DIGITAL ACCESIBILITY IN LEARNING-INTENSIVE ENVIRONMENTS
DIGITAL ACCESIBILITY IN LEARNING-INTENSIVE ENVIRONMENTS

Summary/Abstract: Web accessibility has become a priority in educational communities. Facilitating access to digital education information, applications and services enables more students to be included in complex learning flows. This can significantly improve their competencies, facilitating them a better integration into the labour market. More and more tools are being developed to increase the flexibility, findability, and ease of use for learning content, as well as answer specific user requirements. However, designing with accessibility in mind and applying accessibility mechanics remains challenging, and many elements are often overlooked. This research considers what barriers exist in making digital learning content accessible to larger user bases and presents a fully interactive tool designed for people with cognitive and physical disabilities, which can be integrated in a website. This ensures that the information displayed is accessible for those using assistive software such as screen readers, switch control and scanning. The tool resolves website accessibility issues efficiently, economically, and with a focus on enhanced usability. It offers the possibility to use web resources on an equal basis as well as making websites more useable for disabled and non-disabled users alike. The tool addresses different disabilities and includes key facilities such as: Text to Speech in 20 languages, Speech Recognition in over 80 languages (making this a truly international solution), magnification, change of the font size and style, screen tinting, reading bars and can manipulate text and objects on the screen making them accessible to all. By presenting content in a different way, such as controlling the website experience using verbal commands, the tool assists the user in writing, spelling, reading and navigating, providing access to the highest level of accessibility.

• Details
• Contents