Take a journey with us through the process of designing an online course with accessibility in mind. In collaboration with SFU Disability Services, we will look at basic elements of a Learning Management System (LMS) and identify ways to support students with disabilities and help them to more easily navigate through their course. We will describe some of the current issues and some tips and tricks that can be implemented to increase accessibility. http://etug.ca/2013/04/11/spring-workshop-2013-keynote-and-facilitators/#kar

1. Journey In Accessibility
LMS Course Design for the
Visually Impaired
www.sfu.ca/tlcentre
BETA VERSION | June 17, 2013
Presented by: Matthew Menzies, Disability Services and Kar-
On Lee, Teaching and Learning Centre, SFU

2. Objectives
www.sfu.ca/tlcentre
• Current Issues
• Universal Design for Learning
• LMS Comparison
• Course Design Tips
• Going Forward

3. Who Does Disability Services
Support?
• Visually Impaired
• Deaf & Hard of Hearing
• Physical & Developmental Disabilities
• Learning Disabilities
• Mental Health Disabilities
www.sfu.ca/tlcentre
BETA VERSION | June 17, 2013

4. Current Student Experiences
• Accessibility of online documents
• Navigation of LMS for blind students
• Access to visual content
• Access to aural content
• Access to live voice/lecture chat content
www.sfu.ca/tlcentre

5. Other Potential Issues
• Navigation for Keyboard users
• Ease of discussion board for visually impaired
• Intuitive layout and usability challenges
www.sfu.ca/tlcentre

6. Current Solutions & Support
• ‘one-off’ processing of course materials
(e.g. OCR; captioning)
• Hiring access aides
www.sfu.ca/tlcentre

7. Universal Design for Learning
Definition
Method of creating educational goals, methods,
materials and assessment that includes everyone –
including those of language barriers, learning and
physical disabilities or any other needs
--- From Wikipedia
www.sfu.ca/tlcentre

8. Accessibility in LMS
What is your experience with Accessibility
www.sfu.ca/tlcentre

9. Why Universal Design?
• Unique individuals with specialized needs
• Equal and uninhibited access to same level
of education and life goals
Equality Matters
www.sfu.ca/tlcentre

10. UDL Guidelines
• Provide alternative content when necessary
• Do not rely on colour
• Effective use of markup codes (HTML/Aria)
• Use of Plain Language
• Ensure pages are easily updated
• Assistive Technology compatibility
• Meaningful labeling
www.sfu.ca/tlcentre

11. Basic LMS uses
• Discussion Boards
• Posting Documents
• Assignment Submission
• Communication
• Multimedia
www.sfu.ca/tlcentre

12. LMS Comparison
• WebCT
• Moodle
• Instructure Canvas
www.sfu.ca/tlcentre

13. WebCT
PROS / CONS of the
system
Possible
Improvements
Rating
Document Retrieval • JAWS reads
everything on page,
• has conflicts with
java-based navigation
within file structure.
• Unable to use
buttons to download
documents.
• Remove WebCT's java
dependency and
JAWS would function
better.
2
Discussions • JAWS reads
everything on page.
• WebCT's format
allows JAWs to
navigate through
page in logical format
• None identified.
extremely user-friendly
5
www.sfu.ca/tlcentre

14. WebCT
www.sfu.ca/tlcentre
PROS / CONS of
the system
Possible
Improvements
Rating
Communication • Communications
works well with
JAWS.
• WebCT mail opens
a new frame, and
causes JAWS to
read the entire
URL, but gives the
user a good
overview of the
layout and prompts
the user where to
enter which text.
• A few frame-in-
frame navigation
also causes some
confusion with
JAWS.
• Design WebCT so
that JAWS can
differentiate
between static and
dynamic content
and only read what
is relevant.
3

15. Moodle
PROS / CONS of the
system
Possible
Improvements
Rating
Discussions • sub-menus in Moodle
makes process
tedious.
• Advanced discussion
features (radio
buttons, text entry
boxes) not described
properly.
If Moodle is not designed
with accessibility in mind,
it can be difficult for user
to use screenreader. Even
a course designed
specifically to use with a
screenreader has
difficulty.
4
Document Retrieval • it does not provide
any audio feedback
to show it is a
downloadable file
rather than a new
webpage.
• Screenreader spends
too much time
reading actual URL
and headings.
Allow for more
descriptive information
to be entered into
document when it is
uploaded into Moodle
and allow JAWS to read it
as a priority.
3
www.sfu.ca/tlcentre

16. Moodle
PROS / CONS of the
system
Possible
Improvements
Rating
Communication • it reads most of what
needs to be read.
• JAWS reads the static
header and
navigation menus
again and repeats it
all when a
conversation is
refreshed.
Design moodle so that
JAWS can differentiate
between static and
dynamic content and only
read what is relevant.
4
www.sfu.ca/tlcentre

17. Canvas
PROS / CONS of the
system
Possible
Improvements
Rating
Discussion • JAWS reads
everything on page
including all
navigation bars.
• Difficult to
understand what a
discussion topic is
when moving
through the threads
because it calls every
discussion heading as
"link".
• Struggles with
threaded discussions
where there are
multiple replies
corresponding to
different sections of a
thread.
Descriptive labeling is
important when
designing course content
to make headings and
links more obvious to
users when using a
screen reader.
Avoid using multi-
threaded discussions
because it gets confusing
when using a
screenreader.
2
www.sfu.ca/tlcentre

18. Canvas
PROS / CONS of the
system
Possible
Improvements
Rating
Document Retrieval • It reads all the
navigation and
sidebars each and
every time the page
is loaded without the
ability to skip them
which can be
overwhelming.
• Simple pages sound
overly detailed with
the screen reader
reading out all the
headings and links in
every section.
The ability to restrict
areas (such as the
navigation bar) from
being read by the screen
reader on certain pages.
4
www.sfu.ca/tlcentre

19. Canvas
PROS / CONS of the
system
Possible
Improvements
Rating
Communication Students can easily send
messages and attach files
in Conversations.
However, JAWS struggles
to read out the
autocomplete options for
recipient names which
could pose a problem if
the user does not know
the full name of the
person they wish to
message.
Works great overall, a
separate window for
conversations would
make it more efficient so
the screen reader doesn't
read all the navigation
bars every time the page
is loaded.
4
www.sfu.ca/tlcentre

20. What’s in Common
• Incompatible Web Technologies
• JAWS reading unnecessary information
• Constant repetition of information
• Full URL links
www.sfu.ca/tlcentre

21. Course Design Tips & Tricks
• Use Plain Language
• Limit the use of pop-up windows
• Provide ALT text/alternate site when needed
• Descriptive naming convention for documents
• Description for placeholders
• Templates for page to page consistency
www.sfu.ca/tlcentre

22. Going forward
• Educate faculty about Universal Design
• Modify existing content
• Using more meaningful labels and names
• Keeping courses open to add content as
needed
www.sfu.ca/tlcentre

23. Going Forward
Any Suggestions and Experience on
Accessibility and LMS Design to add?
www.sfu.ca/tlcentre

24. • Thank you for everyone who helped on this
project
– Betty Nobel, Vancouver Community College
– Donald Mok, Canvas Implementation, SFU
– Stephine Reimer, Canvas Implementation, SFU
– Fredrik Kruger-Ross, Learn Tech Technician, SFU
www.sfu.ca/tlcentre

25. Questions? Contact us
Matthew Menzies: mmenzies@sfu.ca
Kar On Lee: cal2@sfu.ca
www.sfu.ca/tlcentre