Accessibility And E-Learning: Conclusions

1. Accessibility And E-Learning:Conclusions Email B.Kelly@ukoln.ac.uk URL http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/ Brian Kelly UKOLN University of Bath Bath, BA2 7AY UKOLN is supported by:

2. 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 • …

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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?

6. 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 support:shortcut keys; specialist devices; support infrastructure • Description of procedures

7. 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 • …

8. QA Focus Documents: http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/qa-focus/documents/briefings/ • 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) • …

9. 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_evaluation.html TechDis have developed something similar which covers accessibility:

10. 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

11. Policy example Policy: Web Standards Standard: XHTML 1.0 and CSS 2.0 Architecture: Use of SSIs and text editor Exceptions: Automatically-derived files Checking: Use ,validate after update Audit Trail: Use ,rvalidate monthly and document findings 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

12. 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)

13. 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 …

14. 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. Departmental 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.

15. 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.

16. 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!