Presentation on Frequently Asked Questions on accessibility by creators of eLearning resources, given by Jonathan Hassell (Accessibility Editor, BBC jam) to BBC jam external suppliers in 2006. Covers: intelligent ways of making eLearning resources switch accessible (structured grouping and using user journeys to suggest natural tab orders); how best to make eLearning resources work for blind children (with and without screenreaders); how to write alternative text to make sense in the learning context; how to create sounds to enable blind people to navigate, play video and control gameplay; how audiogames and soundscapes can paint pictures with sound; how to design for screen-magnifier users; how captions should include text support for sounds as well as words in multimedia resources

1. © BBC 2006, 13/6/06 Accessibility Workshop FAQ Masterclasses Jonathan Hassell BBC jam Accessibility Editor

2. What ’ s in the FAQ? alternative versions tabbing & switches keyboard shortcuts drag & drop => click & stick designing for text resizing screenreader vs SpeakText choice auditory feedback, soundtracks, earcons audio description captioning support for cognitively impaired learners © BBC 2006, 13/6/06

3. That accessibility map… Many proposals now have a general statement for how accessibility is handled by that company We would like to see you going beyond that to including: High level - how the subject can be made accessible via the resource How the exact approach/gameplay styles in the proposal are going to be made accessible © BBC 2006, 13/6/06

4. How to handle tabbing & switches Who this is for... Motor-impaired children Blind children You ’ ll hear more in the SLD Field Studies presentation about switch setups For now, think of a tab + enter (2 switch) system Two major different interaction types in your production: Navigation (simple, structured/hierachical, intelligent) Gameplay © BBC 2006, 13/6/06

5. How to handle tabbing & switches Tabbed navigation around the elements of a page Non-structured… tab around every single control on the page (yawn!) Structured/hierarchical… group your controls to allow the learner to get to the one they want more quickly also helps reinforce the design of your interface Structured/hierarchical + intelligence Some inspiration from UA-chess… © BBC 2006, 13/6/06

6. How to handle tabbing & switches Controls for games - mapping the controls to two or one-switch: How to do it… by looking at what you can get the computer to control (e.g. auto-fire) and what control(s) is best to keep in the user ’ s control Some inspiration from UA-Invaders… © BBC 2006, 13/6/06

7. How to handle tabbing & switches Speed vs. complexity - make sure you understand the extra cognitive load that different switching techniques can incur… And that it ’ s usable and fun, as well as accessible (how many clicks to something…) you can do anything with a single switch, even type but would you want to? Want more inspiration? Try out: Retro-Remakes - http://www.oneswitch.org.uk/2/switch-downloads.htm UA Games - http://www.ics.forth.gr/hci/ua-games/games.html © BBC 2006, 13/6/06

8. Keyboard shortcuts Are just a way of jumping to one of the controls on the screen, or another screen without having to tab there… Useful for blind children, and any others who will bother to learn their assignments We are suggesting that you stick to: primary: just numeric keys secondary: alt+numeric keys (like HTML access keys) © BBC 2006, 13/6/06

9. How to do sounds for blind children Check the age – screenreader or not… Is the child likely to have, and be able to use, a screenreader? If screenreader, contact us It ’ s not as easy as Macromedia would have you believe Especially as they are anticipating use of Flash for website-navigation, not games… Focus issues are the hardest… © BBC 2006, 13/6/06

10. How to do sounds for blind children If not screenreader, how to use SpeakText well All about building up a mental model of how to use the resource in the learner ’ s mind (what it ’ s about, rather than what the screen looks like…) You need to be very conscious of which of your visuals carry important learning information and which are purely there to look good An example: in a German resource set in a supermarket, the background graphic of the supermarket isn ’ t just filler, it gives off many clues for how Germany is different from England So provde some equivalent cues on the soundtrack to allow blind children to pick up these cultural differences aurally… How to check – close your eyes, can you use it? © BBC 2006, 13/6/06

11. How to do sounds for blind children If not screenreader, how to use SpeakText well For simple navigation “ Where am I? ” Screen-Intro speaktext “ What can I do? ” Options (button/control) speaktext “ What did I just do? ” Audio feedback For video “ I can ’ t hear anything, has it stopped? ” audio description Contact Sue… For gameplay Pre the game: “ What can I do? ” – let me know the controls “ what ’ s going on? (continuously) ” – welcome to soundscapes… “ what did I just do? (continuously) ” – link back with the soundscapes © BBC 2006, 13/6/06

12. How to do sounds for blind children Soundscape demo For inspiration (and your ears only)… © BBC 2006, 13/6/06

13. Reinforcing designing for screen magnifier users… Think of things this way… You can only see a quarter of the screen at a time, and can scroll to the rest So what you need to do… Try and localise information to the area of the screen it relates to (cf. Meelyo) Make sure that anything which happens away from the learner ’ s gaze, under computer control, draws attention to itself audibly as well as visibly (e.g. mobile phone comms device ringing…) © BBC 2006, 13/6/06

14. Beyond subtitles to full captioning Subtitles = text support for audio in videos Captions = text support for any audio in a multimedia resource; which includes: Text support for alarm/alert noises e.g. Half-Life 2 We don ’ t need to do full captioning, but must visualise all meaningful audio © BBC 2006, 13/6/06

15. e: jonathan@hassellinclusion.com t: @jonhassell w: www.hassellinclusion.com Contact me