Recommended
More Related Content
Viewers also liked
Viewers also liked (17)
Unmatched Accessibility in Online Learning
- 1. Unmatched Accessibility First LMS to receive NVA Certification from the National Federation of the Blind. (Aug 2010) First and only LMS to deliver third-party verified conformance with W3C’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines AA 2.0. (Dec 2012) First and only LMS to be awarded Dr. Jacob Bolotin Award for “ground-breaking work in accessibility.” (Jul 2010) ✓
- 2. QUICK LINKS FOR ACCESSIBILITY Available Now (SP12)
- 3. Conceptual mock-up subject to change without notice. COURSE LINKS IN CONTENT EDITOR In Design
Editor's Notes
- Accessibility for all users is an ongoing major effort in Blackboard Learn, we’re proud to be the leader in the field of LMS accessibility. Blackboard Learn is the only LMS to be given the Bolotin Award for ground-breaking work in accessibility, and we were the first LMS to receive “Non-Visual Accessibility (NVA) certification from the National Federation of the Blind. And just this past December, Blackboard become the first and only LMS to receive third-party verification of conformance with the World Wide Web Consortium’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0. And we’re not stopping there – a little later in the roadmap I’ll talk about some new accessibility features we have planned.
- Our Quick Links functionality is an exp. of how we go above and beyond basic accessibility.Screen readers like JAWS or Mac’s VoiceOver (among others) have been providing tools to assist blind and visually impaired users navigate around a website or application for a long time now. Screen reader users can easily bring up a list of headings or links and use them to move to targeted places in the page. Sighted keyboard users are typically required to rely on the 'tab' key, browser find tools and traditional skip links to get where they want to go. While helpful, traditional skip links and the reliance on browser find tools can leave something to be desired in terms of efficiency for users. Traditional skip links are really only intended to allow a user jump over repeated navigation elements to get to the 'main content' of a page more quickly. But, what if that user wanted to go to content that is half way down the page. How would they get there? A traditional skip link wouldn't take them there. Browser "find tools" may locate the text they are looking for but it doesn't always send their keyboard focus to that location in the page. The Quick Links tool being delivered will help significantly improve the navigation experience for sighted keyboard only users. This tool can be quickly accessed on any page using a link at the very top of the page or a keyboard shortcut (Control+Alt+L) to invoke it at any time. It will aggregate a list of all of the landmarks and headings on a page and allow a user to select one and jump directly to that location within the page. It will also collect and highlight any keyboard shortcuts that exist for the current page or tool providing another method for quickly completing key tasks within the application. Institutions are required to provide equal access for users with disabilities and most are constantly looking for tools that can help increase the usability and task efficiency surrounding the teaching and leaning experience. Quick Links solves a previously unsolved problem for sighted keyboard users by providing navigation efficiency previously limited to sighted mouse users or costly assistive technology used by visually impaired users. Traditional Skip Links were added through out the Blackboard Learn application in Release 9.1 SP10 allowing users to skip over areas of navigation allowing users to get to the top of the ‘main content section’ of any page. Continued research and conversations with client partners and accessibility experts led to the development of the more robust Quick Links tool for SP12.
- All of those previous features are available now in the new Content Editor, but we have one more cool Content Editor feature in the works – Course Links in Content Editor. Today it’s possible to create a link to another location in the course by creating a Course Link content item, but that can be cumbersome. Sometimes you need to create that link right from within the content you’re authoring whether it’s a content item, a discussion board post, or, as you see in this screenshot, a journal entry. The new Course Links in Content Editor feature will allow you bring up a course map and easily select other locations in the course as the target of the link.