Creating accessible digital learning content
using dominKnow | ONE

Creating Accessible Digital Learning

Accessibility in digital learning content isn’t just a nice-to-have – it’s both a legal requirement and a responsibility that we, as content authors, have to our learners. The most engaging course in the world won’t be effective if learners are unable to access it. From a compliance perspective, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are the global benchmark for digital accessibility. These standards extend beyond the public sector – higher education, healthcare and corporate organisations are all increasingly expected to ensure their digital training is accessible. In our article Apply Accessibility Guidelines to Learning Content Design we explore WCAG in more depth and introduce you to its four main principles.

The aim of this article is to demonstrate how the dominKnow | ONE content authoring tool can support content authors and instructional designers in creating accessible learning content. Though we’ll be referring specifically to the dominKnow | ONE platform to show how we’ve interpreted WCAG, our interpretations can be applied when creating accessible learning content in any authoring tool.

dominKnow | ONE’s accessibility statement advises that the tool supports the creation of content that fully complies with WCAG 2.2 AA. However, it’s not enough to just assume that because the tool is compliant, all content created in that tool will therefore also be compliant. Authors must have a good understanding of accessibility, WCAG and how to apply these guidelines to creating content, in order to get the best from their authoring tool.

Alt Text

An alternative text description for visual items, such as images, interactive items, audio and video content allows everyone to have an equivalent learning experience. It helps non-visual learners and people with motor impairments who use speech recognition software.

The accessibility tab in dominKnow | ONE helps authors manage which elements are picked up by assistive tech and those using keyboards to navigate. Relevant features include:

  • A focusable button: enable or disable to determine which elements should be announced by assistive technologies.
  • Alt text and screen reader text fields.
  • ARIA hidden field (new in version 7.4.6): to confidently ensure that chosen items remain hidden from screen readers, regardless of their settings.
  • ARIA role (also new in version 7.4.6): authors can override the default role of an element so that its interactive purpose is clear to assistive technologies, e.g. using an image as a button.

Other dominKnow | ONE features that relate to Alt text are:

  • Visual alert for forgotten alt text and transcripts.
  • Review mode allows authors and reviewers to check the above accessibility settings.
Screen shot of the accessibility feature within dominKnow ONE that enables authors to set the ARIA role of a specific element on the page

Audio Transcripts and Captions

dominKnow | ONE makes it easy to add transcripts and captions so all learners can access media content. The features that specifically address this are:

  • A transcript tool to quickly add transcripts to media items. Learners access this screen reader and keyboard accessible transcript via the player bar.
  • Caption files can easily be added to video content, and captions autoplay can be disabled.
  • Add closed caption files to audio that’s set as page narration for learners who prefer to access their learning in that way.
Screen shot of the accessibility feature within dominKnow ONE that enables authors to select options such as closed captions for video assets

Meaningful Sequence

Visual learners can choose the order they read things in; they can skim read and jump around, but screen readers read in a linear order. So, the way that you build your page needs to reflect a logical reading order to support screen reader technology.

dominKnow | ONE auto-handles logical reading order. The features that specifically address this are:

  • Reading order that remains the same regardless of screen size and orientation – the tool is responsive.
  • Authors and reviewers can check tabbing order manually in review mode.

Colour, Audio and Contrast

Poor colour contrast can make parts of your content inaccessible, for example to someone who can’t see the difference between red and green feedback in questions. It also affects those looking at content in bright sunlight.

In terms of audio, there are some people who may be sensitive to sound or visual and auditory content together, so it’s important to offer learners control over how that audio is experienced.

The dominKnow | ONE features that specifically address this are:

  • Add compliant colours to your theme for consistency across courses.
  • Determine the thickness and colour of the visible focus (the coloured box that appears around an element to show where a learner is on the page). The width is set to two pixels as default on WCAG themes.
  • Customise feedback boxes to avoid reliance on colour.
  • Customise audio controls in the player settings. You can have pause, mute and play buttons, and any audio added to the page can be set as narration, so audio will only play if the learner decides to play it.

Keyboard Navigation

Keyboard navigation is essential for learners who can’t use a mouse – dominKnow | ONE supports full keyboard use. The features that specifically address this are:

  • Out-of-the-box click-click alternative to a drag and drop card-sort activity.
  • Variables and actions to customise accessible alternatives to other mouse-reliant interactions.
  • Preview mode to allow authors and reviewers to test navigation.

Language

dominKnow | ONE helps to keep language simple and clear by adding these clarity features:

  • Add and automatically apply centralised glossaries for keywords and phrases – screen readers read them as links.
  • Create pop-ups or info boxes for extra help.
  • Make use of target pages to support learners to revisit earlier content.

Navigation Consistency

Predictable and consistent navigation reduces confusion and cognitive load. The dominKnow | ONE features that specifically support navigation are:

  • Configurable navigation across a course via theme settings. Customise the navigation for large and small screen sizes.
  • Ability to create and save consistent layouts and reusable sections for future course development.
  • Easy duplication of pages and content, or save templates to re-use across different courses.

Input Assistance and Errors

Help learners understand mistakes and fix them easily. The dominKnow | ONE features that specifically support this are:

  • Built-in error pop-ups for quizzes.
  • Ability to create custom error messages using variables and actions.

Internal Accessibility Testing

Once your eLearning course has been created, dominKnow | ONE makes it easy to review your content for accessibility, as well as facilitate feedback from your reviewers:

  • Check alt text, screen reader text and whether an item has been set as focusable from the full project preview.
  • Add an accessibility related comment that will show up in the review comments.
  • Tab focus in the full project review will highlight in a different colour everything that will be picked up by a keyboard and assistive technology.

More about dominKnow | ONE

dominKnow | ONE is a cloud-based content authoring and knowledge management platform, hosted in the UK by Larmer Brown, that offers three development modes enabling authors to easily create responsive learning content, IT system simulations and quickly convert PowerPoint presentations to eLearning. 

Larmer Brown is the UK Reseller and Services Partner for dominKnow Learning Systems offering the dominKnow I ONE platform on private clouds in the UK, Europe and Middle East.

If you would like to find out more about dominKnow | ONE, join one of our regularly scheduled webinar demonstrations or contact us to arrange a 1-2-1 demonstration.

Further Help with Creating Accessible Learning

If you would like a demonstration of the features we’ve covered in this article, join our next complimentary accessibility webinar.

For more in-depth support on creating accessible learning content using dominKnow | ONE, Larmer Brown offers an interactive online workshop, with regularly scheduled sessions open to anyone. The main difference between our free webinar and the interactive training workshop is that the workshop includes hands-on exercises. It also gives delegates access to a Knowledge Base that we’ve created using dominKnow | ONE, so that you have reference material to refer back to when you’re authoring your content.