Have you ever thought about how people who have difficulty in reading can make the most of the e-learning courses? While you experience and take the benefit of the e-learning courses some people may not be able to do and enjoy all this.
People with disabilities may not be able to see and experience the e-learning contents, watch the animations or videos in the online modules, or cannot hear the audio stories for the modules, etc.
With the amazing rehabilitation act amended by the government of America as section 508, it was announced that all the electronic and information technology developed, obtained, or used by the federal government should be accessible to all the people with all types of disabilities.
Let’s understand how can we create a successful e-learning course with 508 compliant:
- Keeping The Course Content Simple
Make sure that you keep the course content, structure, and templates simple and consistent across all modules, to make them easy to understand and avoid confusion. Organize the course content properly and do not stuff it with a lot of textual and multimedia content.
- Be thoughtful of colors
You have to keep in mind that most of the learners can be color blind and may not be able to differentiate between the colors very well. They may find it challenging to recognize text and images that highlight red, green, or blue. Thus, you need to take care to keep the backgrounds easy by not using a diversity of colors which can make the textual contents less visible.
- Include Text Narrations & Transcripts
For audiences who are visually impaired, you can include narrations and voice overs as a part of the learning modules. Having audio files included in the e-learning courses will make your learning modules compliant with section 508. Moreover, for people who have difficulty in hearing, you can use text transcripts that make the audio information accessible to them.
- Incorporate Charts, Graphs, And Diagrams
Adding charts, graphs, and diagrams in an e-learning module are commonly used to represent the facts and figures better than too much theory. You can transform your learning content to section 508 compliant by explaining the charts and graphs with clear voice narrations.
- Consider Font Shape & Size
Include an option for the learners to choose the font style and font size. While this may be a little effort for you to build, this feature can be very useful for learners. Be careful of the color contrast for those As you may also get a colorblind audience who may have trouble differentiating between different colors.
- Easy Use Of Keyboard
Learners with certain disabilities often have difficulties using the mouse and using the keyboards are their only means of navigating through the modules. make sure that your course has shortcut buttons that can be operated through the keyboards easily.
CONCLUSION:
We personally feel that the rules and regulations like section 508 are so important and shall be imposed in every country. This makes e-learning beneficial and accessible to every person conveniently. And with rapidly emerging technologies and innovations, it can be achieved easily. We believe that every person has a right to knowledge, and with some effort and amazing electronic gadgets, we can all try and make that possible.
