Understanding Accessibility Issues

Questions to ask yourself:

Is my course accessible for those who have visual impairments or some other type of disability? How can I ensure that my course is accessible?

Why is this important?

You must know how to assure the accessibility of your web site. For the purposes of most sites this is not difficult, largely entailing labeling all graphics and media objects with a text description. It is both good design practice and important from a legal perspective to attend to accessibility.

Decisions you can make:

You may choose to eliminate certain resources or use alternatives if their value is outweighed by accessibility requirements. For example, images must have descriptive ALT tags, as these are used by screen readers. Typically, this is little work, and generally good design practice (i.e., for users who are not downloading graphics). However, if your web site uses audio or video, a text transcript may be required for those who are hearing impaired -- more work and expense. Think about the images and multimedia that you would like to use in your course, and how you might provide that content in an alternate format. If you have questions about this issue, please contact NC State’s Disability Services for Students or Instructional Services early in your development cycle -- it's easier to address accessibility early than to retrofit!