Overview of Accessibility Considerations for Instructional Design

By: Chrissy Fisher

Creating inclusive training should be a top priority for every company focusing on training development. But what is universal design, and why is it important? Furthermore, how do you make your training catalog inclusive for users according to the most recent WCAG guidelines? Also, how do you account for accessibility in your development timeline? These questions and more will be answered in the first installment of this article series on accessibility considerations for instructional designers.

The Importance of Universal Design

Universal design, in short, is a concept that encompasses the design and development of training that is inclusive to all individuals, without the need for adaptation or specialized design. To achieve this goal, designers and developers need to consider accessibility from the start of the project, then align the content, interface and interactions on development milestones. For example, when designing screen reader accessible training, there are additional standards one must follow. Therefore, planning early on is crucial to the development timeline.

Keyboard with one blue accessibility key with wheelchair icon.

Accessibility Guidelines for Instructional Designers

To abide by the requirements outlined in Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2 establish a framework consisting of rules which serve as specific accessibility standards for Instructional Designers. By applying these guidelines, designers are able to develop training modules that are accessible for screen reader consumption. There are three conformance levels of WCAG, including A, AA, and AAA. Each level has increasingly rigorous accessibility standards, which build off of the previous level. It’s important to remember that there is a more significant impact on design as a higher level of WCAG conformance is achieved, because more criteria are required to comply. What follows is a brief comparison across the range of design guidelines, based on WCAG 2.

WCAG Level A

Level A is the most basic set of standards when it comes to developing accessible training. Some of the criteria required in this level include:

alt text for all images,
captions are provided for any prerecorded audio clips,
color is not used to convey information, the ability to pause and play audio,
removal of content that flashes more than three times in a 1 second period,
keyboard shortcuts, and
the correct focus order for elements on the screen.

Level A is recommended at a minimum for any coursework that will be addressing a general or public learning population.

WCAG Level AA

Level AA is the middle set of standards and builds off Level A’s criteria. Some examples of criteria required in this level include:

captions are provided for any live audio,
audio description is provided for prerecorded video,
color contrast ratio is at least 4.5:1 and 3:1 for large-scale text,
consistent navigation, and
consistent identification.

There are several free tools available online to test contrast ratio. One of our favorites to use is the WebAim Color Contrast Checker.

WCAG Level AAA

Level AAA is the highest set of standards to follow, and reflects extensive support for learners with a wide variety of accessibility limitations. This level builds off both Level A and Level AA. Some of the criteria required in this level include:

sign language for prerecorded audio,
extended audio description for prerecorded videos,
enhanced color contrast ratio of at least 7:1 and 4.5:1 for large-scale text,
allowing the user to adjust visual presentation by changing foreground and background colors,
animations from interactions are disabled,
unusual words and abbreviations are identified through mechanisms, and
reading levels equivalent to lower secondary education level or supplemental content.

In many cases, fully achieving Level AAA compliance can be difficult due to the limitations for a given project, even for the most dedicated team. When there are challenging budgets, timelines or resource availability, instructional designers sometimes build training materials that adhere to specific Level AAA standards because of the target audience for the training. For other areas of compliance, they only achieve Level A or Level AA, providing at least as much support as possible across the content.

Keyboard with three blue keys individually representing accessibility with a person in wheelchair icon, a listening ear icon, and a person walking with blind cane icon.

Accounting for Accessibility Development in the Planning Phase

With any training development, the details are in the design phase. The designer and developer must align on the importance of accessibility and the level the course(s) will comply to, early on. You start this discussion with a decision of whether to make your training accessible for everyone from the start, or if you are going to give the user a choice to turn on and off the accessible version as they are proceeding through the coursework.

If you decide on the latter approach, your build will require two copies of the course: a standard version and an accessible version. The accessible version should reflect the required modifications using the guidelines from the previously decided upon WCAG Level. But whichever option you choose, allow for time early on to explore these details, then extra time at the end of the development timeline to review and ensure your training meets the needs of your end users.

Smiling quadriplegic man operating tablet computer.

If You Use Universal Design Every Time, Your Courses Will Benefit the Greatest Variety and Number of Learners

Remember that accessibility doesn’t just benefit individuals with a permanent disability. A learner with a broken wrist that is healing temporarily faces the same challenges in manipulating a computer mouse to click, drag and drop onscreen interactive elements. And by including alt tags, captions, and other content support, you are helping your training reach learners with temporary or permanent hearing loss, reduced vision or blindness, or other information processing challenges.

Start the discussion early on how you will implement accessibility standards in your training today to help achieve the best result possible. Your client will thank you, their learners will thank you, and it’s really just the right thing to do.