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SAU Accessibility
Guidelines for Designing
Blackboard Online Courses
It's important to ensure that information in your online course, just like information on any other web page, is accessible to as many people as possible. Students might be viewing a Blackboard course from an older computer with a slower connection; if so, they’ll have trouble viewing pictures, downloading multimedia, etc. Others may be visually impaired and employ special technology that would prevent them from viewing certain site elements. The following design guidelines will help ensure that Blackboard courses at St. Ambrose University are not rendered inaccessible to any student because of poor web design
Guidelines for
Graphics/Images:
Make sure that the graphics
and images serve a purpose; don’t put extraneous graphic or image files on
pages, because they make pages much slower to load than graphics-free pages.
Graphics that don’t serve a clear purpose might distract and annoy the user.
When using an image, it is suggested that, if possible, you provide a link to it rather than placing it directly into the page. Accompany the link with a warning about possibly long load times when following the link.
Avoid putting the same graphic
on more than one page unless absolutely necessary. Students might become annoyed
or distracted by seeing the same graphic over and
Avoid graphic-intensive pages
because they slow loading times and that can be annoying; also, a page
filled with images can often be overwhelming for the viewer, making it difficult
for them to focus in on any one thing.
The
optimal size for image files on Blackboard is 150X150 pixels. Use a graphics
editor to make pictures around this size. Graphics files should not be
bigger than 30kb, and files closer to 10kb are preferable.
Avoid using page elements that
move or blink. Most web users find them annoying rather than helpful. If they
are used at all, they should serve a definite purpose related to the subject
matter, be kept as small as possible, and run on a finite loop (run a fixed
number of times and stop) rather than running infinitely. Never put extraneous
moving or blinking graphics on a course site, especially since they pose a
health threat to some users: moving and blinking images have an overpowering
effect on peripheral vision, causing nausea, and can trigger seizures in people
with epilepsy. Elements to avoid include scrolling text, marquees, and
constantly running animations.
When using graphics, be
sensitive to ethnic diversity and gender issues.
Guidelines for Multimedia
Avoid the "talking head syndrome" at all costs. Make sure that any and all uses of video has instructional value beyond merely transmitting information that can be just as easily transmitted by the written word.
Any and all video and audio transmissions must be accompanied by a written transcription for students that do not have working speakers, or for those with hearing impairments.
Guidelines for Formatting / Editing
When organizing folders in
Blackboard, avoid creating a folder with only one item in it. Only create a
hierarchy of folders when more than one item relates to the same topic or week
of the course and it is necessary that all related items are placed in the same
folder. This prevents students from having to “click” through many
unnecessary levels of organization before arriving at the content they are
looking for.
Use a learning unit only when it is essential that the items be viewed sequentially to be best understood.
Research has shown that 79% of Web users scan instead of reading. Even students in online courses generally scan the information through the first time they read it to get an overview of the content. Because the eyes tire more quickly when reading on a screen than when reading on paper, screen reading is about 25% slower than reading printed material. It is therefore important to use the following tips to keep your readers engaged:
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When writing content, strive for high levels of “scannability” – use short paragraphs with bold, meaningful headings, bold key words and phrases, use bulleted lists, tables, charts, etc. – so the reader can clearly organize the information he/she will get from the page.
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Keep each paragraph limited to one idea
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Start with the conclusion or most important point at the beginning of the document
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Use half the word count of conventional writing
The use of bold and colored
text is meaningless unless it is used conservatively for emphasis. Use bold
text, underlined text, italicized text, colored text, or all capital letters
only when it is drawing the reader’s eye to something meaningful. Over-using
these elements detracts from their meaningful use. When
the all of the text is large, bold or colored, it fails to draw the reader’s
eye to any particular items that you want to stick out. The overuse of such text
is jarring to the reader and does not serve any real purpose.
Always proofread and edit
material posted to your course: put the pages through the same process you use
for printed materials. Before posting
pages, they should be thoroughly proofed for spelling, content, links
functioning properly, etc.
Edit liberally to make reading
materials concise and to the point without sacrificing content.
Design pages to be
esthetically appealing and professional-looking.
Create and maintain a
consistent look and feel for documents of the same type.
Title each page, making the
title clear, concise, and descriptive.
Format dates to be
recognizable worldwide – for example, 11/12/02 might be read as December 11th
or November 12th,
depending on where you are from. Always write out the date in the format "November 12, 2002" or
"12 November 2002" so that it is recognizable by anyone.
Always test links periodically
throughout the semester to make sure the site you linked to has not moved or
been removed. “Dead Links” that don’t go where they were intended to
should be taken out of the course.
Clearly identify links,
including a title and brief description of the site.
When formatting links,
don’t use “click here”. This
generally insults the intelligence of the reader. If you know html or have
created your document in an html editor such as Microsoft Frontpage, it is a
good idea to include a link from the title and write out the URL. That way, it
will be evident to users where they are being sent, in case they’d like to
save the address for future reference. For example:
“The SAU website, found at
http://www.sau.edu,
is a great resource for SAU students, faculty, and staff.”
Guidelines for Handicap
Accessibility:
Always provide text
equivalents for audio and video elements. Transcribe the narration and include
it in a text file so that hearing-impaired users (or those whose speakers
don’t work) can still access the information being presented.
Make sure that text and
graphics are understandable without color.
The website “Dive into
accessibility” (http://www.fixingyourwebsite.com/DiveIntoAccessibility/by_disability.html)
will help you design pages that are easier to access for students with
disabilities. Various disabilities are listed, along with the design strategies
that will help them best view your pages.
Further Resources Online /
References for this Page
http://www.utexas.edu/learn/style/
-- Web Design Guidelines, Team Web
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Web/guidelines.html
-- Guidelines for Web Document Style and Design, Berkeley Digital Library
Sunsite
http://home.bohol.net/NETIQUETTE/webtiqet.htm
-- Etiquette on the Web, Infoseek
http://www.sau.edu/c&m/guidelines/web/default.htm
-- University Web Design
Guidelines, St. Ambrose University
http://www.fixingyourwebsite.com/DiveIntoAccessibility/by_disability.html -- “Dive into accessibility”, lists various disabilities along with the design strategies that will help people with these disabilities best view your pages.
Back to Online Course Creation
