Assignment 1
Criteria 4: Accessibility
Description: Accessibility of EM should support the following elements:
- Offer equity of access to content for individuals with disabilities (Bohman 2000) by providing multiple sources of online material
- Ensure all online material passes W3C accessibility guidelines so these groups will not be excluded.
- Ensure interface design allows easy access to the content, be intuitive and predictable with navigation, functions and control of objects obvious and intuitive to use.
Justification:
- One in 30 web users belong to the continuum of users with more or less severe disabilities, the most common being reduced vision (Nielsen 2005).
- For many users with a disability, online education improves their quality of life. Many flash based educational websites are inaccessible to these users so alternative content should be provided.
- By using an intuitive easy to use interface and ensuring W3C accessibility compliance, EM will enhance learning for all users and promote engagement. (Bohman 2000).
Good example: - :Five Little Ducks
http://www.priorywoods.middlesbrough.sch.uk/resources/ducks.htm
- Satisfies Accessiblity elements 1,2,3
- Priority Woods, Middlesbrough School, UK caters for students with a disability and provides a variety of options for parents to use learning materials either online or download for slow internet speed.
Bad example: BOW WOW books-
http://bow-wowbooks.com/
- Bow Wow books does not satisfy any of the elements for accessibility
- This website is extremely difficult for anyone to access and use.
References:
Bohman, P 2000, Universal Design and Disability Access to the Web, WebAIM: Web Accessibility in Mind, Utah State University, Logan, Utah, viewed 06 August 2009, http://www.webaim.org/articles/archives/universal/.
Nielsen, J 2005, Accessibility Is Not Enough, bi-weekly column, 21 November 2005, Alertbox: Current Issues in Web Usability, Fremont CA USA, viewed 06 August 2009, http://www.useit.com/alertbox/accessibility.html.
