Demystifying Section 508 Compliance in eLearning
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What is e-learning?
eLearning, or electronic learning, is the delivery of learning and training through digital resources. It is based on formalized learning, only that its provision is through electronic devices such as computers, tablets, and even cellular phones that are connected to the Internet.
eLearning has heralded tremendous benefits, which include flexibility, reduced costs, more free time, increased course variety, enhanced career advancement opportunities, increased prospects for collaboration, personalized education, and enhanced time management for learners.
With the enactment of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, all federal agencies are required to make their information and communication technology (ICT), including digital resources, accessible to employees and members of the public who have disabilities in a comparable manner to the access experienced by employees and members of the public without disabilities. That touches on eLearning due to its characteristic use of digital resources.
eLearning and Section 508 compliance
Given eLearning’s propensity to deliver flexible and cost-effective education, its inclusiveness and accessibility have become a frontline discussion within education circles. Although Section 508 compliance requirements are mandated only for federal agencies, private sector organizations are rapidly embracing the significant appeal and motive to make eLearning accessible and inclusive to all learners.
While this direction is encouraging, many education providers are frequently falling short of delivering eLearning that is Section 508-compliant. This exposition will definitely trigger questions such as “What is 508-compliant eLearning?”
While this line of questioning is encouraging, many providers of eLearning are falling short of seeing their programs meet the established Section 508 compliance requirements. This is primarily due to the foggy instructions to follow and the lack of designers of eLearning courses and instructional materials who understand the nuances of making eLearning courses and instructional materials 508 compliant. This article seeks to put the challenges to rest. It is your ultimate guide to the best practices for creating inclusive and accessible 508-compliant educational and training resources.
What is 508-compliant eLearning?
Section 508 outlines the minimum levels of accessibility for people with sensory, physical, and cognitive disabilities. Its goal is to make eLearning accessible to everyone and inclusive of all needs.
Every foremost Section 508 consultant will tell you that to make eLearning 508 compliant, you must design it in such a way that differently-abled people understand all aspects of the training course, including those with audio, visual elements, interactivities, content, and so on.
Building an e-learning course for accessibility involves thinking about the 508 compliance requirements ahead of time. That entails familiarizing yourself with the key issues for 508-compliant eLearning courses, including Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), before starting to build the course so as to prevent having to rework it out.
508 Compliance Checklist for Accessible eLearning
To help you appreciate the key issues to consider in making your eLearning 508 compliant, here is a 508 compliance checklist of best practices that ensure success at every stage:
- Accessibility and usability
To make eLearning accessible, there is a need to accommodate the needs of people with various disabilities, including sensory, physical, and cognitive disabilities. That entails the following considerations:
- Incorporating subtitles into audio narration to help users with hearing impairments;
- Embedding transcripts into the courses;
- Making navigation through the courses easy through the use of shortcut keys from the keyboard rather than through the mouse for the benefit of learners with mobility issues;
- Using appropriate screen readers to help learners pursue the course without the use of a mouse;
- Ensuring that the provided content is visually appealing through colors that are mindfully chosen; and
- Using good, high-contrast visuals as well as larger fonts.
- Inclusivity
Inclusivity is the outcome of making any eLearning course accessible, usable, and approachable to people from different backgrounds, including those with disabilities. It is helpful to note that while accessible design of eLearning courses ensures that everyone is able to hear the courses or see the provided information, inclusive design focuses on the information provided.
Programming for inclusivity calls for a greater level of understanding and empathy because it requires you to put yourself in someone else’s shoes. Inclusive design seldom concerns itself with the logistics of whether everyone can use the product or service, but with whether everyone wants to use it and, ultimately, whether everyone feels safe while using the product or service. It is more than creating regular diversity training courses and programs.
Here are some key strategies for ensuring that your eLearning courses and programs are inclusive, as you create 508-compliant learning experiences:
- Represent diversity visually.
- Identify and remove any biased content in the course or program writing;
- Let your content talk about bias and diversity and represent visual diversity.
- Use your voice in your articulation of inclusivity.
Based on the above, it follows that the right approach to inclusive eLearning design does not just require focusing attention on inclusivity but on exclusivity as well. Avoiding exclusive language and content helps bring eLearning content miles forward when it comes to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Understanding the Role of Assistive Tools and Technologies as well as Presentations in 508-Compliant eLearning
To make your eLearning course or program 508 compliant, you should keep in mind the assistive technologies and tools that can help the learners you target who have different types of disabilities.
Keep in mind the requisite assistive technologies and tools that can help learners using your eLearning course who have different types of disabilities, including color blindness, as well as limited language, cognitive, and learning abilities. The technologies and tools include eyeglasses, hearing aids, wheelchairs, text-to-speech converters, screen magnifiers, and on-screen keyboards, among others.
Other tools and technologies that Section 508 consultant reports advise eLearning course or program designers to keep in mind include color contrast checkers, accessibility name and description inspectors’ testers, and the 508-accessibility checklist.
Designers of eLearning courses and programs should always consider the authoring tools that can help in creating more accurate and compliant eLearning courses and programs. Authoring tools simplify the process of creating eLearning so that instead of coding directly in HTML and scripting languages, the tools do some of the coding for you.
Need a Section 508 consultant to assist you with 508 compliance?
If you have or are planning to establish an eLearning course or program or would like Section 508 testing for your eLearning resources, call us at (626) 486-2201 or schedule a consult today to find out how you can be assisted. Our consultations are always free of charge.
What is e-learning?
eLearning, or electronic learning, is the delivery of learning and training through digital resources. It is based on formalized learning, only that its provision is through electronic devices such as computers, tablets, and even cellular phones that are connected to the Internet.
eLearning has heralded tremendous benefits, which include flexibility, reduced costs, more free time, increased course variety, enhanced career advancement opportunities, increased prospects for collaboration, personalized education, and enhanced time management for learners.
With the enactment of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, all federal agencies are required to make their information and communication technology (ICT), including digital resources, accessible to employees and members of the public who have disabilities in a comparable manner to the access experienced by employees and members of the public without disabilities. That touches on eLearning due to its characteristic use of digital resources.
eLearning and Section 508 compliance
Given eLearning’s propensity to deliver flexible and cost-effective education, its inclusiveness and accessibility have become a frontline discussion within education circles. Although Section 508 compliance requirements are mandated only for federal agencies, private sector organizations are rapidly embracing the significant appeal and motive to make eLearning accessible and inclusive to all learners.
While this direction is encouraging, many education providers are frequently falling short of delivering eLearning that is Section 508-compliant. This exposition will definitely trigger questions such as “What is 508-compliant eLearning?”
While this line of questioning is encouraging, many providers of eLearning are falling short of seeing their programs meet the established Section 508 compliance requirements. This is primarily due to the foggy instructions to follow and the lack of designers of eLearning courses and instructional materials who understand the nuances of making eLearning courses and instructional materials 508 compliant. This article seeks to put the challenges to rest. It is your ultimate guide to the best practices for creating inclusive and accessible 508-compliant educational and training resources.
What is 508-compliant eLearning?
Section 508 outlines the minimum levels of accessibility for people with sensory, physical, and cognitive disabilities. Its goal is to make eLearning accessible to everyone and inclusive of all needs.
Every foremost Section 508 consultant will tell you that to make eLearning 508 compliant, you must design it in such a way that differently-abled people understand all aspects of the training course, including those with audio, visual elements, interactivities, content, and so on.
Building an e-learning course for accessibility involves thinking about the 508 compliance requirements ahead of time. That entails familiarizing yourself with the key issues for 508-compliant eLearning courses, including Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), before starting to build the course so as to prevent having to rework it out.
508 Compliance Checklist for Accessible eLearning
To help you appreciate the key issues to consider in making your eLearning 508 compliant, here is a 508 compliance checklist of best practices that ensure success at every stage:
- Accessibility and usability
To make eLearning accessible, there is a need to accommodate the needs of people with various disabilities, including sensory, physical, and cognitive disabilities. That entails the following considerations:
- Incorporating subtitles into audio narration to help users with hearing impairments;
- Embedding transcripts into the courses;
- Making navigation through the courses easy through the use of shortcut keys from the keyboard rather than through the mouse for the benefit of learners with mobility issues;
- Using appropriate screen readers to help learners pursue the course without the use of a mouse;
- Ensuring that the provided content is visually appealing through colors that are mindfully chosen; and
- Using good, high-contrast visuals as well as larger fonts.
- Inclusivity
Inclusivity is the outcome of making any eLearning course accessible, usable, and approachable to people from different backgrounds, including those with disabilities. It is helpful to note that while accessible design of eLearning courses ensures that everyone is able to hear the courses or see the provided information, inclusive design focuses on the information provided.
Programming for inclusivity calls for a greater level of understanding and empathy because it requires you to put yourself in someone else’s shoes. Inclusive design seldom concerns itself with the logistics of whether everyone can use the product or service, but with whether everyone wants to use it and, ultimately, whether everyone feels safe while using the product or service. It is more than creating regular diversity training courses and programs.
Here are some key strategies for ensuring that your eLearning courses and programs are inclusive, as you create 508-compliant learning experiences:
- Represent diversity visually.
- Identify and remove any biased content in the course or program writing;
- Let your content talk about bias and diversity and represent visual diversity.
- Use your voice in your articulation of inclusivity.
Based on the above, it follows that the right approach to inclusive eLearning design does not just require focusing attention on inclusivity but on exclusivity as well. Avoiding exclusive language and content helps bring eLearning content miles forward when it comes to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Understanding the Role of Assistive Tools and Technologies as well as Presentations in 508-Compliant eLearning
To make your eLearning course or program 508 compliant, you should keep in mind the assistive technologies and tools that can help the learners you target who have different types of disabilities.
Keep in mind the requisite assistive technologies and tools that can help learners using your eLearning course who have different types of disabilities, including color blindness, as well as limited language, cognitive, and learning abilities. The technologies and tools include eyeglasses, hearing aids, wheelchairs, text-to-speech converters, screen magnifiers, and on-screen keyboards, among others.
Other tools and technologies that Section 508 consultant reports advise eLearning course or program designers to keep in mind include color contrast checkers, accessibility name and description inspectors’ testers, and the 508-accessibility checklist.
Designers of eLearning courses and programs should always consider the authoring tools that can help in creating more accurate and compliant eLearning courses and programs. Authoring tools simplify the process of creating eLearning so that instead of coding directly in HTML and scripting languages, the tools do some of the coding for you.
Need a Section 508 consultant to assist you with 508 compliance?
If you have or are planning to establish an eLearning course or program or would like Section 508 testing for your eLearning resources, call us at (626) 486-2201 or schedule a consult today to find out how you can be assisted. Our consultations are always free of charge.
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