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    • Learners should be able to access course materials with reasonably outdated software.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.

HTML & CSS Games

Welcome back from Spring Break!

I’m fortunate to be taking Web Content Strategies & Management this semester with Dr. David Hopping. Here are some games and tools I learned about in class to help me practice my HTML and CSS knowledge. These games are helpful whether you’re just starting web development or looking to improve your skills.

Grid Garden

CSS Grid Garden Homepage

Grid Garden is a great way to practice placing items on a page using the CSS 2-dimensional grid layout. Water your carrots by moving the water placement on the grid using the grid-column-start property.

Flexbox Froggy

Flexbox Froggy Homepage

Flexbox Froggy teaches you how to justify items within a flexbox by writing CSS to move the frog to the lily pad.

CSS Diner

CSS Diner Homepage

When learning CSS, it’s essential to know how to select which specific items you want to change with your CSS code. In CSS diner, you can practice writing CSS selectors to select elements by their type.

CSS Challenges

CSS Challenges Homepage

See how far you can get in these CSS challenges! Try to copy the format shown in each example to progress.

W3 Schools

W3 Schools Homepage

For more resources on learning HTML, CSS, or other major web languages, visit W3Schools. This website has step-by-step lessons and tutorials for self-guided learning. If you get stuck on any of the previous games, W3 Schools might be able to help you figure it out.

These games and tools have helped me enjoy learning basic web development skills, I hope they help you have fun with the process too. Happy coding!