Accessible Elearning Resources

Presentation Slides

• Accessible Elearning Overview Slides | PPT on Dropbox
  Slides for the Accessible Elearning Overview presentation.

Specific to Accessible Elearning

• The Training Manager’s Guide to Accessible Elearning
  A discussion of factors a training manager should consider when creating accessible elearning.
• “E-Learning for All”—A TD Magazine article | PDF
  Factors for elearning developers to consider when creating accessible elearning.
• Sample WCAG report spreadsheet | Google Sheets view-only
  A sample checklist that adapts WCAG success criteria to an elearning quality assurance process.
• Creating Accessible eLearning: Practitioner Perspectives : Research Library | The eLearning Guild
  eLearning Guild report on accessible elearning. Note: free membership required to access.
• A comparison of the accessibility features of popular authoring tools
  Diane Elkins’s guide to the accessibility features of rapid elearning authoring solutions. Created in 2012, but has relevant guidance.
• An older guide on creating accessible courses with Storyline | PDF
  A guide on how to use Articulate Storyline 2 to design accessible elearning. Has helpful hints, but some of the issues have been addressed in more recent versions of Storyline.
• A blog post with tips on making accessible courses with Lectora
  Jillian McCarthy’s guide to creating accessible elearning with Lectora. Written in 2012, but several elements are still relevant.
• JAWS tips for SoftChalk courses
  Luke Stollings’s guide to optimizing SoftChalk courses for the JAWS screen reader.
• Guidelines for using Captivate to build accessible online courses | PDF
  Valerie Bergloff’s guide to using Captivate to create accessible elearning.

Elearning in General

• Resources from Webinar, “Develop the Elearning Your Program Deserves”
  A collection of research related to elearning, learning in general, graphic design, and project management.
• Blog post describing an interaction catalog approach that doesn’t use the catalog
  A short overview of some ways to pursue creative learning solutions while working within constraints.
• Blog post describing the use of a catalog of elearning interactions
  A long overview of some ways to pursue creative learning solutions while working within constraints.

Accessibility in General

• Newsletter: Accessibility in the News
  Jack McElaney’s weekly curated newsletter, collecting news items, job opportunities, and conferences relevant to accessibility.
• Newsletter: Web Design References: Webdev Newsletter
  Laura Carlson’s weekly curated newsletter, with a strong focus on accessible web design.
• A Book Apart, Accessibility for Everyone
  Laura Kalbag’s great (and relatively short) introduction to designing accessible content.
• The Implementation of Web Accessibility Standards by Dutch Municipalities. Factors of Resistance and Support | PDF
  A dissertation that discusses, and draws lessons from, a survey of the accessibility of websites of Dutch municipalities (in English). When incorporating accessibility as a business practice, what works and what doesn’t?
• How to Meet WCAG 2 (Quickref Reference)
  An easily digestible guide to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.
• WebAIM: The WebAIM Million: What we learned analyzing 1,000,000 web site home pages
  The results of a survey using an automated accessibility checker to audit 1,000,000 websites. It’s not happy news.
• Professional Web Accessibility Auditing Made Easy – Open Textbook
  A free textbook that provides an overview of auditing websites for accessibility.
• Digital Accessibility as a Business Practice – Open Textbook
  A free textbook that describes the business case for accessibility.
• Web Accessibility for Developers – Open Textbook
  A highly technical free textbook that discusses the coding aspects of creating an accessible website.
• Microsoft Inclusive Design
  Microsoft’s inclusive design website, with toolkits and guides.

Experience

• Web Accessibility Perspectives: Explore the Impact and Benefits for Everyone
  A series of videos showing the impact of accessibility.
• Microsoft Inclusive Design
  Microsoft’s inclusive design website, with toolkits and guides.

Specific Guidance

• Writing Great Alt Text
  Whitney Quesenbery’s guide to writing great alt text.
• WebAIM: Color Contrast Checker
  WebAIM’s web-based color contrast checker.
• PDF Accessibility Checker PAC
  PDF accessibility checking tool that augments Adobe Acrobat’s internal accessibility checker.
• Web Accessibility Testing Tools: The Practical Role of Automated Checkers
  Hiram Kuykendall’s discussion about the proper use of automated website accessibility checkers.
• Principles and Tools from “Modern Accessibility Techniques” Event
  Includes a list of tools that can be used to check the accessibility of webpages.