1. Jane Eberle, Ph.D.
Zeni Colorado, Ph.D.
Emporia State University

2.  What is Web Accessibility?
 Using tenets of Universal Design for Learning
 Disabilities Affected by Web Accessibility
 Web Accessibility Standards
 No ready solutions – some
recommendations:
 Tips for Web Page and Online Course Accessibility

3. Higher Ed Uses of Technology
• Course information/course management
• Schedules
• Registration
• Grade access
• Library
• Help desk
• Marketing
• Evaluations

4.  People with disabilities can use the web
 “Use” means
 Perceive
 Understand
 Navigate
 Interact
 Contribute to

5. Web Accessibility…
Does NOT mean that your course will be
absolutely accessible by everyone.
But legally and ethically, we must try to
make it as accessible as possible.

6. With respect to an individual…
 A physical or mental impairment that
substantially limits one or more of the major
life activities
 A record of such an impairment
 Being regarded as having such an
impairment
American Disabilities Act

7. Eighty-five percent of Americans
who live to their full life expectancy
will suffer a permanent disability.

8.  9.3 million people with sensory disabilities
 sight
 Hearing
 21.2 million have conditions limiting
physical activities

9. >750,000,000 people with disabilities
“…As we move towards a highly connected
world, it is critical that the Web be usable by
anyone, regardless of individual capabilities
and disabilities…”
Tim Berners-Lee

10. “The Web threatens to become the equivalent
of a classroom building without an access
ramp.”
Young (1998, p. A31)

11. Any item, equipment, or product that is used to
increase, maintain, or improve functional abilities of
individuals with disabilities.
Paciello (2000)

12. “Universal design is the design of products
and environments to be usable by all
people, to the greatest extent possible,
without the need for adaptation or
specialized design.”
Center for Universal Design
North Carolina State University

13.  Universal Design does not remove academic
challenges;
 it removes barriers to access.
 Simply stated, Universal Design is just good
teaching.

16.  Incorporates same fundamental ideas into
learning
 Addresses needs of all
 Supports improved access to information
 Supports improved access to learning

17. Seven Principles of UDL
(in Design of Environment,
Communications, and Products)
Developed by Center for Universal Design at
North Carolina State architects, product
designers, engineers, and environmental
designers

18. Students with diverse abilities
will be able to use curriculum.
E.g.. Web sites, activities,
assignments designed to be used by
everyone. Alternate forms of
assessment.

19. Curriculum accommodates a wide
range of individual preferences and
abilities
E.g. Allowing students to choose
between listening or reading an
assignment

20. Design of material is easy to understand
regardless of the user’s experience,
knowledge, language skills, or current
concentration level.
E.g.. Easy to use control buttons, directions
for activities written in easy-to-understand
manner

21. Design communicates necessary information
effectively – regardless of user’s sensory
abilities
E.g.. Including captions for visuals

22. Minimal hazards or adverse consequences of
accidental or unintended actions
E.g.. Guidance when user makes
inappropriate selection in a software use

23. Design can be used efficiently and
comfortably - with minimum fatigue
E.g.. Convenient, user-friendly technology

24. Appropriate size and space provided for
approach, reach, manipulation, and use –
regardless of user’s body size, posture, or
mobility
E.g.. Make certain equipment is appropriate
for tasks and user

25.  Design of instructional materials and
activities
 Makes learning goals achievable by
individuals with wide differences
(Including abilities to see, hear, speak, move,
read, write, understand English, attend, organize,
engage, and remember)

26.  Achieved by means of flexible curricular
materials and activities
 Provides alternatives for students with
differing abilities
 Alternatives built into design and operating
systems of materials – not added later

27.  Need to be aware of laws (handout)
 Need awareness of guidelines (handout)
 Need tools to level playing field for all
 Need to be prepared at beginning of class

28.  Visual Impairments  Cognitive Impairments
 Total Blindness  Attributed to conditions
 Low Vision such as autism, brain
 Color Blindness injury, cerebral palsy,
mental retardation
 Hearing Impairments
 Impairments may be in
 Motor Impairments ▪ Perception
▪ Problem solving
▪ Memory

29.  What helps:
 Users rely on screen readers and magnifiers
 Need Alt Tags
 Minimize layout tables
 Use heading labels (H1, H2, etc.)
 Do not format information that is requires color
recognition
 Examples of screen readers and magnifiers

30.  What helps:
 Multimedia (audio, video, multimedia
presentations, web conferencing) files should be
accompanied by real-time text captioning placed
on learning websites and delivered electronically
 http://deafness.about.com/cs/accessibility/a/webvideo

31.  What helps:
 Users rely on mouth-sticks to eye tracking devices
 Designers should not rely on synchronous real-
time activities
 Those with motor impairments should be given
extra time to complete activities

32.  Impairments are wide and varied
 Suggestions:
 Avoid cluttered pages
 Make pages easy to navigate
 Avoid extra pop-ups and flashing graphics
 Design text so it flows in logical sequence
 Use page titles and text headers
 Allow users extra time to complete assignments

33.  Section 508 – The Law
 Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
(WCAG)
 Good Summary of both sets of standards-in
article
 Differences between Section 508 and WCAG:
 Section 508 has 16 Standards and One Level of
Compliance
 WCAG has 65 checkpoints arranged under 14
separate guidelines and 3 Levels.

34.  Evaluation Tools:
 http://wave.webaim.org
 http://www.totalvalidator.com
 http://www.w3.org/WAI/eval/preliminary.html
 http://www.cynthiasays.com
Let’s give this a try!

37.  Blackboard® is committed to ensuring that our platform is
usable and accessible.
The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) recently
awarded Blackboard Learn™, Release 9.1 with a Nonvisual
Accessibility Gold Certification, making it the first learning
management system to achieve certification.
 Blackboard measures and evaluates accessibility levels
using two sets of standards: the Web Content Accessibility
Guidelines (WCAG) issued by the World Wide Web
Consortium (W3C) and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation
Act issued in the Untied States federal government.
Audits of our software releases are conducted by a third
party to ensure the accessibility of the products.

39.  Alt Tags
 Images
 Links
 PDF Files- OCR vs Scanned
 Multimedia and Videos- Captioning

40. Turn off images, and check whether
appropriate alternative text for the
images is available.

43.  No Flashing/Animated images
 ALT tags
 Description
 This is an image of….
 Best Practice Cow
 Provide long description
 Use JPEG or PNG
 250 x 250 pixels
Benefits
Students with Disabilities Every student
• Screen reader describes the image • If image fails to load, description
to the student appears.

44.  Alt Tag
o <img src=“coffee" width="250" height="285" alt="Steaming
coffee Cup Graphic"/>
Steaming coffee Cup Graphic

45. Situation 1
Please read the article “Why blogging is Important”:
http://www.techblaster.net/2011/02/why-blogging-is-important.html
Situation 2
Click Here to read the article “Why blogging is Important”:
Situation 3
Read the article “Why blogging is Important”

46. Turn off the sound, and check
whether audio content is still
available through text equivalents.

47.  Provide captioning and subtitles for
multimedia
 http://dotsub.com/
 http://universalsubtitles.org
 http://deafness.about.com/cs/accessibility/a/webvideo

49.  Use browser controls to vary font-size: verify
that the font size changes on the screen
accordingly; and that the page is still usable
at larger font sizes.
 Test with different screen resolution, and/or
by resizing the application window to less
than maximum, to verify that horizontal
scrolling is not required

51.  Change the display color to gray scale (or
print out page in gray scale or black and
white) and observe whether the color
contrast is adequate.
 Without using the mouse, use the keyboard
to navigate through the links and form
controls on a page (for example, using the
"Tab" key), making sure that you can access
all links and form controls, and that the links
clearly indicate what they lead to.

52.  http://www.w3.org/WAI/gettingstarted/Overview.htm
 http://www.section508.gov/
 Colorado, J.T. & Eberle, J.H. (2010). Web
accessibility essentials for online course
developers. In H. Song & T. Kidd (Eds.),
Handbook of Research on Human Performance
and Instructional Technology. Hershey, PA: IGI
Global.
 D’Souza, J. (2012). Web Accessibility Basics.
Webinar presented to Instructional Design and
Technology Department.