Producing usable and accessible eLearning content
In order to comply with the Disability and Equality Act (2010) all eLearning materials need to be accessible to disabled students. Students with severe visual impairments may not be able to see images or video, deaf students will not be able to hear audio files or video soundtracks, students with Dyslexia will struggle with text heavy materials and with inconsistent formatting. In many cases improving the accessibility and usability of eLearning materials for disabled students will improve the online experience for everyone.
The University of Aberdeen's Virtual Learning Environment MyAberdeen, based upon the Blackboard Learn 9.1 environment, has won awards for its accessibility however it can only be as accessible as the content which is uploaded into it. In order to help staff produce eLearning content which is accessible to everyone a series of Quick Guides have been produced and an online accessibility checklist.
A series of MyAberdeen Accessibility QuickGuides have also been produced in order to help staff create accessible and usable MyAberdeen courses.If you would like to make comments, suggestions, amendments or corrections to these please contact Peter at p.jeffels@abdn.ac.uk