How can you design online courses that are accessible for learners with disabilities?

This allows your learners to experience the content in a variety of ways, express their understanding of through multiple means and bring their own voice and choice while making learning truly meaningful and accessible.

Before designing personalized learning modules for my online language students, I’ve found it extremely helpful to first speak with their parent(s) AND the students themselves during an online intro session. By doing so, they are able to articulate their specific needs, interests, and learning goals. When an online intro isn’t possible, a simple online survey with open ended questions does the trick.

Universal Design for Learning is content and curriculum specifically designed to meet learners where they are at, but UDL can’t always do everything. It is also important to know your learners and understand their individual needs. You need to know their disability, how it impacts their learning, and if any other accommodations are needed in order to access the content (e.g. text to speech, touch screen compatible, talk to text, etc.). Sometimes accommodations are provided naturally by the device of the student, but other times it needs to be built into the content. Then you need to look at your target objective(s) and decide if these accommodations are available to all learners or certain learners (i.e. a calculator).

Times to meet via video conference with students and their families for check-ins may vary depending on student and family need. Thus, offering morning and afternoon (flexible) sessions to connect could help support students who have specific needs such as medical supports, rest times, a set eating schedule, etc.

Great topic for the present day educators! *First we need to ask the students with disability to provide us with a copy of their accommodation letter/form. *I put the accommodation letter in a separate folder so that i can easily access it when testing the student with disabilities *I give them extra time for testing (formative or summative) *Send their test to the testing center where they are able to test without disruption *I try to record almost every lecture so that students can go back and watch the lectures if needed *Thanks to the availability of Educational Technologies in our schools since COVID *I give my students with disability the opportunity to join my class online, synchronously even when the class is a face-to-face.

Also, we need to make sure that our PDF file, Word, excel files pass the accessibility test before posting it to our LMS ( Learning Management System) because of the students with disabilities. I agree that educators need to look for tools that are compatible with assistive technologies, such as screen readers, magnifiers or keyboards. Also look for tools that offer accessibility features, such as captions, transcripts, alt text or keyboard navigation. You can use online resources, such as the web content accessibility guidelines etc.

Instead of jumping right to WCAG, why don’t we break it down a little and start with a link that provides an introduction to web content accessibility first… 😊 STEP 1: Accessibility Fundamentals Overview Use the link below to view Web Accessibility Initiative’s webpage for more information on getting started with accessibility. • https://www.w3.org/WAI/fundamentals/ STEP 2: WCAG 2 Overview Use the link below to view Web Accessibility Initiative’s webpage for more information on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) international standard, including WCAG 2.0, WCAG 2.1, and WCAG 2.2. WCAG documents explain how to make web content more accessible to people with disabilities. • https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/

Some ways to get started is to: *Post or project the Objectives for the section or topic of study in bold, bulleted power point slides *Explain the topic with examples including real world examples that they can relate with. *Record the class sections and post it where they can go back and watch it *Be sure that the students can access part of the lesson if not all that happened in class the day they are not in class for health reasons.

I actually agree with all of this: The fourth step is to create the activities for your online courses. Design activities that are relevant, meaningful and engaging for your learners. Provide choices and flexibility for your learners, such as different types of tasks, formats or outcomes. Make sure that your activities are accessible, usable and responsive and that there are clear and concise instructions, feedback and support. You should also provide opportunities for collaboration, interaction and reflection.

I believe that all educators should be life-long learners especially in this era of educational technology proliferations including Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the CHAT buts.

Accessibility is an essential feature of ALL online courses. Incorporating UDL into online course content doesn’t only make it more accessible for learners with disabilities, it makes your course more accessible for all learners. UDL makes content clearer, more versatile and a better vehicle to deliver your message in today’s learn-anywhere world. For example, automatically providing closed captioning and/or transcripts for instructional videos make the videos accessible to both learners with hearing disabilities and those who are not native speakers of the instructional language… or who are simply accessing the content in a quiet environment. In other words, making a course more accessible makes it a better course, period.

Ensuring diverse learners have equitable access to online learning experiences must also be considered from a “logistical” perspective. When designing course material, consider what format will be used for media content - i.e. graphics, video, etc. Learners in remote areas with limited internet bandwidth may be unintentionally marginalized from engaging with your program because their devices are stuck on “loading” screens; creating a barrier to interacting with page content. Omit auto-play videos, animated backgrounds and use icons linking to detailed media assets. Provide .ZIP files to download and interact with offline - an inclusive option that ensures ALL learners have equal access to quality education resources. #SDGGoal4 #EDIA

Educational Technologists should endeavor to inform the present day educators how to differentiate the articles written by AI and the ones written by humans.