Many thanks Sharon for this fabulously comprehensive reply, which does indeed contain more or less everything we wanted to know. In case anyone else is skimming these mailing lists, let me flag this response up for them as the most definitive one. We may even use some of your comments from below in our own internal standards, if that's OK.
Yes, of course we realise that there's no simple or universal approach that can certify everything as accesible; and that for example the clarity and relevance of the content itself can never be checked by a validator tool. But we will try and develop some guidelines for our infrastructure (Moodle in our case) and for some at least of the content delivered within it; and some methods for benchmarking compliance and accessibility awareness of at least of a sample of it. Will share with the list when we've finalised this...!
Tony.
________________________________
From: Virtual Learning Environments on behalf of Sharon Perry
Sent: Fri 08/02/2008 12:39
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [VLES] VLE Accessibility standard wanted
Hello Tony
I'm assuming that you already have a VLE and that you're trying to make
the content accessible.
At the moment, there are no accessibility standards in the UK per se that
you can use (there is Section 508 (http://www.section508.gov/) in the
US). However, there are a number of guidelines and specifications which
may help.
The problem with accessibility is that it can't be left to an automated
checker to decide whether something is accessible or not. It can help on
some things, for example whether an image has an <alt> tag (this helps
people who aren't using images to get an idea of the relevance of the
image) but it obviously won't be able to check whether that <alt> tag
makes any sense - someone could have just put in "aslkdf" or "a picture",
which isn't very useful!
Also the content of a VLE is only going to as accessible as the author's
understanding of accessibility. Content authors need to be aware of
accessibility issues - from the use of colour, to the proper description
of links (i.e. don't use "click here"), to language and layout, etc.
Nevertheless, you might find the following resources useful:
* W3C WCAG (World Wide Web Consortium Web Content Accessibility
Guidelines) - http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/. This is pretty much
the de facto standard on which a number of accessibility guidelines have
now been based. WCAG 2.0 is in the process of being finalised but it
could take some time. There are currently validators which will check web-
based resources for accessibility based on WCAG 1.0:
- APrompt - http://www.aprompt.ca/
- CynthiaSays - http://www.cynthiasays.com/
- Functional Accessibility Evaluator - http://fae.cita.uiuc.edu/index.php?
section=home&page=about
- TAW Web Accessibility Test - http://www.tawdis.net/taw3/cms/en
- See
http://wiki.cetis.ac.uk/Testing_and_Evaluation#Testing_and_Validation_Tools
_.2816_Links.29 for further testing and validation tools
However, human intervention and common sense are still required!
* It's also important to remember that WCAG, that whilst it is designed
for web-based content, is not designed for e-learning. The IMS
Accessibility Guidelines
(http://www.imsglobal.org/accessibility/index.html#accguide) might be more
useful.
* ALERT (Accessibility in Learning Environements and Related
Technologies) - http://www.dur.ac.uk/alert/guidelines.htm - have been
designed specifically for VLEs. They include guidelines on synchronous
and asynchronous discussion, assessment, group work, VLE usage, etc.
With regard to e-learning, there are no standards/specifications with
which one has to comply legally. However, there is a legal obligation to
ensure that students with disabilities are not discriminated against and
that where something is not accessible, that alternatives are provided.
The approach to accessibility is a holistic one rather than a one-size
fits all. In other words, rather than try and make a resource accessible
from all angles, try to make it as generically accessible as possible
(e.g. ensure alt text is included, colour/font choices etc are sensible,
etc) and then provide alternatives where this is not possible (e.g.
transcripts of audio resources, alternatives to a drag and drop exercise,
etc).
If you're actually developing a VLE or other learning technology, then you
will need to take other specifications/guidelines into account, including:
* ATAG (Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines) -
http://www.w3.org/TR/ATAG10/
* UAAG (User Agent Accessibility Guidelines) - http://www.w3.org/TR/UAAG10/
* XAG (XML Accessibility Guidelines) - http://www.w3.org/TR/xag
* and others...
In any case, you can find further information on the JISC CETIS website,
where the Accessibility Domain provides links to a number of resources
relating to e-learning and accessibility -
http://jisc.cetis.ac.uk/domain/accessibility.
Hope that helps.
Best Regards
Sharon
Sharon Perry,
Accessibility Domain Co-ordinator,
JISC CETIS,
University of Bolton.
Website: http://jisc.cetis.ac.uk/domain/accessibility
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