Designing Accessible E-Learning #304: Challenge | Recap
“Why do I keep hearing so much about accessibility?” That question came up in one of my recent training webinars, and it’s just one v...
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What Do Course Designers Need to Know About Building Accessible E-Learning? #304
Hello, I have done a few courses for an organization that provides an online literacy program for Deaf and hard of hearing adults. Some of the key design points for this audience are as follows:
• Choose fonts that are easy to read - minimum 14pt
• Use clear san-serif or serif fonts designed for the web (i.e.: Cambria, Verdana, Georgia, etc.)
• No script or highly stylized fonts
• Avoid italics, UPPERCASE, and underlined text
• Use bullet symbols for lists
• Develop consistent text style for:
o headings
o body
o buttons
o directions
• Consider readability (colour, contrast, colour-blindness, deaf-blind)
• Leave plenty of white space
• Left justify body text
Accessible Language:
• English is a foreign language to many Deaf learners
• Consider your audience (adult deaf, hard of hearing, deaf-blind literacy learners; approximate literacy levels in English and ASL)
• Write to the audience’s reading level (typically below grade 4)
• Use simplest, clearest language for that level (able to understand the first time they read it)
• Use correct grammar and spelling
• Be mindful of idioms, slang, metaphors, etc.; they do not translate well
This demo is a short example from one of the courses I developed for them.
https://360.articulate.com/review/content/a5cc7580-93fa-49fa-b3d9-f63f0cf5bbb5/review
• Choose fonts that are easy to read - minimum 14pt
• Use clear san-serif or serif fonts designed for the web (i.e.: Cambria, Verdana, Georgia, etc.)
• No script or highly stylized fonts
• Avoid italics, UPPERCASE, and underlined text
• Use bullet symbols for lists
• Develop consistent text style for:
o headings
o body
o buttons
o directions
• Consider readability (colour, contrast, colour-blindness, deaf-blind)
• Leave plenty of white space
• Left justify body text
Accessible Language:
• English is a foreign language to many Deaf learners
• Consider your audience (adult deaf, hard of hearing, deaf-blind literacy learners; approximate literacy levels in English and ASL)
• Write to the audience’s reading level (typically below grade 4)
• Use simplest, clearest language for that level (able to understand the first time they read it)
• Use correct grammar and spelling
• Be mindful of idioms, slang, metaphors, etc.; they do not translate well
This demo is a short example from one of the courses I developed for them.
https://360.articulate.com/review/content/a5cc7580-93fa-49fa-b3d9-f63f0cf5bbb5/review
- Great example. Thank you. I have used the Hemingway app to check for accessibility and comprehension, it's useful for reading grade level too.
- I use it as well. I like to aim for grade nine reading comprehension for most audiences. Writing for grade 4 is a challenge.
- Thank you for the comprehensive list. Those recommendations make sense a lot of audiences.
- I agree.
- Nicely done. I like the addition of ASL. Just a question, is it common for people who read sign language not to be able to read text? Just curious.
- Some Deaf people opt only to learn ALS. The ones that do learn both, have a harder time learning English. The explanation has always been that this is because they never learned to connect letters with sounds. ASL and English are independent languages so learning English is like learning a foreign language.
Studies of ASL signers show that, on average, deaf high school seniors are likely to read at the level of a nine-year-old.
Of course, there are plenty of acceptions to the rule.- Thank you for sharing that. Great question, Ron.
