4 accessibility myths to enhance your eLearning content
Posted on the May 7th, 2024
At Aurion Learning, we are committed to providing learning that works. Not just for some, but for all. Here’s an insight into why accessible content benefits everyone and not just people with a disability.
Let’s address some accessibility myths…
Myth #1 - Accessibility does not benefit everybody
It’s expensive, time-consuming and for the few, right?
Wrong.
Accessibility refers to how easily someone, whether conventionally able-bodied or living with a disability, can access and interact with something, such as a physical building or learning content.
Disability statistics generally state that 20% of any nation’s population has a disability. These statistics however do not include people who chose not to disclose they have a disability or difference. Why would we deny approximately 1 in 5 people the opportunity to do whatever they need to do to thrive at work and help a company achieve continued success? In fact, it’s an employer’s responsibility to. There’s legislation out there to prove it; the UK Equality Act 2010, Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations 2018 and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
Julio Madeira, App Dev Manager at Microsoft writes that when it comes to people;
“There’s no such thing as normal. The interactions we design with technology depend heavily on what we see, hear, say and touch. Assuming all these senses and abilities are fully enabled all the time creates the potential to ignore much of the range of humanity.”
Imagine watching a video when all of a sudden, outside, a road digger is so loud you can no longer hear what you are watching.
Or you’ve just had eye laser surgery and you are temporarily having difficulty seeing things on screen.
Or, you are coming to terms with an epilepsy diagnosis, you aren’t ready to share this, but you know this will affect the way you interact with content.
If you produce content that’s accessible to everybody, you’ll widen your audience, be better able to achieve short and long-term goals, drive a culture of inclusion that embraces difference and save yourself money and time in the long run.
Myth #2 - Accessibility is difficult and expensive to implement
In the grand scheme of things, it’s really not. Implementing all types of change takes some investment – you get out what you put in.
Some people can make the mistake of thinking that accessible content involves tailoring or customising it to suit specific needs. In fact, you are creating a standard that will apply to all content you produce. Once you’ve created the ‘rules,’ they should be easy to implement time and time again, becoming part of your content production process.
Of course, you might want to rethink if the authoring tool you use is the best for accessibility. This may involve some investigation time, as well as a dip into your spending – but it’s all for the greater good. Invest now and reap the many rewards later.
You can start small without any real effort. Conquer the quick wins or common accessibility problems.
An article written by accessibility expert Susi Miller for the charity Scope, states that staff training videos which have no or poor-quality captions, cause the most problems.
Changing fonts to sans serif styles can make text easier to read. Any high-colour contrast ratios can make screens easier to look at and engage with.
These simple changes benefit everybody and not the few.
There is a lot you can do to make content accessible simply from the instruction and the writing. Employ a writer with a good knowledge of learning theory and teaching techniques and you are halfway to success. At Aurion, we use plain English to guide our writing, we structure our content into a logical and easily navigable flow, separating with unique, descriptive headings and leading with the information we deem most important.
We are using ‘senseless’ contextual instructions more and more. For example, ‘Find out more about what Emily has to say about her seizures…’ is better than ‘Listen to this audio to find out more.’ You have removed the word ‘listen,’ which not everybody will be able to do, and you have provided some context around what Emily is going to speak about.
Include links that provide context. Rather than ‘Click here for (company name’s) password policy’, say, ‘Access (company name’s) password policy’ or ‘Find out more about (company name’s) password policy’. Then, build on your quick wins.
Myth #3 - Accessible content is boring
It doesn’t need to be. Inaccessible content can be boring too. It’s about using what you have, to tell the stories people need to hear. Learning is storytelling. You don’t need a fancy drop-down or hotspot interaction to tell a good story. Humans love a good story – it’s why television, podcasts and going to the movies are so popular. Emotional triggers provide the connect aspect of a learning resource. Most importantly, the stories we tell are often relatable to the learner – it helps to put learning into context.
This video, ‘Fiona’s story’, tells the story of one person’s experience with alcohol-related brain injury. It uses typical ‘beginning, middle and end’ storytelling, combined with simple visuals, subtle yet emotive background music and character voiceover to give an insight into how alcohol-related brain injury can affect a person and their family members.
Learning should also be designed to be as self-directed as possible, giving room for plenty of thought-provoking activities such as ‘What do you think?’ questions and reflection points. A person should be given every opportunity to link learning directly to the tasks they carry out in their work. This autonomous, self-direct approach lends itself well to catering for people with different needs and preferences. A person can influence the direction their learning takes in a way that best suits them.
This example from Cooperation and Working Together (CAWT) shows a simple but effective interaction that enables a learner to start a module thinking about anything they would like to work on or improve, such as sleeping better or managing their anxiety better at night-time. This is then added to their virtual plan, where the learner must mark where they are at with this right now. At the end of the module, they have the opportunity to see if they have made progress or if they’ve identified ways to help them make progress.
Myth #4 - Accessibility is about meeting WCAG guidelines – they are too hard to interpret!
Well, this is part myth and part truth!
Whilst it is true that WCAG guidelines are quite lengthy and hard to interpret, it is a key accessibility requirement to meet at least the WCAG ‘A’ standard. There are some ‘easy read’ versions of the guidelines on various accessibility-related websites such as DigitalA11Y and eLaHub.
The key takeaway from these guidelines is the four POUR principles. You should always make sure that your eLearning content is:
- Perceivable (information and user components must be presentable to users in ways they can perceive).
- Operable (user interface components and navigation must be operable).
- Understandable (information and operation of the user interface must be understandable).
- Robust (Content must be robust enough that it can be interpreted by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies).
Sometimes it can simply be a case of asking yourself questions such as, ‘Would I be able to navigate through this module with just a keyboard or screen reader?’ Or ‘Does this content make sense to me?’
The point is, use the WCAG guidelines as your guide, but think of accessibility as more than a standard we can measure against. It is more far-reaching and all-encompassing. It’s an attitude and a state of mind rather than a tick-box exercise. There are simple ways to achieve it that go beyond reading the WCAG guidelines cover to cover. Approach accessibility experts; engage with your audiences to figure out your stumbling blocks; commit to writing clearly and succinctly; use your imagery and colour choices as decoration rather than a condition of comprehension.
Moving forward…
Hopefully, this article has proved to be a helpful starting point for you if you want to know more about how to take those first steps to implement accessible eLearning.
At Aurion, we have been working hard to provide the best accessibility we can for clients, with lots of positive implementations already part of the way we do things. Key to this was the development of our accessible design framework, ‘Aurion High5.’
Aurion High5 helps to elevate your learning content, delivering the highest levels of accessibility, mobile experience, control, flexibility and future readiness. Deliver web-style learning across any device, learning management system or platform.
Contact us if you’d like to find out more about what we can bring to your learning solutions. It starts with hello!
Unlocking the potential of accessible learning doesn’t stop here. In our next featured article on accessible learning, we'll navigate the nuances of neurodivergent learning needs. Join us in understanding how creating inclusive environments for neurodiverse individuals enriches the learning experience for everyone.
Missed our previous article? ‘Embracing accessible eLearning: a pathway to inclusivity.’
