LESSON: 7 Things You Can Do Right Now to Make Your Moodle Course More Accessible
This adaptive Lesson will provide you with background on accessibility, and seven concrete actions you can take now. There will be opportunities to test your knowledge as well.
Why is accessibility important?
In the context of online courses, accessibility means making it possible for all students, regardless of physical or developmental impairment, to use all course materials and tools. A course is accessible to the degree that every student can get to, perceive,
and navigate course content and assignments; submit assignments; and successfully use all course tools. Accessible design is often included under the larger umbrella of “universal design for learning,”
because it considers all possible users.
Accessibility of online & hybrid courses is important because:
A significant number of people have disabilities that can make it difficult for them to take an online course.
Press release about disabilities numbers in 2010 census
Many students with disabilities prefer online courses to face-to-face courses.
Accessibility is required by law.
Federal law requires universities to make courses accessible.
- Highlight from article discussing legal issues related to online course accessibility: "Lawyers and a disability rights advocate stressed that faculty members must be proactive rather than reactive in making sure their online courses and materials are accessible for students with disabilities." (Ingeno, 2013).
Accessibility features benefit many students, not just those with documented disabilities.
Just as physical accessibility measures have made life easier for many people not categorized as disabled (e.g., ramps assist people with carts, strollers, knee injuries, etc.), many of the accessibility features in online courses help a wide range of
students.