ACCESSIBILITY OF ONLINE LEARNING MATERIALS
A project by the Learning Technology Unit, at the University of Aberdeen
Peter Jeffels and Phil Marston
Learning Technology Support Officers, LTU
Background
The Learning Technology Unit works in partnership with academic departments providing advice and assistance on the use of learning technology to support and enhance teaching and learning provision in the faculties of Arts and Divinity, Education, Social Sciences and Law, and Science and Engineering. The Accessibility of Online Learning Materials project, commonly referred to within the University to as the 'Accessibility Project', produces staff development materials in the form of locally produced online exemplars, seminars and workshops which demonstrate how online learning materials can be made more accessible for all users with, in many instances, very little extra effort.
In 1999, in anticipation of Special Educational Needs and Disability Rights in Education Bill (SENDA), funding was obtained to employ a researcher for 2 days per week over a 6 month period to produce a concise usable guide to the factors which must be taken into account in order to produce accessible online learning materials.
At the outset it was acknowledged that a wide range of online resources were available which dealt with the subject of web site accessibility, however most of the information appeared either to be too brief to be meaningful, was so detailed that it could take days to interpret or appeared to focus purely on web sites rather than on developing online learning materials and programmes. What was needed was a guide that:
A web-based resource for the dissemination of information on accessibility issues as they relate to the design and use of web-based learning materials was to be the main outcome of the project. This was to have a focus on local requirements and would function as a gateway to existing resources and accessibility tools. The materials produced would also form the basis for staff development events in an ongoing programme of accessibility awareness raising. The process of research and development into accessibility would in itself create expertise within the University.
Methodology: The original project
The approach taken was to base the design of the web site upon the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) checklist for accessibility (Note 1). Key points within the checklist would link to further detailed information which was to be presented in clear concise format with, whenever possible, examples of good practice and how this might be developed.
Familiarity was attained with the accessibility guidelines, tools and resources. This was achieved by:
Back in 1999 many web based guides on accessibility merely re-quoted guidelines produced by the W3C but in a slightly different order, or with a slightly different emphasis. Our aim was to pick out the most important guidelines and demonstrate these with the use of materials produced in-house. This would:
The applications chosen included:
The local settings of classroom computers at the University were investigated to determine the degree of customisation available to students. The situation regarding accessibility of the currently licensed version of WebCT was examined by means of a review of past conference papers, web-based information and mailing lists.
Outcomes of the original project
The LTU's Accessibility of Online Learning Materials web site: http://www.abdn.ac.uk/diss/ltu/accessibility was launched at an in-house seminar on Accessibility at the end of January 2001. The web site is aimed at learning technology developers and teaching staff producing course materials for online delivery. The site opens with a checklist of the key criteria to which web based learning materials must conform in order to be accessible. Each item within the checklist links to further information and resources, and is accompanied wherever possible with examples from LTU and Prospect CPD applications, showing how these resources could have been made more accessible if guidelines had existed when they were created. A page of categorised links to useful resources is updated regularly. There is a section on accessibility issues relating to WebCT, the Virtual Learning Environment used by the University, and a page to which lecturers can refer their students which includes information on adjustments that can be made at user level.
As a result of the project the Windows Accessibility Options are now enabled on all computer classroom PCs. This gives students access to features such as MouseKeys and StickyKeys which help users who have difficulties with using a mouse. Peter Jeffels, the main author of this report, is now the Disabilities Coordinator for DISS-IT (Note 5). Through this role it has been possible to give advice to senior management on assistive technologies and enable greater provisions for the disabilities community within the University. As well as screen magnification software (the sole provision, until this current academic year) the University now has screen reading software (JAWS) (Note 6) and software to help those with dyslexia (Text Help Read and Write version 6 and Inspiration, a mind mapping application) on campus and installed at the main halls of residence.
Reaction to the web site and staff development events has been extremely positive and extensive, both from the internal and external community. The LTU Accessibility seminar continues to be offered twice during every academic year and is presented in collaboration with the Student Support Officer who gives more specific advice on legislation and on support for students with disabilities. When the project was initiated it was acknowledged that for the resources to be of use they would need to keep pace with changes in technology and our ever improving understanding of accessibility issues. New links which are considered to be particularly useful are added to the web site whenever they are identified. New techniques are incorporated in the Seminar presentation whenever they have been developed to a stage when they can be of practical use to staff.
Accessibility Project Phase 2: Accessible Multimedia
For the current academic year the aims of the project will be focussed upon creating an accessible multimedia application, or as accessible as is currently possible using existing technology. The development process, and all of the problems encountered during its production, will be made available on the project's web site and through staff development events.
There are many reasons for the appropriate use of multimedia in learning. For detailed reports covering some of the issues involved, see Davis and Crowther (1995: Note 7) and Williams et al (1997: Note 8). Interactive tools can be used to engender a deeper level of learning of subjects and accommodate different learning styles, but only if all students are capable of interacting with the tools. Multimedia presents many challenges for accessibility, not least of which is ensuring that the client, or user, can interact with the application as intended regardless of the user's operating system, browser and plug-in combinations. As well as overcoming the basic obstacles of functionality across platforms it is imperative that there are meaningful alternatives to sound for the deaf, meaningful alternatives to visual content for those using screen readers and that a means of interacting with the media exists for those who are not physically able to use a mouse.
The LTU have found Flash to be an ideal platform for producing interactive learning materials. Originally developed as a means of delivering vector based animations on the Internet via a browser plug-in, Flash has developed into a medium for delivering light-weight content rich applications virtually anywhere. The Flash Internet browser plug-in is available for browsers running on all versions of Microsoft Windows (including Win 3.1 and PocketPC), MacOS (All PowerPC OSs including OSX), OS/2, Sun Solaris (for SPARC only), Linux x86, SGI IRIX and some palm / hand held devises. Flash is also now becoming embedded in devices such as digital TV decoders, and is even being used in the Sony Playstation 2. The beauty for developers of any material that uses Flash is that, unlike HTML or JAVA, the application will work on almost any browser or platform currently available.
At the time of writing the current version of Flash player is at version 6 and the accompanying authoring environment is Macromedia Flash MX In this paper to differentiate, where significant, we will refer to the player as 'Flash 6' and the authoring environment as Flash MX. It should be noted that Flash movies can be played in some other player (e'g' QuickTime) and authored using other tools.
In the past Flash has been, in many cases, unfairly criticised amongst advocates of accessibility. To some extent Flash has been no less accessible than other media on a computer, further there has been nothing preventing developers from exposing their content in an accessible fashion (i.e. text in a visually hidden frame that can be "seen" by assistive technologies such as JAWS). Indeed this was built into a limited, and admittedly token extent, when a developer published an accompanying HTML file anyway. Windows would not have been accessible itself were it not for the ingenuity of the developers of assistive technologies
Flash 6 has integrated support for Microsoft Active Accessibility (MSAA), MicroSoft's Accessibility Application Programming Interface [API]. MSAA serves as a bridge between assistive technologies, such as Windows Eyes or JAWS 4.51, and any application that exposes itself to it, e.g. Flash 6. Now at least with the implementation by Microsoft of the MSAA and Macromedia providing exposure of content played in its Flash Player 6 to that API and the assistive technology developers addressing the API to "see" exposed content, the ball is in the court of the developers. (see: http://www.macromedia.com/macromedia/accessibility/features/flash/author.html)
Flash MX now offers authors the opportunity to easily add alternative text for movies, animations and buttons, the possibility to assign keyboard shortcuts for button operations and the opportunity for creating accessible forms using what Macromedia claim to be simple and straight forward techniques. Using time allocated for the LTU Accessibility Project we aim to experiment with these capabilities, investigate how straight forward it is to make a Flash movie accessible, and just how accessible Flash applications can be made to be. We acknowledge that for all but the latest versions of screen readers the content of Flash applications will still be inaccessible, but for progress to be made we believe that we need to investigate what is possible with the latest technologies. At least if the application developers (Microsoft and Macromedia) have made their programs accessible and the developers are producing accessible content (which is yet to be seen in all but a one or two examples) the only remaining stumbling block preventing access to all will be money. With the high price of specialist software such as JAWS 4.51 it will be beyond the scope of most users to upgrade without additional support from funding bodies, or software manufacturers charging accessible prices for their products.
The materials that we produce will be shared with the wider community via our own Web site and through the HEFCE-funded 'Skills for Access' project aimed at developing a multimedia resource on accessible multimedia. This project, run by the University of Sheffield's Learning Media Unit and the Digital Media Access Group at the University of Dundee, will produce a resource addressing a comprehensive set of multi-media and accessibility issues. It will seek to showcase examples of good practice in e-learning, and it is intended that this will include examples of accessible multimedia resources produced at the LTU.
Accessibility Project Phase 3: Separating structure from presentation During the academic year 2003-4 as a part of the Accessibility project the LTU, in collaboration with the University's Web Design Unit, intend to produce exemplar style sheets which will enable content to be separated from presentation. Using style sheets for web based information can provide many benefits, accessibility being just one. Meyer (1997: Note 9) notes that in its early years HTML was a fairly lean language almost entirely composed of structural elements for describing things like paragraphs. Over the years it has incorporated items which govern how a page should be displayed through the use of tables and frames for layout and FONT tags which can govern font face and colour in a very restrictive manner, forcing the user to view the pages in the exact way a designer wants them to read it, no matter how unsuitable this may be for some users or browsers. Through the use of style sheets it is possible to simplify and reduce the amount of code used within a web page; this in itself can improve accessibility. Using style sheets can also ensure that relational structure is relayed to a site user e.g. heading 1, 2 and 3 can be given different emphasis by a screen reader as well as by a visual browser. W3C (1997: Note 10)also note that through the use of style sheets authors can avoid "tag misuse" i.e. the practice of misusing a structural element for its expected stylistic effects. One such example is the BLOCKQUOTE element in HTML, which is frequently misused (often unwittingly through the use of authoring packages) in order to create visual effects instead such as indentation. When a screen reader encounters BLOCKQUOTE it expects a quotation to follow the tag, the result being confusion for the user.
Through detecting which browser (e.g. Netscape 3, Lynx, Internet Explorer 6) or browsing device (PC, Smart phone, PDA) is being used, it should be possible to deliver content in the most appropriate format using XML (Extensible Mark-up Language) technologies.
The 2003-4 Accessibility project will investigate the use of style sheets, developments in assistive browsing technology, and the use of XSLT (the Extensible Style sheet Language Transformations) to separate presentation from content. As outcomes, the project seeks to develop exemplar materials for LTU staff development programme, the University of Aberdeen Web Design Unit and for others to replicate for their own needs.
The immediate future Although the summer staff development training event in 2003 was extremely well attended, there has been a marked drop in attendance at both accessibility workshops and seminars during this academic session. Most events were cancelled and replaced with individual one 2 one sessions with those who had expressed an interest. Feedback on the reasons for this seem to indicate that most staff who have expressed an interest in learning about accessibility have already attended our events and know who to contact if they do have specific questions. Timing is also an issue. There are very few 'good' times to hold staff development events: academics are either busy preparing for exams, marking exams, away on field course or dealing with external examiners. Over summer we will re-brand the accessibility events in an attempt to re-kindle interest. This year's summer staff development training event will be a seminar dealing specifically with helping students with dyslexia through the use of IT. This may become a regular feature within our staff development programme as dyslexia is the most commonly registered disability within the University and always features in the most commonly asked questions on accessibility issues by staff. We are also considering holding School specific rather than University wide events to give academics more of a sense of ownership of the events.
Conclusion The feedback we receive from seminars, workshops and our web site indicates to us that the work that we do on accessibility is filling an important gap, bringing the concept of accessibility home on a local, usable and accessible scale. As our understanding of the needs of the wider community and the capabilities of assistive technologies expands, it becomes clear that the accessibility project will never be completed. There will always be new and better ways to present information, and simpler ways to ensure everyone who puts information or learning materials online gives ample consideration to accessibility issues. The challenges which exist relate not only in coming to terms with new technologies, but also in finding ways to deliver the information to more than just the converted. Ways need to be found to maintain and generate more interest and commitment to producing accessible online materials. The techniques we pass on to academics and online learning providers need to be simple and flexible. We need to be able to demonstrate that simple solutions do exist and benefit all users, without degrading the appearance or functionality. Bearing accessibility and usability in mind at the outset is the key. Using legislation as the stick will hopefully cease to be as important as it currently is; the carrot of usability will hopefully be the real driving force in the production of accessible online materials one day soon. For accessibility to really progress, technologists, software developers, hardware manufacturers as well as those developing and using online learning materials have to talk to each other discuss and understand each others problems. Those at the forefront of developing accessibility guidelines and accessible materials for use in education are the ones who can help to make it all happen.
Acknowledgements The project could not have been successful without the help and assistance given by individuals and organisations dedicated to accessibility issues. These include Joan Fisher and John Milne at the LTU who initiated the project in the first instance and secured its initial funding, David Sloan from DMAG, Lawrie Phipps from the JISC funded TechDis, Cliff Beevers from SCROLLA and staff at the Virtual Learning Space (Robert Gordon University) who have helped us disseminate our work to a wider audience. Thanks are also due to those who attend our staff development events and provide us with useful feedback on where we should be heading with the project.
Notes