by Will Sumerall
As the transition to fully remote education continues how do you ensure that your online course meets web accessibility guidelines? In this brief post, I will explore 5 ways that SoftChalk automatically enables you to create online course materials that meet or exceed those guidelines.
Screen Reader Support
SoftChalk lessons can be read by screen reader software, ensuring that content produced will be instantly accessible to students reliant on assistive software. Scored interactives, such as quizzes and activities, enable a screen reader to provide verbal instructions about how to complete the activity and facilitate the interaction by allowing students to hear the written details of a quiz or activity as they are completing it.
Required Fields Ensure Accessibility Compliance
SoftChalk requires all images and media added to a lesson to have alt-text descriptions, which ensure an equivalent experience when students are unable to see the information presented by an image or chart.
Native Support for Text-to-Speech Integration using ReadSpeaker
SoftChalk allows easy integration of ReadSpeaker text-to-speech within your lessons. With ReadSpeaker, SoftChalk lessons automatically generate an audio transcription of the written content, enabling alternative learning styles for students.
Keyboard Controls for Activities
All SoftChalk activities have alternative keyboard controls, ensuring users that do not rely on a mouse can still complete activities for a score. Even activities which would traditionally require a mouse to drag cards or click an interactive element can be completed with just a keyboard.
Navigation and Layout
While it may not be apparent at a glance, SoftChalk lessons are built from the ground up to support accessible navigation. All pages are appropriately tags to facilitate navigation by students using screen readers or other accessibility software. Labels are applied behind the scenes to identify regions for the screen reader software that ensure navigation links are kept separate from links that may be part of the main lesson content.
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