It happens every day...imagine:
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Being asked to "click here to continue" - but you don't have a mouse.
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Asked to watch a video - but your speakers do not work.
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Taking an exam - but you are unable to select any of the answers
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Having to click 20 times to proceed to the next page.
The above are examples of "inaccessible" eLearning. Thousands of pages of eLearning are produced every day that frustrate people exactly like the above examples. Many eLearning developers are completely unaware they are causing this frustration and many authoring tools make it all but impossible to remedy.
"Accessible eLearning" makes sure that:
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The person who does not use a mouse can use a keyboard or their voice command software to "continue"
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The video will be closed-captioned, the complete transcript will be there to read and if needed, the video will be audio described
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The answers to the exam questions will be easy to select
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The "next button" will be accessible quickly and consistently
CourseAvenue is dedicated to enabling large-scale production of Accessible eLearning.*
Want to learn more and/or see a truly WCAG 2.1 AA compliant eLearning course? Contact Us below.
* "Accessible eLearning" generally means self-paced eLearning modules that may include text, graphics, audio, video and a wide array of assessment questions and interactions that is, by default, WCAG 2.1 AA compliant.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Section 508?
In layman's terms, Section 508 is the area of federal law that governs electronic and information technology as it is procured by the federal government. Just like in the physical world there needs to be accessible access to a building, there needs to be accessible access to "electronic" and IT-based items (e.g. web sites, documents, videos, and eLearning).
What is WCAG 2.x?
WCAG stands for "Web Content Accessibility Guidelines". 2.x refers to the specific version of these standards. WCAG has three levels of compliance - A, AA or AAA (AAA being the most accessible). As noted, WCAG is a global standard. In 2017, the federal government updated Section 508 such that Section 508 compliance is for all practical purposes WCAG 2.1 AA compliance.
Can you have Media in an Accessible eLearning course?
In courses built with CourseAvenue - Yes! We can't vouch for other vendors. "Media" can be a variety of different things. In CourseAvenue's world this means you can add graphics, audio, video, assessment questions (e.g. fill-in the blank, ordered list, matching, multiple choice) and a variety of other interactions (e.g. choose 'this' see 'that', learner driven navigation, etc.). Even a crossword puzzle!
My current authoring tool has a "make accessible" button so I am o.k. - right?"
Unfortunately, not very likely. eLearning tool vendors started adding this little "make accessible" check box and very little was known as to what checking the box or un-checking it actually did. So what happens if you have 8 things on the page (e.g. links, graphics, buttons, etc.) and you check the "make accessible" box on all of them? Who knows. One thing we noticed was there was no "make compliant" button.
What makes CourseAvenue Studio different?
Many (all?) eLearning authoring tools make accessibility "developer dependent" (check out their "VPAT"). This basically means if you are a developer, know all about WCAG 2.1 compliance and have the time and expertise to hand code each and every element on every page - you theoretically could use the tool to create an accessible course. In contrast, CourseAvenue builds accesslibty into the technology. You don't have to be an expert in WCAG 2.1. We are. You focus on the course and leave the accessibility to us!
Learn how:
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Accessibility is built into every course.
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Courses are easy to manage, edit, and update right out of the box.
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No more guessing.
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No more expensive remediation.