouraged that the instructional session has users access the technology or software they are learning, so that they can follow along as they experience how to navigate the tool. If that is not possible though, a few other alternatives may include watching the tool work from either the instructor conducting a live demonstration or finding a video directly showing the technology at work.

Scaffolding

Since technology is often complex, it is very easy for learners to feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of options and possibilities of what certain resources can do. Scaffolding as an instructional concept is a practice of designing a lesson that segments information into smaller sections that build upon each other. When providing instruction for a software program, for example, scaffolding may look like first helping users navigate the options of the tool, following that up with a basic function of the program, then performing a more complex task. Each of these steps is meant to build on one another and guide the learner by both showing them new aspects of the topic while incorporating previously acquired knowledge.

Photo of two people in front of a computer, with one older person guiding the hand of the younger person.
Photo Credit: August de Richelieu

Inclusive Learning

While inclusivity is valued in every learning environment, it is especially vital that instructors provide inclusive environments for teaching digital technology. Neglecting these principles will ultimately create barriers for certain users learning new technology. For general instruction sessions, applying universal design models will help streamline the process so that the session is accessible and meaningful for all types of learners. Considerations for font size when presenting to a workshop/classroom setting, for example, often help those with visual impairments follow along more easily, whereas not taking these considerations makes the learning process more difficult for them. Accommodating specific needs also helps to create an equitable environment that fosters learning for those whose needs may not be accounted for otherwise.

Using These Pedagogies in Personal Learning

Even if you are not planning on teaching others how to use technology, these same methods can also help you learn. Finding opportunities to engage with a particular tool hands-on will help you learn how to use it, rather than just reading articles abstractly about it. Likewise, breaking the content into smaller sections will help prevent overloading and help you progress in mastery of the tool. Finally, recognizing your needs as a learner and finding tools that are relevant to your needs will lift certain barriers to learning certain technologies. As you seek to learn and teach new technology, be creative and have fun with it!