Accessible content courses
Year: 2022
I worked with Guide Dogs NSW/ACT to develop learning solutions for internal and external staff around creating accessible content, that people who are blind or have low vision can easily access using assistive technology.
We conducted a thorough needs analysis through stakeholder interviews. Guide Dogs staff had some familiarity with the topic, but in general required further knowledge and skills to ensure their documents were fully accessible.
Solution
As a solution, we decided to develop short, engaging interactive units hosted in the organisation's learning management system, and available on desktop and mobile. Emphasis was placed on decision making and guided practice. We also created job aids that Guide Dogs staff could refer to during the course whenever on the job whenever required, and in-person sessions were planned to support the self-paced elearning.
Accessibility was of course a key component of this project, so I ensured all interactions developed in the elearning authoring tool were fully accessible by a screen reader user.
Reception
The course was very well received by stakeholders and staff alike. Feedback from course participants included the below comments:
“One of the best courses I have done so far, practical and useful.”
“A great course! An excellent balance of information, learning tasks and actual problems to solve.”
“The course was enjoyable, informative and challenging. Well done!”
“I found the eLearning modules were well put together and extremely helpful. Excellent modules.”
“Well done on the course; great initiative! Will be very beneficial for staff who are blind or vision-impaired within and outside the organisation.”
Course platform and external release
As a result of this reception from internal staff, we decided to make these courses available to external organisations.
In consultation with Guide Dogs, I conducted a full review of course platforms, and then chose the most appropriate option, Thinkific. I then made all all courses available on the platform via self-paced learning, keeping a world class user experience in mind at all times. The courses are scheduled to release in 2023.
