Module 4, Accessibility Overview (1 week)
Learning Objectives
- Define accessibility and adaptability goals.
- Incorporate best practices for technological accessibility.
- Identify feedback loops for technological accessibility.
- Explore strategies allowing diverse learners to adapt content to personalize the learning experience.
- Promote multimodality and alternative means of access to course content.
- Assess the accessibility and usability of tools and content.
Overview
Accessibility is a significant factor in student participation, learning, and course completion. We will introduce you to the concept of accessibility and some common accessibility barriers in the online learning environment. We will look at accessibility across multiple text mediums, including social media, the web, and print. We will explore recommended best practices for accessibility, specifically within open educational resources (OER), and how they might be applied in online learning environments.
In this module, you will be exploring the accessibility of a student-facing artifact. You will actively use accessibility checkers and tools and will also engage with your Student Accessibility Services department (or equivalent). We will consider accessibility as we review the renewable lesson you created in the last module with the opportunity to improve. Finally, you will consider accessibility for your OEP project. While we all know that open education has the potential to make learning more inclusive, we have to be cognizant of the structures that impede or enhance accessibility or the mistakes within the implementation.
| Activity | Due |
|---|---|
| Activity 1: Reviewing Artifacts for Accessibility Discussion | Initial post due Thursday; Response post(s) due Sunday |
| Activity 2: Answer Module 4 Questions for OEP Action Plan | Sunday |
| Self-assessment Quiz | Sunday |
Associated Resources
The resources below and their relation to this Module's activities are explained in more detail in the following pages. Their references are listed here to provide a snapshot of the resources you will be consulting in this module.
Course Materials
Activity 1
Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology, University of British Columbia. (2017, Jul 28). Open Dialogues: Open Education and Accessibility. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcvYG-rkO-Y
Thompson, T. (2013). 30 Web Accessibility Tips. Access Computing. University of Washington. https://www.washington.edu/accesscomputing/sites/default/files/doit-sync/files/30_Web_Tips.pdf Links to an external site.
Digital Education Strategies/The Chang School. (2020 Jan 15). Understanding Document Accessibility. https://pressbooks.library.ryerson.ca/docs/ Links to an external site.
Smith, E. [@Em1lySm]. (2022, Apr 20). I’m just a girl, standing in front of the internet, asking you, for the love of goodness to stop using ‘Click here’ to embed your links: it’s inaccessible. [Tweet]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/Em1lySm/status/1516741011422199810 Links to an external site.
University of Washington. (2022). Online Course Accessibility Checker. https://depts.washington.edu/uwdrs/faculty/online-course-accessibility-checklist/ Links to an external site.