Alix’s Exploration of Learning Technologies

I have a very close friend with a visual impairment. She has had to self advocate through out her education for accessibility to educational resources. She uses adaptive software on her computer for web browsing. However, the software is expensive and is not always compatible with other software. As a result, she is still at a disadvantage when is comes to accessing some web resources. This tool kit activity has helped inform me that there are indeed guidelines when designing web resources that designers should be aware of. If these guidelines are always followed as policy, it could decrease the accessibility issues people with disabilities already face.

The following tips are from the web accessibility initiative

10 Quick Tips for accessibility

1. Images & animations: Use the alt attribute to describe the function of each visual.
2. Image maps. Use the client-side map and text for hotspots.
3. Multimedia. Provide captioning and transcripts of audio, and descriptions of video.
4. Hypertext links. Use text that makes sense when read out of context. For example, avoid “click here.”
5. Page organization. Use headings, lists, and consistent structure. Use CSS for layout and style where possible.
6. Graphs & charts. Summarize or use the longdesc attribute.
7. Scripts, applets, & plug-ins. Provide alternative content in case active features are inaccessible or unsupported.
8. Frames. Use the noframes element and meaningful titles.
9. Tables. Make line-by-line reading sensible. Summarize.
10. Check your work. Validate. Use tools, checklist, and guidelines at http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG

I am glad to have both contribuited to a wiki this week, as well as undertake the wiki tool kit activity. Besides considering the affordances and challanges of incoprporating a wiki in to my teaching practice, it was interesting to have discovered the “discussion” section of wikipedia articles. I had never noticed this tab before. This “behind the scenes” look at what goes into collaboratively creating an article is perhaps as interesting as the article itself. These documents should be studied in a social anthropology study. Comments ranged from inquisitive to irrate.