As of 23 September 2018 new legislation states our websites or mobile apps must be more accessible by making them ‘perceivable, operable, understandable and robust’. The new legislation builds on the colleges existing obligations to people who have a disability under the Equality Act 2010.
Making a website or mobile app accessible means making sure it can be used by as many people as possible.
This includes those with:
- impaired vision
- motor difficulties
- cognitive impairments or learning disabilities
- deafness or impaired hearing
So how does that impact you in your role at the college?
As we have moved towards a blended learning model, we as educators need to ensure that any new learning materials we produce or provide for online use e.g. word documents, powerpoints, webpages, etc. meet the new legislation.
To help you create more inclusive and accessible online materials, the Digital Learning Team has come up with a snappy acronym below to highlight 5 key considerations to help make your learning materials accessible. So don’t panic!
C.H.I.L.L
- Colour and contrast
- Headings and Content
- Images
- Links
- Language
Watch the video bellow to find out what these key points mean.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N29Db5AFLbA[/embedyt]We have also produced a handy pdf that can be printed for your staff notice board. It comes in two versions so you can choose which works best for you:
Next Steps
As part of the College’s initiative to move to a fully inclusive online experience, all of our curriculum staff should complete the Inclusive Classroom Foundation pathway through the Microsoft Education Center:
.
Inclusive Classroom Foundation
Empowering every student to achieve more means each student must have access to the content to best meets their needs. The courses in this path will prepare teachers to meet the needs of all learners in the classroom.
If you have already completed the Inclusive Classroom Foundation pathway why not challenge yourself to complete the Inclusive Classroom Specialization learning path:
Inclusive Classroom Specialization
It is important to build and provide accessible content, to empower students to access the content in the way that best meets their needs and to provide personalized learning experiences. The courses in this specialization will prepare teachers to meet the needs of all learners in the classroom.
Useful Links
Elaine Topham from the EdTech team at Grimsby gave a brilliant keynote on accessibility at the Digital Learning Edtech Summit to help launch Loughborough College’s initiative to make our online spaces accessible to all. As part of that keynote, Elaine shared a list of useful online resources which we thought would be valuable to share again here: