Web accessibility is especially critical in education to ensure that all students have fair and equivalent access to learning materials. Government institutions in the US and UK are required by law to make their web content accessible. Standards and practices for accessibility are agreed upon by the W3C and implemented by the WAI.
Sight, hearing, mobility, and learning disabilities can affect how your students access and interpret information on the Web. Assistive technologies can help with some of the difficulties faced; some must be addressed by your website itself. When making an accessible site, start by thinking about its design, structure, and content.
It is neither quick nor easy to create multiple pathways to reach learning objectives in the online environment. It will take time to build up a set of online materials, activities, and assessment strategies that accommodates the wide variety of learning needs of students with disabilities and learning preferences of all students. Your efforts will create an inclusive space for everyone, including students traditionally marginalized by their needs in the online environment.
As the old saying goes, “You cannot please all of the people, all of the time.” In our case here, we are just trying to increase the probability that each student will succeed in our online course area, regardless of his or her disabilities, learning preferences, or life situation. We do this by increasing the number of methods by which students get and use the content. We do this, whenever possible, by giving options to students regarding how we will evaluate their performance. We do this by taking the time to engage students in different ways and at different levels. We do this by applying UDL principles to online teaching and learning.
Once you have taken UDL principles into consideration when developing your course materials, use correct XHTML and CSS—or a program that can generate this for you—to build or modify the site according to the guidelines provided by the WCAG. This will help to ensure that the technology does not create barriers for students with disabilities.
Case Studies
From 2005–2006, the University of British Columbia was involved in a BCcampus-funded project on web accessibility in online learning. During the project, we created a focus group of people with different disabilities. Based on their comments, modifications and redesigns were done on five courses that were piloted in summer 2006 as “accessible courses”. Where possible, we asked the participants to use their own computers at home, which were already adapted according to their usage and personal preferences. When in the office, we tried to imitate their home setting, giving them a choice of using Windows or Mac OS and their preferred browser. We wanted to avoid the additional barriers of working on a new computer in an unknown environment, and for participants to experience the same situation as our registered students. Therefore, our introductions and instructions were limited to what they would get from an instructor in advance. We only limited their browsing by asking them to focus on specific pages rather than reading the whole course content. Focus group members were interviewed individually before and after the modifications. The first set of questions was about how their disability affected their ability to navigate the course material and what improvements would make the material more accessible for them. Questions after the modifications involved quality of the presentation, usability of the interface and usefulness of the system.
In our consultations with the participants, we asked them for their oral or written feedback and opinions on their experience. The names in these cases have been changed for privacy reasons.
Case 1: Samuel
Description. Samuel is a hard-of-hearing English as a Second Language (ESL) student from Korea. Online courses had been recommended to him as a good choice to remove the barrier of his impairment.
Issues. Samuel was surprised and disappointed with the amount of text-based material in the courses that he took. He compared them with the online courses in Korea, which included a considerable amount of video excerpts. Because English is not his native language,
Samuel struggles in traditional classroom classes. Despite that, he would rather meet face-to-face, or use a webcam to see emotions and gestures, than attempt to pick them up from text alone. Comment and recommendation. Making content text-only does not necessarily make it more accessible. It works well with a screen reader, but there is no benefit for a hearing-impaired student. Instead of omitting all the media, more attention should be devoted to providing alternatives to pure audio, such as transcripts, or captions for video components. See the example in Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\) where a video segment is accompanied by transcripts and audio.
Webcam support is a common feature in instant messaging software, and students are increasingly comfortable with its use. While not every student can reasonably be expected to own a webcam, video messaging supported by text messaging would be of greater benefit to Samuel than a standard text-based forum, allowing him not only to see others’ facial expressions, but also to encounter and practise spoken English at a functional level.
Case 2: Ted
Description. Ted is an ESL teacher with a condition which causes his eyeballs to continue rotating when focusing on an object. He does not often use a computer, as he has to learn programs by memory rather than use visual cues. He finds himself lost when searching on the Internet.
Issues. For Ted, text tends to wobble: small text is very difficult to read, and line spacing must be great enough to clearly separate the lines. Ted increases the font size in his browser when reading from the Web.
Comment and recommendation. One of the main goals here was to help Ted focus on the page. The layout of the pages was improved and made easier to read, with shorter line length and greater line spacing. The graphics that are too small have a “magnifying glass” option to zoom the image. See example in Figure 11.8.
Location cues are critically important for Ted. This was implemented by highlighting the title of the current page in the left-hand navigation menu. This is a benefit not only for those with visual impairments, who can refer to the highlighted line as a visual bookmark, but also for people with learning disabilities or those whose native language is not English, who benefit from the reinforcement of location information in the title and navigation menu of the page.
Use of a screen reader, such as Wynn, is recommended. The tool highlights the lines of text currently being read. Ted uses his finger to follow the line of text. This software will help his eyes focus on the highlighted portion of the content, as well as provide an audio option.
Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): Providing audio and transcripts with a media componentFigure \(\PageIndex{2}\): Enabling “magnifying glass” to zoom the image
Case 3: Robert
Description. Robert had nerve damage to his right hand and cannot use a standard keyboard. A standard mouse is also difficult for him to use, so he usually uses a tablet. He recently acquired a Frogpad, a one-handed, 20-key keyboard that uses key combinations. So far he can type about 10 to 20 words per minute.
Issues. Robert requires additional time when writing exams, especially when handwriting; he prefers to type even though it is still slow. He says he would be unlikely to use a discussion board or chat room. To date, he has not used voice tools, but says he could not use them in a crowded lab.
Comment and recommendation. Making special arrangements for assignments, such as extending the deadline, or submitting it in a different format is a solution that has to be discussed with an instructor. Students who have problems and need special accommodations often do not report them to their instructors. A note coming from the instructor or administrator at the beginning of the course, explaining the possibilities of those accommodations, will encourage students to express their concerns.
Introducing audio tools, such as voice discussion boards or voice instant messaging, may save Robert’s typing time and effort. If access to the necessary hardware could be obtained, assignments that can optionally be submitted in alternative formats, such as audio or video presentations, may also be appropriate.
Case 4: George
Description. George has been blind since birth, and relies on a computer with JAWS for Windows, a talking screen reader program, which enables him to access the Internet as well as many other PC applications.
Issues. George has taken courses online in the past, but finds WebCT cumbersome to navigate. The popular course management system is based on framesets, which are not optimal for JAWS, as when a single frame updates it is difficult for a blind listener to determine what has changed on the page. Navigation is distributed across multiple framesets and implemented in JavaScript, which behaves differently in the JAWS reader than standard HTML.
Comment and recommendation. Many of the improvements that can help students such as George are the familiar guidelines of the WCAG. Here, the challenge is not simply to adapt the material, but to make course developers aware that these changes are necessary.
George, who is interested in a radio broadcasting career, was asked if he would prefer to submit assignments as audio readings rather than written assignments. He responded that the material for an audio reading must either be prepared as written text in advance or else the final audio must be edited, which is a less accessible option for a blind user than a standard text editor. Nevertheless, he was appreciative of the idea of offering students alternatives.
