WebCT is committed to ensuring that high quality educational experiences are available to all individuals, including those with special needs. Legislation in both the USA and Canada reflects the importance of establishing accessibility standards for web-based resource development.
WebCT has incorporated adaptive technology into its products to comply with the US Rehabilitation Act, section 508, in force June 21, 2001.
For more information on web accessibility, see the resources provided by the World Wide Web Consortium's Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI), at www.w3.org/WAI/.
Users with special needs may have to interact with computer hardware and software, as well as input and output, in different ways. Users with vision loss may need adaptive software to access information that they are unable to read on a screen. Users with limited mobility may use an adapted keyboard to navigate the web. The following is a list of commonly used adaptive technologies.
- Screen readers:
Screen readers allow users with vision loss to access web page text. Text is read out by a voice synthesizer. Tab or Shift-Tab allows navigation through the links on a web page. Note: If you are using a screen reader to access your WebCT course, you must change a course setting before you can add or edit course content using the wizards in the Course Design Center. For more information, see the Help topic, Disabling Dynamic HTML in Wizards. - Screen magnifiers:
Screen magnification systems enlarge portions of the screen to allow users with vision loss to access computer-based materials. - Alternative keyboards:
These keyboards offer larger or smaller target areas for users with loss of gross or fine motor control. They may be switched to mouse emulation mode so that the arrow keys or numeric keypad of the same keyboard are used for mouse movements. - On-screen keyboards:
This software allows users to enter text and select buttons that emulate menu functions on the monitor. Users have a pointing device or a switch to select buttons. - Voice recognition:
Users speak into a microphone to navigate software applications, surf the web, and input text. Commands correlating to macro sequences may be created to customize usage for specific software or frequent tasks. Mouse control may incorporate a grid system.
Designing a more accessible WebCT course | Top
The following design strategies will assist you in ensuring that your WebCT course is reaching the widest possible audience. These strategies are based on the Guidelines provided by the World Wide Web Consortium's Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI), at www.w3.org/WAI/.
- Images and animation
To describe the function of all images for users who cannot access visual elements, use the ALT attribute. An ALT text equivalent describes the function or purpose of content. A good test to determine if a text equivalent is useful is to imagine reading the document aloud over the telephone. What would you say upon encountering this HTML code reference to an image to make it comprehensible to the listener?
Example: <IMG src="bookshelf.gif" alt="Resource Materials">
WebCT will automatically use the text description of icons provided by ALT tags on the course Homepage and Tool pages. HTML documents that you upload to the WebCT Manage Files utility should include ALT text for all images.
- Multimedia
When including multimedia components such as video clips or audio files, provide alternative formats for users who cannot use movies, sounds, or audio enhancements directly. For example:
- QuickTime authoring tools allow easy addition of captioning to video clips.
- Supplementary text can be added as an alternative to video clips or animation.
- Transcripts of audio files can be included.
Note: Embed multimedia components as well as any of the text equivalents of the multimedia content in a single HTML document to be added to a Content Module.
- Hypertext links
Users who access web content with audio output use the Tab key to move from link to link. To improve accessibility for these users, ensure that link text is meaningful and makes sense when read out of context.
- Page organization
To allow content to be effectively interpreted by non-visual browsers, use consistent course page structure and correct use of HTML markup. Use outlines at the beginning of long documents, and label and structure lists carefully. When creating web pages to be uploaded to a Content Module, use standardized HTML markup. Example: Sections should be introduced with the HTML header elements (H1-H6) headings:
<H1>Cooking techniques</H1>
... introductory text here ...<H2>Part 1: Cooking with oil</H2>
... text of the section ...<H2>Part 2: Cooking with butter</H2>
... text of the section ...Graphs and charts
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It is helpful to summarize the information in text form when ALT text does not adequately convey the function or role of an image presented in the WebCT course content.
Additional supporting text may be included within content pages, or may be uploaded as a separate file and linked to the page.
Example:
As part of the "Information Highway," the Internet provides the following tools:
- World Wide Web
- Telnet
- FTP
- Tables
Unless line-by-line reading is possible, avoid using tables for column or page layout. Tables with text-wrapping can present problems for browsers that do not allow navigation of individual table cells. These screen readers will read across the page, presenting text on the same row from different columns as one sentence.
Example:
There is a 30% chance
of rain showers this morning, but they
should stop before the weekend.Classes at the University of Wisconsin
will resume on September 3rd.This might be read by a screen reader as:
There is a 30% chance Classes at the University of Wisconsin of rain showers this morning, but they will resume on September 3rd. should stop before the weekend.
Validate your HTML pages with one of the validation tools available online. By using validation methods in the early stages of course design, problems can be noted before you are well into course construction.
Some of the validation tools available online include:
Other useful resources: