eLearning Accessibility
Create Learning That’s Available to Everyone
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Building a Truly Inclusive Learning Culture
Great training is only great if everyone can use it. Whether you’re proactively building a new, inclusive course from the ground up or adapting an existing library to meet new standards, the goal is the same: to ensure everyone has an equal opportunity to learn and grow.
Achieving digital accessibility is a complex but essential goal. It requires a deep understanding of technical standards, a thoughtful approach to instructional design, and a commitment to creating a supportive experience for all learners. You're likely focused on:
- Creating a consistent, high-quality experience for every learner, regardless of their abilities.
- Confidently meeting your legal and ethical obligations to provide accessible training.
- Ensuring your investment in training reaches its widest possible audience and delivers the greatest possible impact.
Your Confident Path to Inclusive Learning
We are your expert partners in demystifying accessibility. Our process is designed to provide a clear, stress-free path to creating fully compliant eLearning that works for everyone.
Build new courses accessibly
We build your new courses to be WCAG AA compliant from the start, integrating best practices like high-contrast color combinations and a clear content hierarchy into the design.
Adapt your existing library
Our team expertly works through your portfolio of courses, addressing every issue from adding descriptive alt-text for images to closed captions for narrated courses to ensuring full keyboard navigation and screen reader compatibility.
Ensure a clear learner experience
We design with clear, easy-to-find instructions and forgiving interactions, such as adding confirmation steps before important actions, to create an intuitive experience for everyone.
Integrate inclusive design principles
We build your course with accessibility as a core part of the design process, ensuring every element is thoughtfully considered and rigorously tested from the perspective of a diverse range of learners.
Ready to Build a Truly Inclusive Learning Program?
Schedule a strategic consultation to learn how we can help you confidently achieve WCAG AA conformance and reach all your learners with accessible eLearning.
Why Choose Us for eLearning Accessibility
When it comes to accessibility, precision is critical. You need a partner with deep, proven expertise who can build and adapt courses to meet exacting standards. Our team is dedicated to the technical and instructional nuances of accessibility, and our process is built to deliver peace of mind.
We don’t just fix courses; we provide a partnership that guides you through every step of the process. We are your expert navigators, ensuring your project is completed efficiently, cost-effectively, and, most importantly, correctly.
- A Commitment to Meeting Standards: Our rigorous process and expert knowledge mean we stand behind our work. We build and adapt courses with the express goal of meeting the WCAG AA standard.
- Expertise in Both Creation and Adaptation: We have specialized teams and processes for building new, accessible courses from scratch, as well as for the complex work of adapting existing course libraries.
- Proven, Stress-Free Process: We manage the entire project from audit to delivery, providing clear communication and transparent project management that removes the anxiety and uncertainty from your accessibility initiative.
Bringing a University’s eLearning to WCAG Standards
The Challenge: The University of Minnesota’s College of Education and Human Development had a critical need: a large portfolio of over 100 existing eLearning courses had to be updated to meet the rigorous WCAG AA accessibility standards. This was a complex, high-stakes adaptation project.
Our Solution: We executed a comprehensive, multi-phase project. First, we conducted a thorough accessibility audit on every course to create a detailed plan. Then, our team methodically worked through the entire library, fixing all identified issues to bring the courses into conformance.
The Result: The University successfully met its accessibility goals. We delivered a fully adapted library of courses, along with the necessary documentation to confirm conformance. The project was completed on time and on budget, turning a daunting challenge into a successful outcome.
Read the case study to discover how University of Minnesota met its eLearning course accessibility goals with Custom Learning.
FAQ about eLearning Accessibility
What does WCAG AA conformance actually involve?
WCAG AA is the globally recognized standard for accessibility. The guidelines are organized around four core principles, known by the acronym POUR:
- Perceivable: Information must be presented in a way that all users can perceive, such as providing alt-text for images and captions for videos.
- Operable: All users must be able to operate the interface, for example, by ensuring everything is navigable with a keyboard.
- Understandable: The content and the operation of the interface must be clear and understandable.
- Robust: Content must be robust enough that it can be interpreted reliably by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies.
This includes providing text alternatives for all images and videos, as well as ensuring the entire course can be navigated using only a keyboard.
Is it more expensive to build an accessible course?
It is more cost-effective to design an accessible course from the outset than to retrofit it later. While accessible design does require specialized expertise and a more detailed development process, building it in from the beginning is a minor cost compared to the significant effort of a post-launch remediation project.
Our courses contain a lot of videos and complex images. Can they really be made accessible?
Yes. For videos, this involves creating accurate closed captions for the hearing impaired and descriptive audio tracks for the visually impaired. For complex images, such as charts or detailed workflows, simple alt-text is often insufficient due to character limits. In these cases, we partner with you to create an accessible alternative, such as a well-structured, step-by-step description on a separate slide that conveys the full meaning to users with screen readers.
Will making our courses accessible make them less visually engaging?
Not at all. This is a common misconception. Accessibility and great design go hand in hand. Many accessibility best practices—such as using high-contrast color palettes, clear typography, and a logical layout—are also principles of great visual design. Our team is an expert at creating courses that are both stunningly beautiful and fully accessible.
With the right partner, bring your eLearning vision to life
We’ll help transform your training into engaging, cohesive custom eLearning courses hassle-free and within budget — so your learners can achieve more.
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