Transcript Considerations for Studying Web Accessibility

Web Accessibility: A
Challenge for e-Learning
Designers
Harriette LaVarre Spiegel
First Southeastern Conference
in Instructional Design and Technology
March 12, 2005
CHALLENGE:

“To invite into competition” (m-w.com)
Demographics
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20% of all people worldwide with vision-,
hearing-, mobility-related or cognitive or other
disabilities; 50 million in U.S.
41% of able-bodied use Internet
2% of persons with disabilities use Internet
Only 24% of distance learning home pages
accessible to users with disabilities
Web Accessibility

The extent to which a web site is easily
accessed, with the least amount of
barriers.
Considerations

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Individual disabilities and assistive
technologies
Legislation regarding Web Accessibility
Types of barriers encountered
Examples of solutions to barriers
Research Questions
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What does it feel like to have a disability and encounter
barriers on the Internet?
Are sensory disabilities impacted differently than cognitive
disabilities by barriers to Web accessibility?
What are the design issues that can be resolved to
eliminate these barriers?
Who has the responsibility of ensuring barrier-free access
to the Internet?
Why is this an important issue?
What are the implications for institutions of higher learning
who ignore the issue of Web Accessibility?
What are the implications for training professionals who
ignore the issue of Web Accessibility?
Individual Disabilities and
Assistive Technologies


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Vision
Hearing
Mobility
Learning
Disabilities
Speech
impairment
Traumatic
Brain Injury
Screen reader
Captions, transcripts
Organization, design
of content
Text-to-speech
device
Alternative pointing
devices
Legislation Regarding Web
Accessibility

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1968 - Architectural Barriers Act
1973 - Rehabilitation Act (Sec. 503,504)
1998 - Rehabilitation Act, Section
Section 508
508
amended (guidelines developed in
electronic and information technology
industry)
1988 - Tech Act
1990 - Americans With Disabilities (ADA)
W3C and WAI

World Wide Web Consortium
http://www.w3.org/

Web Accessibility Initiative
http://www.w3.org/WAI/
Types of Barriers Encountered
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User with color-blindness: difficulty reading
text
Blindness: use of mouse, reading of text not
possible
Hearing-related: cannot hear audio file
Mobility-related: mouse is not an option
Cognitive: confusion due to cluttered design
Examples of Solutions to
Barriers

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Difficulty reading text: contrast, information
presented regardless of color
Blindness: screen readers, auditory
equivalent for text, alternative text for
graphics
Hearing: captions or transcripts of audio
Mobility-related: speech recognition devices
and access key shortcuts; keyboard access
Cognitive: consistency in navigation
The Challenge for
Instructional Designers
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Learner-centered principles
Systematic design of instruction
Clear and simple language
Understandable and consistent
navigation
Design of code that is accessible
Text alternatives to graphics and PDF
The Challenge for
Instructional Designers


Include preparation for designing
accessible distance learning modules in
professional courses.
Example of a resource.
Resources
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How People With Disabilities Use the Web:
http://www.w3.org/WAI/EO/Drafts/PWD-Use-Web/
Surfing the Web With A Screen Reader;
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/surfing.php
Accessibility Tools:

Bobby: http://bobby.watchfire.com
Legislation:
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http://www.section508.gov
Accessible Distance Learning:
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AccessIT Home - http://www.washington.edu/accessit/index.php
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Publication on distance learning and accessibility
http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/ped/daa/publications/Article_48.htm?num=
18
World Wide Web Consortium - http://www.w3c.org/
W3C Web Accessibility Initiative - http://www.w3c.org/WAI/
THANK YOU
Harriette L. Spiegel
Ph.D. Student, Instructional Technology
[email protected]