Designing for all: Making your VLE areas and materials
accessible Kirsten Thompson @_KirstenT |
[email protected]
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Overview During this one hour session we will consider the
importance of making learning materials accessible, the support
available at the University for staff and students, and some of the
approaches you can take to ensure disabled learners and those with
learning difficulties, are catered for. We will also explore
accessibility features available in the VLE and easy ways of
creating accessible online content, as well as considering the
benefits and challenges various file formats present.
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Overview 1.Definitions 2.Legal context & UoL policy
3.Accessibility features in the VLE 4.Creating accessible online
content 5.JISC TechDis
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1. Definitions
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Universal Design for Learning Universal Design for Learning
(UDL) is a set of principles for curriculum development that give
all individuals equal opportunities to learn. UDL provides a
blueprint for creating instructional goals, methods, materials, and
assessments that work for everyone -not a single, one-size-fits-all
solution but rather flexible approaches that can be customized and
adjusted for individual needs. Centre for Applied Special
Technology (CAST) http://www.cast.org/udl/index.html UDL =
designing for all
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Disability In the Act, a person has a disability if: They have
a physical or mental impairment The impairment has a substantial
and long-term adverse effect on their ability to perform normal
day-to-day activities Directgov, Disability and Equality Act 2010
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/DisabledPeople/RightsAndObligations/DisabilityRights/DG_4001068
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Usability 5 quality components: Learnability: How easy is it
for users to accomplish basic tasks the first time they encounter
the design? Efficiency: Once users have learned the design, how
quickly can they perform tasks? Memorability: When users return to
the design after a period of not using it, how easily can they
re-establish proficiency? Errors: How many errors do users make,
how severe are these errors, and how easily can they recover from
the errors? Satisfaction: How pleasant is it to use the design?
Jakob Nielsen http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20030825.html
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Usability Dont Make Me Think Steve Krug
http://www.sensible.com/dmmt.html
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Web accessibility Web accessibility means that people with
disabilities can use the Web. More specifically, Web accessibility
means that people with disabilities can perceive, understand,
navigate, and interact with the Web, and that they can contribute
to the Web. Web accessibility encompasses all disabilities that
affect access to the Web, including visual, auditory, physical,
speech, cognitive, and neurological disabilities.
http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/accessibility.php
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2. Legal Context and UoL Policy
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Legal obligation It is unlawful for schools and other education
providers to discriminate against disabled pupils, students and
adult learners.the Equality Act 2010 has increased protection for
disabled learners against unfair treatment. DirectGov
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/DisabledPeople/EducationAndTraining/DG_4001076http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/DisabledPeople/EducationAndTraining/DG_4001076
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UoL The University of Leeds is committed to supporting students
and staff who: are deaf or hard of hearing are blind or
partially-sighted have a physical disability, and/or mobility
difficulties have a specific learning difficulty (for example,
dyslexia or dyspraxia) have a developmental learning or behavioural
condition (for example, AD(H)D) have an autism spectrum condition
(for example, Asperger Syndrome) have a mental health condition
have a long-term medical condition (for example, chronic fatigue
syndrome, asthma, epilepsy, diabetes, cancer from the point of
diagnosis, HIV) have a combination of these
http://www.equality.leeds.ac.uk/for-staff/supporting-disabled-postgraduate-research-students-a-guide-for-staff/
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UoL Single Equality Scheme Commitment to promote equality and
diversity in our work. Response to legal responsibilities under
anti-discrimination legislation. The priorities identified in the
Single Equality Scheme action plan include those recommended by
staff and students in the 3Rs Rights, Respect and Representation
consultation sessions (held in 2009), and specific public sector
statutory obligations. Replaces the Universitys previous
Disability, Gender and Race Equality Schemes.
http://www.equality.leeds.ac.uk/university-policies/single-equality-scheme/
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UoL Equality Service Advice Good practice guidance RNIB &
UoL Transcription Centre http://www.equality.leeds.ac.uk/
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3. Accessibility features in the VLE
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Accessibility features in the VLE
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Good practice in the VLE Use meaningful names and descriptions
for menu items, folders, files etc Customisation: Text style module
menu is accessible, button style menu isnt. Choose a high contrast
between background colour and foreground text (print to B/W if in
doubt) Default menu view: permit folder and list view Default
content view: Icon and Text
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Navigating the VLE with Jaws
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4. Creating accessible online content
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Repurposing Vs. Optimised Design Its cheap but degrading to
reuse content and design across diverging media forms like print
vs. online or desktop vs. mobile. 1.Repurposing: make as few
designs as possible preferably one and reuse the same material
across as many platforms as possible. 2.Platform optimisation:
design different user interfaces for each platform. Repurposing has
huge cost advantages. Most of the work must be done only once. But
on most platforms, the outcome tends to be a substandard user
experience. Jakob Nielson
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/repurposing.html
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Accessible online content Creating accessible documents with
Office Wimba Create: Turning Word documents into web pages PDF
Portable Document Format Only accessible if formatted correctly but
no definitive answer as to whether PDF files are truly accessible
(RNIB) ODF Open Document Format Emerging and developing format
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Accessibility tips Transcripts for audio/video Sans-serif fonts
e.g. Arial are best for the web Colour alone should not be used to
highlight information Images: use ALT text and long descriptions.
Choose images with a good contrast No single solution meets every
need