Table of Contents

Accessibility Considerations

Markette Pierce Updated by Markette Pierce

Overview

Our students may have accessibility needs related to:

  • Vision
  • Hearing
  • Mobility
  • Cognition
1 in 5 adults likely has an accessibility concern.
Visually Impaired Considerations
  • When a student who is visually impaired takes our classes, they will access our content via a screen reader like VoiceOver.
  • Test accessibility for yourself by enabling VoiceOver:
VoiceOver screenshot
  • Using styles is imperative in creating structure.
  • Alt text is helpful for those who can’t see images (i.e., low connectivity)
  • Long descriptions may be needed if the alt text is too long or if the image is sufficiently complex. See this article for more information about alt text and long descriptions.
  • Correct color contrast is important for those with low vision.
  • Audio descriptions of significant actions can be helpful to visually impaired learners
Keys: alt text and/or long descriptions for images, styles, flow of documents, color contrast
Hard of Hearing/Deaf Considerations
  • When a student who is hard of hearing/deaf takes our classes, they will access our audio content via synchronized captions and course transcripts.
  • The course needs to have accurate captions (subtitles) for any audio content.
  • Audio descriptions can be included for important content. (i.e., applause, audience responses, etc.)
Keys: synchronized captions, course transcripts, audio descriptions
Mobility Considerations
  • When a student with mobility impairment takes our classes, they will need to access our content without using a mouse.
    • Blow and sip tools
    • Feet to select content
    • Tab on a keyboard
  • The document needs to have a clear structure so students can tab through the course/ document accurately using a keyboard.
  • Consider not using radio buttons, as they’re hard to click on accurately.
  • Form fields need labels (i.e., “Last Name”)
Keys: proper structure using styles, avoid small/precise areas that need to be clicked
Cognitive Considerations
  • When a student with a cognitive impairment takes our classes, they will need to a range of accommodations.
    • Is the document easy to navigate?
    • Can we minimize distractions on the page?
    • Is there a better way to structure the document that could imply its use or flow?
Key: Employ solid instructional design strategies to ensure accessibility to as wide an audience as possible.

Action Checklist for Building Accessible Courses

  • Build in accessibility from the start - not as an add-on!
  • Use the Canvas accessibility checker on each page (see details under Accessibility Tools)
  • When in doubt - use tools, do research

Accessibility Tools

eC HelpDocs Articles

Accessible Hyperlinks

Accessibility and Semantic Headings

Accessible Images Using Alt Text and Long Descriptions

Accessible Tables

Accessible Excel Files

Other Resources

Canvas Accessibility checker — an explanation of how to use the built-in accessibility tools in Canvas.

Canvas Design Guidelines — guidelines from Canvas on meeting basic accessibility requirements.

Color Contrast Checker — a color contrast checker from WebAIM.

Dev to QA Handoff — includes details about course setup not already contained in eC Master Course Template that increase accessibility.

H5P Accessible Content Types — a table showing which H5P content is accessible, and to what extent.

Poet Image Description — when, how and practice describing accessible images.

W3 Complex Images — web accessibility tutorial on using complex images, including long descriptions.

WCAG 2.2 — Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 is the current standard Cornell University is committed to reaching.

WebAIM’s checklist for WCAG 2 — a simplified and condensed checklist of WCAG 2.2.

How did we do?

Accessibility Resources

Accessibility Support and Assistive Technology

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