Lesson 4
Accessibility
Accessibility has come to the forefront of our industry in recent years along with the diversity and inclusivity movement. Because each person is unique, every person comes to your instruction with their own talents and abilities. In some cases, they also come with their own unique set of disabilities or challenges! The goal of instructional designers should be to reduce barriers to the learning for all. That means to make your content available to everyone whether it's by ensuring you have closed captions on all your videos, including transcripts of audio files, or providing audio files that "read" the text on your pages. Another aspect of accessibility is the consideration of images and colors for the visually impaired. That means including alt tags or captions on all images, ensuring text has good contrast and the colors are easily seen by all, and even choosing high contrast images with clear visual content. Since this course is about visuals in instructional design, we will focus our accessibility study on topics that relate to visuals, such as color, contrast, and images. You will be able to identify basic accessibility needs and be able to locate resources to help you ensure your presentation is accessible. The below activities are due by the end of the week.
WATCH
In summary, there are many ways to ensure your presentation is visually accessible to all. One key way is to make sure that you do not use color as the only method for distinguishing information. That means, using icons or text headers to segment information vs. color coding. Avoid overly complex graphics or charts. Ensure all images have descriptive captions and alt text that can be read by screen readers. It's also a good idea to consider how you phrase your verbal communication to the class -- saying things like, "As you can see on the screen..." assumes everyone can see it and may exclude some of the class who may not be able to see what you're referring to.
​
Part of the job of an instructional designer is to reduce barriers to education and this includes considering accessibility barriers from the beginning and designing accordingly.
YOUR TURN
1. This week, since we are at our half-way point, please take the post-test linked below to check what you've learned so far.
​
​
​
2. Next, create a presentation that uses what you've learned about accessibility. The topic can be any learning content you'd like to create. It must have at least 5 slides. The thing I will be checking is that it is accessible. So open your accessibility panel and make sure it passes all the checks. Images should have alt text. Consideration to reading order for screen readers should also be given. I will be opening the accessibility tab on your presentation to make sure everything is correct. Send the actual PPT file so I can perform this check. This is due by the end of the week.