Evaluating accessibility features of tutorial creation software

When evaluating the accessibility of a digital tool or app for students with cognitive disabilities, determine whether it:. Throughout this chapter, we have mentioned multiple types of AT, including screen readers, voice control, mouth sticks, specialized keyboards, and pointing devices. If you decide to incorporate a digital tool or app that is not fully accessible into your practice, it can be helpful to know about AT devices that might allow students with disabilities to engage with the tool or app.

In the following section, we will detail a few free AT tools and extensions. Of course, there are many more AT devices available. Talking with the specialists in your school or district who work with students with disabilities is a great way to learn about AT and identify ways to reduce barriers to learning for your students.

Microsoft Immersive Reader a digital tool that supports reading comprehension. You can copy and paste text directly into the free online version of the tool or use it in most Microsoft platforms e. Microsoft Immersive Reader allows users to have text read aloud at different speeds. It gives users control over line spacing, font, text size, and focus.

It can showcase the parts of speech and syllables. And, it features a picture dictionary and translation tool. Microsoft Immersive Reader can aid students who struggle with reading, students with cognitive disabilities, and students who are visually impaired by reading the text aloud. Camera Mouse is a free downloadable software that allows the user to control the mouse pointer using the camera on their computer by moving their head.

This tool is beneficial for individuals who lack the ability to control their hand movements but can control the movement of their head. Voice Control is an accessibility tool built into Mac and iOS devices. This tool allows an individual to perform multiple tasks through their voice. This tool can be helpful for students who have a sensory or physical disability. In education, we must identify ways to remove barriers and provide support to ensure all students can succeed.

Take a moment to reflect and consider, what might you do differently now that you have read this chapter to prevent that from happening again? Hopefully, this chapter has inspired you to keep accessibility in mind when finding and selecting digital tools and apps for teaching and learning. In this chapter, we discussed how to use UDL principles to create accessible, equitable, and inclusive learning experiences and environments.

We introduced you to the POUR model as a guide for evaluating all digital tools and apps before using them in your classroom. We also provided an overview of broad categories of disabilities and offered tips for how to evaluate digital tools and apps based on those disabilities. The more you practice evaluating digital tools and apps, the easier it will become.

While it may take time upfront to do the evaluation, it will save you the frustration of bringing a digital tool or app into the classroom that becomes a barrier to learning.

Finally, take some time to learn about the assistive technology tools you might use to create a more inclusive learning experience for your students. The more time you spend focusing on accessibility and inclusive learning, the better the learning experience will be for your students.

Burgstahler, S. Universal design in education: Principles and Applications. Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology. About universal design for learning. Curry, C. Understanding the definition of accessibility.

Accessibility, Compliance, and Equity. Friedlander, B. National Center on Accessible Educational Materials n. Designing for accessibility with POUR. National Center on Accessible Educational Materials. Is it accessible? Questions to ask before selecting educational materials. The principles of universal design. Physical disability. Seiler, R. Assistive technology for individuals with cognitive impairments.

Teaching students with deaf-blindness. The Blind Life. Natural reader text to speech. United Nations. Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities and optional protocol. World Health Organization. History of accessible facility design.

Alyssa Federico is an undergraduate student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst studying communication disorders with a double minor in education and psychology.

She plans on going to graduate school to study speech language pathology. Manrong Wang is currently enrolled as a graduate student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and she specializes in learning, media, and technology. Teaching w ith Digital Tools an d Apps Evaluating the User Experience Evaluating the Learn ing Experience Evaluating Cost, Pri vacy, and Data There are various accessibility testing tools which can check the accessibility of the website.

It is used to validate the web page manually for various aspects of accessibility. This tool can be used to check the intranet, pass-word protected, dynamically generated, or sensitive web pages. Major functions of Web Accessibility Toolbar includes identifying components of a webpage, providing access to alternative view of page content and facilitating the use of third party online applications. TAW is the online tool for determining accessibility of your web.

This tool analyzes the web site in accordance with W3C web accessibility guidelines and shows accessibilities issues. Web accessibility test issues are categorized into priority 1, priority 2 and priority 3.

It is a Chrome extension. It does and accessibility audit. The results of the audit show accessibility rules that are violated by the Page Under Test. The extension has high reviews and is frequently updated. Visit Here. Since there are some excellent accessibility toolbars, Quick Page Accessibility Tester is a bookmark that you can click to get a quick analysis of the web page. It will figure out various issues with your page, warns about possible issues and highlight areas on the page which might benefit from ARIA Accessible Rich Internet Applications.

There are various tools available in the market to perform web accessibility testing given below:. This is a tool developed by IBM which simulates the experience of visually impaired individuals so that the designer can better understand the needs of disabled people and develop applications accordingly. This is a browser based tool that works similarly to the screen readers like Jaws.

It assists the readers how to read the web page. WAT is an extension of Internet explorer or Opera that offers web page designers with useful features in the analysis of web page. One best feature is GreyScale feature which helps to find low contrast spots in the design. Fact: It is not expensive. Take the timeout to think about accessibility issues in the design stage itself along with basic testing.

This will save money as well as rework. Myth: Changing inaccessible websites to accessible website is time consuming and expensive. It is not necessary to incorporate all the changes at one time. Work on basic needs which are most necessary for disabled users. You can make web pages attractive, but it should be designed in such a way that it can be accessible by all users. Also as per W3C web content accessibility guidelines — it strongly discourage the use of text only pages.

Fact Following accessibility guidelines improves the overall usability of the software, which helps regular users as well. In Software Engineering, Accessibility testing helps in making your application disabled friendly.

If following accessibility guidelines is not possible due to complexity of your web application, build one version of the website for regular users and other for disable. Skip to content. Accessibility Testing Tools: To make your website more acceptable and user-friendly, it is crucial that it is easily accessible. The extension has high reviews and is frequently updated Visit Here 4 Quick Accessibility Page Tester Since there are some excellent accessibility toolbars, Quick Page Accessibility Tester is a bookmark that you can click to get a quick analysis of the web page.

Visit Here There are various tools available in the market to perform web accessibility testing given below: 5 aDesigner This is a tool developed by IBM which simulates the experience of visually impaired individuals so that the designer can better understand the needs of disabled people and develop applications accordingly.

Visit Here 6 WebAnywhere This is a browser based tool that works similarly to the screen readers like Jaws. This study adds this dimension to the literature, enabling librarians to make more informed decisions when selecting and using these products to create accessible tutorials. Library Hi Tech — Emerald Publishing. Continue with Facebook.

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Wakimoto ; Aline Soules.