Blog Post
CathyEdwards-bc
Community Member
This slide - https://360.articulate.com/review/content/bdfffa08-7330-4608-9e93-66a9ff3140d4/review is part of a course titled: Cultivating LGBTQIA+ Inclusive Practices and was retrofixed with accessibility. The strategy used was to provide instructions in AltText that made sense to learners using JAWS, while non-JAWS learners would still use a mouse to move the slider. If you have a screen reader, you can use it to navigate and by pressing the Tab key. I don't have a place to upload the slide for the "behind-the-scenes" view, which would be helpful to see how Focus Order works along with the AltText.
Accessibility features include:
1. Color contrast
2. AltText for graphical images
3. Focus Order based on slide feedback layers
4. Learner-activated play, pause, stop
Navigate the screen using your mouse to move the slider. Then, navigate the screen pressing Tab only.
In our LMS, learners need to use the up/down arrow keys to navigate screens and use the Enter and Tab keys to assist with navigating to the Submit button on assessment screens.
This course was my initial jump into creating a fully accessible course. Prior to this course, I had adjusted a couple of screens in a course that were trapping JAWS users. Things I learned in the retrofixing was that if I intend to use certain screen layouts throughout a course, then it's easier to set the accessibility features in a template screen. I've gotten used to coming up with a course design that use several different screen layouts consistently and adding the accessible features from the get-go. Now, accessibility is part of my approach to all course, videos, documents, etc. design. I'm no expert, because I still catch myself missing a feature here and there, but the more I practice, the better I get.
Accessibility features include:
1. Color contrast
2. AltText for graphical images
3. Focus Order based on slide feedback layers
4. Learner-activated play, pause, stop
Navigate the screen using your mouse to move the slider. Then, navigate the screen pressing Tab only.
In our LMS, learners need to use the up/down arrow keys to navigate screens and use the Enter and Tab keys to assist with navigating to the Submit button on assessment screens.
This course was my initial jump into creating a fully accessible course. Prior to this course, I had adjusted a couple of screens in a course that were trapping JAWS users. Things I learned in the retrofixing was that if I intend to use certain screen layouts throughout a course, then it's easier to set the accessibility features in a template screen. I've gotten used to coming up with a course design that use several different screen layouts consistently and adding the accessible features from the get-go. Now, accessibility is part of my approach to all course, videos, documents, etc. design. I'm no expert, because I still catch myself missing a feature here and there, but the more I practice, the better I get.
LindaLorenzetti
3 years agoSuper Hero
I liked your solution, Cathy. The only problem that I had, like Ron were the character states. Getting people with disabilities to review your courses is a great idea!
- CathyEdwards-bc3 years agoCommunity MemberThank you, Linda. I was really happy when my organization provided myself and a few others on my team with JAWS in order to test our products, but still find it helpful to have true JAWS users review what we create. A really interesting twist regarding having access to JAWS has also been the ability to review vendor products during their beta work...having the ability to really get kinks out before releasing learning assets that could potentially exclude some learners is gold to me because it means no one is left out.
Anyway...I need to find time to work on those states. Still want to get a screencast as well for the "under the hood" stuff that made the interaction and layers work.- CathyEdwards-bc3 years agoCommunity MemberOkay, states are fixed. The one thing I realized I had done before regarding the states was that I kept asking myself, "well, what if a person doesn't select the next level to learn what it is?" Then that won't hide the previous state. For instance, if I press Enter on character level 1 and then choose not to press enter on character level 2, but choose to press enter on character level 3, then the character level 1 state is also still selected. But... for now, that's the way it is set up. If there is another way/trigger/variable to negate this issue, please let me know.
Also, and yet another question I had asked myself when I initially created this slide...Will sighted learners be using their tab key to navigate, or will learners who are blind be the ones using tab to navigate?- LindaLorenzetti3 years agoSuper HeroRemember Cathy, that not only blind people navigate a course using their keyboard. People with some physical disabilities will use their keyboard over a mouse.