First and foremost, online course accessibility is about users with disabilities. The first goal of an accessible online course is to ensure that users are able to make use of a course using standard user interfaces and settings. Some techniques include:
- Providing for the easy access of screen readers through alt text, image descriptions, and appropriate labels
- Using an acceptable default color contrast
- Using acceptable typography and providing the ability to alter text size (through browser settings or course settings)
- Providing appropriate link text and explanatory information for acronyms and abbreviations.
- Avoiding the creation of any access barriers requiring specific knowledge or abilities.
These are the first priorities; they make a course usable for disabled students.
A second priority is to make the online course easy to use. Web accessibility is commonly defined according to the principles found in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. From a policy perspective, online course accessibility means following the WCAG guidelines. But from a logical perspective, some of these guidelines are actually about making a online course easier to use for all students not just those with disabilities.
Accessibility Resources
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0
Web Content Accessibility Guidlines Checklist
