Practical Ways to Make Workplace Distance Learning Accessible
By Christina Houck

As corporate instructional designers, we are tasked with educating a diverse workforce. According to a September 2003 report in Florida TechNet, the National Institute of Literacy reports that 30 percent to 50 percent of the general adult population has an undiagnosed learning disability. Various disability support groups report that between eight percent and 10 percent of the adult population lives with colorblindness, hearing loss, and low vision. Because Privacy acts leave disclosure about special learning needs to the discretion of the employee, trainers and developers are often in the dark about what accessibility issues they need to address. Here are some best practices for incorporating basic accessibility into your e-learning.

Does this scenario sound familiar? You create an e-learning course using  standard tools. Dozens, if not hundreds, of employees take the class. You hear nothing for weeks until one employee calls to say she can’t hear the audio. The deadline for completing the course is tomorrow. What can you do to help her participate, pass the assessment, and keep her job?

Often, this sort of call is greeted with skepticism and chalked up as another employee complaint. Most likely, you will simply email the text document of the script. But what happens next month, when this same employee has to take required annual compliance training as part of the firm’s continuing education program. The potential for accessibility issues to keep occurring—and compound—is great.

In addition to physical accessibility issues, workforce educators are tasked with creating content that appeals to a variety of learning styles and intelligences. Employees could be auditory learners or visual-spatial learners. Unfortunately, the instructional designer typically has no opportunity to speak with these learners during the development process.

Web-based training

Many organizations use basic HTML pages to deliver help files, task-based click-and-learn mini-sessions, and delivery of course track and registration information. Mobility issues are a problem, as the training typically requires the learner to navigate the pages. In many ways, these are the easiest items to make accessible. Here are some methods.

Check pages for “Bobby” approval. Bobby, a free service provided by Watchfire Corporation, tests Web pages for accessibility barriers while encouraging compliance with Section 508 of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the W3C’s accessibility guidelines. The test results provide designers with specific advice for improving the page.

Use alternative text for graphics. Built into the HTML tag for displaying images is an optional field called “ALT” text. When creating HTML code, you enter a description of the image in this tag. For example, a Home button’s ALT tag would be “home button.” By using this optional field, the button’s meaning is communicated to learners who use screen readers and text-only browsers, enabling them to still navigate the Web site.

Avoid using color to convey meaning. Font color, table color, and image color make Webpages aesthetically pleasing. In my Web design days, I used color to direct the eye and show importance. It seemed like a best practice! However, for the colorblind or low vision learner, the page may look like a blob of grays or nothing at all, causing important messages to go unseen. Busy colors may also cause eye fatigue, and international users may react adversely to color messages. When using color, consult colorblind charts, which are easily found on the Web, and keep a palette in soothing, neutral colors.

Use tables in HTML. The use of tables is a great method for controlling positioning of text and graphics on a Web page. When using them, be sure to identify header and footer rows as well as body columns. These tags assist screen readers in reading the information in the proper order.

Add audio files. While click-and-learn mini-sessions and text-heavy Web pages may fit the learning style of visual students, auditory learners may be less than satisfied. If your system can handle the load, consider adding audio files that expound on certain points.

Animated modules

Animation has the ability to reach multiple intelligences, including auditory, visual, and body-kinesthetic learners. Given that the simulation has the ability to “tell” and “show” information to the learner, a greater number of learning styles are satisfied. But there are still some complications you should be concerned about. For example, until recently, Flash animation was not accessible to screen readers. In addition, mobility issues can be a problem, as the modules typically require the user to advance to the next step. Here are few factors to consider when creating animated modules.

Use built-in accessibility options as in Flash MX 2004. With the latest version of Flash, Macromedia states that users with visual disabilities may now access the Web using either Window-Eyes from GW Micro or JAWS from Freedom Scientific (2004). If you’re using a previous version of Flash, consider adding an upgrade. In the meantime, create an alternative way to access the content. 

Avoid use of color to convey meaning. In animation, designers have a stronger tendency to use color for meaning—and lots of it. As with basic Webpages, keep in mind the challenges for colorblind or low vision learners. And be aware of the potential for eye fatigue when choosing the color palette.

Use of sound. Because animation does an acceptable job compressing most file sizes, you can use sound. Make sure screen content matches the audio content. The same content depth and quality should be accessible whether the learner reads or listens to the module. 

Virtual classrooms

Often used to replace conference calls and connect employees who work in geographically dispersed offices, live virtual classrooms are becoming standard in most corporate training departments. As well, corporations covering several time zones can rebroadcast or archive the original session. When the class is presented as group learning experience rather than a basic lecture, they can meet a variety of learning styles and multiple intelligences. They allow for the sharing of ideas, problem solving, and higher levels of comprehension while being visual, auditory, and body-kinesthetic. However, learners often perceive recorded classes as lectures and can easily lose interest. Consider the following tips when creating live classes.

Maintain strict content specifications including font size and colors. Colorblind and low vision learners need large font sizes and readable colors. If you import PowerPoint slides, font sizes below 20 points become unreadable.  

Limit amount of content on a slide. In order to keep font sizes readable and not overwhelm learners, and make sure there’s plenty of white space. Limit each slide to three to four pieces of information and use lay out to group like ideas together. (These are guidelines for any slide presentation!)

Provide scripts or text-only alternatives. Remember the failed audio scenario at the beginning of this article? It’s a likely scenario in virtual classrooms. To be prepared, try to develop a text file of your potential script and images that you can load the site. Also, recorded classes have a greater chance of poor sound quality, making alternatives imperative.

Avoid use of color to convey meaning. This rule also applies to live virtual classrooms.

Accessibility in workforce education tends to be reactive rather than proactive. Keep in mind that up to 50 percent of your workforce may have a physical or learning disability. However, even without knowing what to expect, instructional designers can plan for some very basic learning style and accessibility needs by following these basic and common sense tips.

Published: August 2004