Hi,
I have recently sat in with a visually impaired student who uses JAWS and
we have highlighted a few issues regarding accessibility. The first major
point (no fault of Bb) was that the student was unaware of the layout and
functionality of the system, so after briefing him this greatly improved
the situation. Also, the naming of the frames was very useful. However we
hit a few issues that weren't show stoppers but would be 'nice to have'.
I'd just like to share those with the list to see if there are any
solutions or recommendations on how to proceed.
1. Module titles from the Community system were not tagged as headings. If
headings were used it would be easier for the JAWS user to move through
module content.
2. Use of Accessibility Shortcut keys within Blackboard could improve
navigation. I'm not sure whether these can be assigned by administrators
but they would be useful for some of our key tabs and tools.
3. Within the content areas of a course / organisation, different images
are used to symbolise different types of content e.g. test, assignment,
external link etc... However they all have the alt tag of 'item'. It would
be useful to have more specific alt tags here.
4. Within a course / organisation in the course content frame the first
item of text is always the navigation trial. This always sounds a little
meaningless through a screen reader (especially with abbreviated course
codes etc...) and acted as a bit of an obstacle when the student was trying
to get to the course materials. I know it’s a traditional place to put
this information but it may be more useful in a separate frame or at the
bottom of the page.
Maybe some of these are a bit of a tall order but I would be most grateful
to hear your your thoughts.
Kind regards,
Tim Galling
Learning Technologist (PDP)
Educational Development Services
Library & Learning Centre, DL120
Tel: 01202 966691
Email: [log in to unmask]
Website: http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/eds
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