beyond alt tags (alternative)
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The document provides tips for creating accessible course content in a learning management system. It recommends using the course home page to introduce yourself and provide course information to students. Instructors should create a syllabus with direct links to materials and assignments, and use the schedule tool to communicate important dates. Providing redundancy of information in multiple formats like readings, videos and podcasts on the same topics, and allowing flexible assignment formats can also help accessibility. Time limits and deadlines should consider student needs, like offering quizzes without limits or ensuring special access for those who require more time.
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beyond alt tags (alternative)
- 1. Beyond alt tags: Creating accessible course content in a Learning Management System Kyle Mackie - TSS Sandra Earl - D2L
Editor's Notes
- Kyle Hi everyone, today Sandra and I are going to talk about accessibility in the context of Learning Management Systems. This presentation is meant to be a basic overview of: • What Desire2Learn is doing to address accessibility concerns • and what course designers and instructors can do to improve the accessibility of courses We’ll try to address questions as we go through our presentation and should have time at the end for longer comments and discussions. Sandra: Kyle and I are both involved with Desire2Learn Accessibility Interest Group, which is a client-led accessibility initiative dedicated to helping Desire2Learn review the accessibility of our eLearning Suite. The group helps us review designs, assess our compliance with laws and standards, and set priorities for outstanding accessibility work. If anyone is interested in becoming involved with the group, please feel free to contact us for more information.
- Kyle When you set up an online course it is important to remember that for a lot of students it marks a big change from a traditional classroom. This can be challenging for students with both physical or learning disabilities as they can feel disconnected from their instructor and other support systems. Learning management systems offer course designers a lot of flexibility in how they set up and organize their course materials, but this is potentially an issue. Although there are a lot of benefits to this flexibility it can be daunting to students with learning disabilities or who rely on assistive technologies to try and navigate pages to find all of your course materials and assignments. By providing your contact information with a warm welcome and your course outline available from the Course Home page you make it easier for students to assess the course’s requirements and what needs they might have. If you go the extra step and link to course materials directly from the Course Home page you can drastically reduce students’ learning curves and the time it takes for assistive technology users to find course materials. It is important to remember that you could be the students closest source of information and support for working in the Learning Management System. Taking the time to make sure they feel comfortable contacting you for help and that they know about things like changing their Preferences and email address can go a long way towards ensuring they are comfortable and ready to learn.
- Sandra One of the easiest ways to improve learning outcomes for students taking courses online is to build redundancy into your lesson plans. Take advantage of tools like the Schedule or Calendar tool and the Checklist tool that make it easy for students to see requirements and organize their schedules.
- Kyle Offering course materials in multiple formats and allowing students to demonstrate their learning in different ways can also improve learning outcomes. Students have different strengths and weaknesses when it comes to learning and students with disabilities can find some mediums completely inaccessible. For example, a deaf user cannot listen to a podcast unless it is captioned or a transcript is provided and blind user won’t get the full benefits from a video or diagram. By offering your course materials in multiple formats you increase the opportunities for all users to interpret and retain the information. Likewise, giving students choice in how they submit assignments, for example allowing them to submit a web page, interview, or essay, keeps students engaged and helps build confidence because students have opportunities to showcase their strengths and interests.
- Sandra A lot of instructors like to use the Discussions and Chat tool to encourage discussions between students or between students and instructors. This is a great way to build the level of engagement that a typical classroom offers into the online course. Although, Desire2Learn has put a lot of effort into making our Chat tool accessible using a keyboard and assistive technologies, I’d like to suggest that when possible the Discussions tool is a better alternative. The Chat tool benefits students who are quick thinkers and typers and puts students with a learning disability or using screen readers and other complex assistive technologies at a disadvantage. In comparison, the Discussions tool allows all students to reflect on posted messages and do further research and discovery before they respond. Typically, this results in more meaningful and detailed responses. Although some teachers prefer to provide course materials on a topic by topic or module by module basis to help structure learning, I’d like to suggest that you avoid this unless you are doing so as part of a learning strategy. For example, if you don’t want students to be able to move on to the next topic until after they have completed all of the assignments and passes all of the quizzes associated with the current topic this can be great strategy for ensuring that gaps don’t develop in students knowledge and for making sure they receive remedial help when they need it. However, assigning work each week so that students have to log into the system or show up for class can make learning more difficult for students with learning disabilities who like to work ahead when possible to help ensure they are prepared.
- Sandra Traditional examinations or quizzes usually have a time limit in which students must prepare their responses. This can also be difficult for students with learning disabilities or physical disabilities as they often need more time to understand and articulate their responses. There are many reasons more time could needed. Students could be slow readers and writers because they suffer from dyslexia or it may take them extra time to locate and listen to each question because they are using a screen reader. As an instructor you should be aware of the limitations that timed examinations place on students. A great response might be to offer examinations that don’t have a time limit so that students can prepare their best responses. If time limits are needed, make sure students are aware they can request additional time if they need it. Use the Special Access feature to provide students with additional time.