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Creating accessible courses
Creating accessible courses

What you need to do to as an author to make your content accessible.

Lorcan Reilly avatar
Written by Lorcan Reilly
Updated over 4 years ago

We handle as many accessibility features as we can automatically (for details see Accessibility in iQualify). But there are some things that you as an author will need to do to make sure your content is accessible.

Accessibility actions for authors

To make your content in iQualify as accessible as possible you need to do the following:

Use heading levels

Websites and books use differently styled and sized headings to show people how sections of text relate to one another. As a reader, you know that a smaller heading beneath a larger one means the smaller heading is a sub-part of the larger. You can see a clear example of this on this page. So, using the heading levels helps learners both navigate and understand the structure of your content (which helps learning). 

When you use the iQualify formatting options to make your headings, those headings get “tagged” as being a particular level. This means those using screen readers and the like can tell the structure without having to actually see the headings. This is why you shouldn’t copy/paste formatting from elsewhere as it might not be correctly tagged. . It is important to do this logically and consistently to prevent confusion for learners using screen readers.
[How To Format Text]

Structure your content

Courses sometimes have important content "buried" throughout the course which can be difficult to find. Navigating, especially when you don't know where to look, is tedious.

To avoid these issues:

  • Include only what learners really need to know.

  • Where possible relate course structure to task/assessment structure and the order your learners will use this content.

  • Provide internal links where this is not possible.

Multimedia captions, transcripts and alt-text

Every time you pop in an image, you should think: “What information is someone who can’t see this image not getting?” That's what you need to write in your alt-text.
Likewise, video and audio content should have captions or transcripts available. To find out how to do these things, see:
[How To Add Alt-Text to your Image]
[How To Add Transcripts to your Video]

Avoid using tables

Screen readers speak one cell of a table at a time (left to right). And, if there is a header, for each cell the screen reader will also speak the associated header cells, so the reader knows which column a cell belongs to.  Note: A screen reader will only reference headers that have been tagged as a header, this means adding a header via the table tool rather than just styling the top row to look like a header.

The way cells (and header cells) are read out means that even relatively simple tables, it can be difficult for people using screen readers to navigate. And even more difficult to make sense of the table data. Our advice is to avoid tables wherever possible. But if you must use a table, you can make it accessible as possible by using a header and giving a clear text description of what is being presented in the table above the table itself (this is often helpful for all learners as it helps orientate them before they try to decipher the table).

Some screen readers provide the user with a list of all the links in the page they are currently on. It isn't very useful if these links all say "click here". Links are best (for all learners) when they are descriptive of what we’ll find if we follow the link. Often this is just the title of the page or resource you’re linking to. But if the title of the page you’re linking to doesn’t flow nicely, you can work around it using your own description. The example below shows both options.

"…highlighting tree species found in British forests — from the oak, iconic non-human protagonist of Virginia Woolf’s Orlando, to the cedar, a cousin of which is now giving scientists new clues about ecological resilience."

See [How To Create Links in iQualify] for instructions.

Expand acronyms initially

Provide the expanded form of any acronyms or abbreviations when you first use them. This prevents misunderstandings and unnecessary searches. Extra clicks are especially time consuming for the mobility impaired. e.g. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)

Use correct Grammar and Spelling

Reduce any potential for misunderstanding that can result in learners wasting time and effort. There are many tools available to authors that can help.
Writing sites and tools to use

Choose accessible LTI's

A Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) can enhance your course. An LTI can also be terrible for accessibility. Consider the impact on accessibility when choosing an LTI to add to your course. For example:

  • Will it work with screen readers?

  • Are the colours high contrast?

  • Is it navigable via keyboard?

  • Does it have text alternatives for everything?

Summary

To sum up:

  • Use iQualify headings

  • Give all images descriptive alt-text

  • Provide transcripts or captions for all audio and video

  • Avoid tables wherever possible

  • Use descriptive links

  • Check the accessibility of external tools you add in to your course


LIST OF REQUIRED ARTICLES/LINKS (DELETE THIS SECTION BEFORE PUBLISHING)

The following articles need to be written and/or links created and added to this article prior to publishing this article
[Accessibility in iQualify]
https://intercom.help/iqualify/en/articles/3503173-accessibility-in-iqualify

[How To Format Text]

[How To Add Alt-Text to your Image]

[How To Add Transcripts to your Video]

[How To Create Links in iQualify]

[Caitlin's Tool KB Article]
https://intercom.help/iqualify/en/articles/3467127-writing-sites-and-tools-to-use

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