Accessibility And ELearning: Conclusions

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Accessibility And E-LearningConclusions

• Brian Kelly
• UKOLN
• University of Bath
• Bath, BA2 7AY

Email B.Kelly_at_ukoln.ac.uk URL http//www.ukoln.ac.
uk/
UKOLN is supported by
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W3C WAI

• W3C WAI
• Have raised awareness of how digital resources
  can be made widely accessible
• Have helped ensure that W3C standards support
  accessibility
• But
• What does WAI A, AA, AAA mean
• Covers more disabilities
• Covers more people
• Addresses more technologies
• Addresses increasing areas of difficulties
• Goes from today's Web technologies to future
  technologies
• W3C WAI are promoters of W3C technologies what
  about
• Increased accessibility of proprietary formats
• Accessibility support in operating systems

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Universal Design

• W3C WAI philosophy
• Based on universal design principle"A kerb
  cutaway will help people with prams, and not just
  people in wheelchairs"
• But
• This sounds nice, but to what extent is it
  universally true
• Doesn't life tell us that 'no-brainers' are the
  exception normally we need to make compromises
• Even the dreaded "click here" may be needed in
  certain circumstances e.g. people with learning
  disabilities

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Resource Issues

• Remember
• Implementing accessibility is likely to have
  resource implications
• This need not be an insurmountable barrier
  (installing fire precautions has a cost, but we
  are prepared to accept this)
• The costs may be higher if deferred

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Learning Or E-Learning?

• E-learning accessibility may be more difficult
  than information accessibility
• Hiding information to facilitate thinking
• E-learning and 3D visualisation, simulation,
• E-Learning and drag-and-drop interfaces
• Some questions
• Should we be seeking to provide accessible
  e-learning or accessible learning?
• If accessible e-learning is difficult / costly
  can we provide an accessible learning experience?

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Accessibility Policies

• It is probably sensible to develop an
  accessibility policy
• What you provide (aim to provide) to your users
• What your authors will do
• Description of accessibility supportshortcut
  keys specialist devices support infrastructure
• Description of procedures

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Quality Assurance

• You should probably implement quality assurance
  (QA) procedures which will ensure that your
  policies are implemented
• The QA Focus project provides useful resources
• Briefing documents
• Case studies
• Examples of policies
• Self assessment tools

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QA Focus Documents
http//www.ukoln.ac.uk/qa-focus/documents/briefin
gs/

• The QA Focus briefing documents address
• Standards such as XHTML, CSS,
• Approaches to accessibility testing
• Deployment of proprietary formats

• Case studies include
• Standards And Accessibility Compliance In The
  FAILTE Project Web Site (no. 2)
• Standards and Accessibility Compliance for the
  DEMOS Project Web Site (no. 10)
• Approaches to Accessibility at MIMAS (no. 15)
• Exploiting ACRONYM And ABBR HTML Elements (no.
  29)

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Self Assessment Toolkit
http//www.ukoln.ac.uk/qa-focus/toolkit/

• Further Deliverables
• We are developing a self-assessment toolkit
  which consists of
• Examples of QA procedures
• Documented examples of use of testing tools
• Self-assessment questionnaires
• Case studies, FAQs, ..

http//www.techdis.ac.uk/seven/statistics_and_eva
luation.html
TechDis have developed something similar which
covers accessibility
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Useful Approach To Tools

• As an example of approach which provides easier
  access to testing tools, see the ,tools approach
  deployed on UKOLN Web site.
• This approach
• Applies to all resources on Web site
• Covers HTML and CSS validation and various other
  tests
• Some recursive apps (,rvalidate)
• Easily implemented with single line redirect

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Policies

• How do you know what you should do if you don't
  have documented polices?

You may find it useful to develop similar
policies yourself for example, a policy of the
accessibility of your Web site
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Nobody Said It Would Be Easy

• "Nobody said it would be easy" Judy Brewer,
  head of W3C WAI
• Some thoughts
• There is a danger that seeking to achieve the
  best will drive out the good
• If 100 accessibility is theoretically impossible
  and 90 accessibility is too expensive, why not
  go for 80 accessibility?
• We've done this before in many areas (e.g.
  wheelchair accessibility for listed Victorian
  buildings)

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Let's Build A Policy (in 3 mins)

• Foo University Web Accessibility Policy

The University has a commitment to accessibility
and well-established policies, procedures and
support (see Disability Office for details).
This commitment also applies to University Web
sites. The University Web site must comply with
W3C AA guidelines. The Web Accessibility Officer
is responsible for providing support, monitoring
compliance, Web sites which do not comply are
liable to be removed or access denied through
blocking by the University firewall
A simple, clear policy which is linked to related
policies, has a support infrastructure and the
policy has teeth But
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Another Web Policy

• Bar University Web Accessibility Policy

The University has a commitment to accessibility
In addition the University seeks to ensure
that its publications are authoritative
understandable, usable, accurate
up-to-date. This commitment also applies to
University Web sites. University Web sites
(.bar.ac.uk) must seek to comply with W3C A
guidelines, with university visual identity
guidelines and with usability guidelines. Departme
ntal Web contacts are responsible for producing
appropriate QA guidelines and for establishing
monitoring procedures. Annual reports on
compliance must be submitted as part of
department's annual reports.
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A Third Web Policy

• FUBAR Department's Web Accessibility Policy

The FUBAR Dept has a commitment to Web
accessibility and open standards. The Dept.'s
browser policy if Netsoft v6 The Dept will
ensure that its templates, training, etc. adhere
to best W3C practices. Significant new Web
services will go through systematic usability
testing, which will include usability for people
with disabilities. We will ensure that teaching
resources to be used by registered disabled
students will be tested. If they are not
accessible we will seek to ensure that we can
provide an equivalent real-world learning
experience. We will take a risk and make our
DHTML learning resources freely-available. If
external disabled users complain, we will move
them to our Intranet.
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Conclusions

• To conclude
• Accessibility of e-learning resources is
  important
• However a simple checklist approach to
  accessibility is insufficient in itself
• There will be a subjectivity aspect to
  accessibility
• Tools can help but aren't sufficient in
  themselves
• User feedback can help but won't cover
  everything
• There are best practices which you should seek to
  deploy
• But compromises may be necessary
• But you are not alone!