Accessibility Support

Accessibility Support

Typical Online Class Components May Have Possible Barriers To Accessibility

• Navigation: Many LMS contain menus, icons, and visuals to navigate class sections, such as tutorials or discussions. LMS interfaces can often be frustrating or counterintuitive. In addition, icons or images may not have alt-tags. We can review the components of the LMS used and determine accessibility levels.
• Lecture: Instructors frequently create lectures for student learning. Some utilize applications such as “lecture capture”, where the professor is the “voice over” for a slide show or other presentation. In some cases, professors use their webcam to construct their lectures. Each approach has potential limitations with accessibility. We ensure all class videos provide the captioning and appropriate audio capability. A document describing the video will also be developed.
• Reading Assignments: Reading exercises commonly complement lectures. Readings may be connections to web sites, other electronic content, text papers, or PDFs. These outside sources may not be accessible. Our instructional designers can assist instructors to ensure that articles and other course materials are accessible.
• Discussions: Asynchronous discussions may be more effective for students with disabilities than real-time discussions, as students have time to absorb and react to their reading material. Many LMS discussion structures have multi-level threads that may be challenging to access, particularly for students with vision or visual impairments. Allow us to help you structure the discussions to restrict excessive level threads.
• Assessments: Typically, learners with disabilities may require additional time to read, process, and react to test objects. Many LMS has a function to change the time allotted for individual students or all students. Furthermore, assessment items should be comprehensible by text-to-speech applications.