For all slideshows, there are simple, non-automatic transitions between slides.
Review These Explanations
Transitions have an effect on learner information processing. Researchers conducted a study where learners were split into two groups. One group was shown a presentation with animated, automatic transitions on slides, and the other group was shown an identical presentation with no transitions.
When learners were tested on recall and understanding, the group that watched the presentation with no transitions scored higher (Mahar et al, 2009).
Moreno & Mayer (2000) also found that that irrelevant sounds, motions, or animations in a presentation can reduce learner comprehension.
References:
Mahar, S., Yaylacicegi, U., & Janicki, T. (2009). The dark side of custom animation. International Journal of Innovation & Learning, 6(6), 581-592.
OSCQR has been developed by a community of online practitioners interested in quality course design. There are numerous opportunities for community members to offer suggestions, donate resources, and help with future development.
Slideshows use a predefined slide layout and include unique slide titles.
Review These Explanations
Using a consistent layout will set the stage for continuity and consistency in your course. If presenting slides, keep the layout simple and clearly convey the following in your opening slides:
The main purpose of the presentation.
Why the material is important.
How you expect learners to interact with the presentation.
Learning materials presented in slide format work best if the slideshow is considered as a highlight with minimal text that can be supplemented with a content summary provided in handouts or assigned readings (Kinchin, 2006).
OSCQR has been developed by a community of online practitioners interested in quality course design. There are numerous opportunities for community members to offer suggestions, donate resources, and help with future development.
Tables enable learners to quickly scan and make visual associations between table cell contents and appropriate row or column headings. In order for screen readers to process table information, row and column headers need to be in place. When they are, learners can navigate through table cells one at a time and the row and column headers will be read out to them.
Taking the time to learn how to include these headers within the LMS will make it easier to meet accessibility guidelines and serve all online learners.
Refresh Your Course with These Ideas
General Suggestions
Keep row and column headers short and simple.
Listen to how your table appears in a screen reader. Download a free version of JAWS to understand how course content is accessible to the visually impaired student using this tool.
When the proper HTML markup is in place, users of screen readers can navigate through data tables one cell at a time, and they will hear the column and row headers spoken to them.
Share What You Know
OSCQR has been developed by a community of online practitioners interested in quality course design. There are numerous opportunities for community members to offer suggestions, donate resources, and help with future development.
Tables are accompanied by a title and summary description.
Review These Explanations
If you have tabular data that you need to display, you will need to provide a title and summary description in order to guide learners using screen readers through the topic before the screen reader accesses the actual data in the table.
Be sure that the title appears first, the description second, and the table last. The description should include the word “table” so that learners using screen readers will know that a data table will be coming up next in the page sequence.
All data tells a story. You can choose to explain the data itself to your learners, detail why the data is important, ask open ended questions, or summarize each category. Either way, you need to provide an introduction and context to support all learners.
Refresh Your Course with These Ideas
General Suggestions
As you are creating this content, read it aloud to see if it makes sense in sequence.
Follow the guidelines for creating an accessible table (see entry #26).
Write a narrative description of the table and include a link to a downloadable version of the table.
Listen to how your table appears in a screen reader. Download a free version of JAWS to understand how course content is accessible to the visually impaired student using this tool.
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) is developed through the W3C process in cooperation with individuals and organizations around the world, with a goal of proving a single shared standard for web content accessibility that meets the needs of individuals, organizations, and governments internationally.
Share What You Know
OSCQR has been developed by a community of online practitioners interested in quality course design. There are numerous opportunities for community members to offer suggestions, donate resources, and help with future development.
When possible, information is displayed in a linear format instead of as a table.
Review These Explanations
The code that is used to generate tables on online pages does not work well with screen readers that are used by learners with visual disabilities. Tables tend to distort the information, making it hard to process smoothly, and reading in these situations becomes choppy and distorted.
In order for screen readers to scan code properly, the table needs to be structured properly so that a learner who is blind, low-vision and/or using a screen reader can process the auditory output that is generated.
The Web Accessibility Guidelines published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) refer to these issues with table programming and display as information relationship and meaningful sequence issues that need to be addressed.
To avoid these issues, present information as text in paragraphs, bulleted lists, etc.
Refresh Your Course with These Ideas
General Suggestions
Avoid using tables, but if you do need to display data tables:
Follow the guidelines for creating an accessible table (See Standard 26).
Write a narrative description of the table, and include a link to a downloadable version of the table.
Listen to how your table appears in a screen reader. Download a free version of JAWS to understand how course content is accessible to the visually impaired student using this tool.
Example
Example of a table that is not set up well to be read by a screen reader:
Layout Tables, and Data Tables
If you code tables properly, someone using a screen reader will also be able to scan through the table and understand it.
Tables Concepts Tutorial
This tutorial shows you how to apply appropriate structural markup to tables.
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) is developed through the W3C process in cooperation with individuals and organizations around the world, with a goal of proving a single shared standard for web content accessibility that meets the needs of individuals, organizations, and governments internationally.
Share What You Know
OSCQR has been developed by a community of online practitioners interested in quality course design. There are numerous opportunities for community members to offer suggestions, donate resources, and help with future development.
A sans-serif font with a standard size of at least 12 pt is used.
Review These Explanations
Researchers rely on eye gaze tracking as an analysis tool to determine readability. In eye gaze tracking, a camera is focused on the reader’s eyes, tracks where they are looking, and maps the points to how the reader moves through the page. Eye gaze tracking has shown that font size and type face (serif vs. sans-serif) do factor into readability results (Beymer et al, 2008).
Although learners can adjust their screen resolution and font sizes within their browsers, following this guideline will help to ensure readability.
OSCQR has been developed by a community of online practitioners interested in quality course design. There are numerous opportunities for community members to offer suggestions, donate resources, and help with future development.
Online course content that flashes or blinks can cause seizures for some learners, and should be purposefully avoided. This includes images as well as text. In addition to possibly causing seizures, flashing and blinking text can distract from and disrupt learning.
The Web Accessibility Guidelines published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) clearly state that if content is unsafe if it flashes more than three times per second. In keeping with accessibility guidelines, and for consideration of all learners, do not include any flashing or blinking text.
Refresh Your Course with These Ideas
General Suggestions
To create highlights or catch attention, use headings, or display fonts.
If something is critical for learners to grasp, or stop and think about, use graphical elements, such as a stop sign, or question mark.
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) is developed through the W3C process in cooperation with individuals and organizations around the world, with a goal of proving a single shared standard for web content accessibility that meets the needs of individuals, organizations, and governments internationally.
Share What You Know
OSCQR has been developed by a community of online practitioners interested in quality course design. There are numerous opportunities for community members to offer suggestions, donate resources, and help with future development.
Text is formatted with titles, headings, and other styles to enhance readability and improve the structure of the document.
Review These Explanations
Titles and headings play an important role in catching the interest of the reader, and guiding their progress through information (Lazareva, 2006). By using titles and headings, instructors can effectively guide learners through an online course, while setting expectations on what to expect along the way.
Readability, in this context, refers to how words and blocks of text appear on a page, and how learners are able to scan from one item to the next. Titles and headings can indicate priority and provide direction within the visual framework of a page or set of pages in an online course. This helps to structure the document and help learners establish a flow through course content.
Hierarchy is a key element of readability. Titles and headings establish visual hierarchy, and enhance the learner experience creating a pattern or sequence through the learning content. This will help learners find their way and visually guide their progress through the course.
References:
Lazareva, E. A. (2006). The headline complex of a text – a means of organizing and optimizing perception. Proceedings of the Ural State University, 40, 158-166.
Refresh Your Course with These Ideas
General Suggestions
Establish a consistent use of the heading styles built into the LMS for module headings, learning asset headings, and subheadings.
Keep your titles and headings short, and contextualize them with subheadings or an introductory paragraph.
Step back from your screen and squint your eyes to see if there’s a pattern that emerges on the page (there should be). This will let you know where you may need to add more visual cues and headings.
Create an outline and establish a hierarchy for every course page, considering what is most important, least important, etc.
Read through the first few words of every title or heading to be sure that they stand on their own and provide enough guidance for learners to scan through and know where they need to pick up reading again.
OSCQR has been developed by a community of online practitioners interested in quality course design. There are numerous opportunities for community members to offer suggestions, donate resources, and help with future development.
Course is free of grammatical and spelling errors.
Review These Explanations
The instructor is considered the expert in the classroom, and course materials should reflect that expertise — including spelling and grammar. The online course can be considered a learning asset in and of itself, and should be presented with professionalism and integrity.
Errors in grammar and spelling can cause some learners to question the quality of the course or program. It is common to glance over writing errors, but it is important to check for grammatical and spelling errors before sharing it with learners.
Refresh Your Course with These Ideas
General Suggestions
When writing course materials, step away for a while and return to reread the materials with a fresh look. This will enable you to notice errors that you may have missed.
Write course materials in a word processing application that has spelling and grammar checks built in, then copy that material into the LMS.
Turn on spell checking functionality within your browser.
Consider establishing a peer review group of other faculty and course developers to check grammar and spelling in your course.
If you are teaching a new course, create an avenue for learners to let you know if they find any grammatical or spelling errors. Give them explicit instructions on how to let you know, and acknowledge their observations.
This blog post from the Center for Innovation in Research and Teaching from Grand Canyon University explores how grammar still matters in both the academic and professional realm.
Share What You Know
OSCQR has been developed by a community of online practitioners interested in quality course design. There are numerous opportunities for community members to offer suggestions, donate resources, and help with future development.
A learner’s academic engagement and success depend on many things. In an online course one element of importance is how well a learner understands what they are supposed to do, when, and how, so that they can meet the expectations and objectives of the activity, and get feedback to improve their understanding and learning, make progress, and complete the course successfully. This standard is intended to ensure that all course instructions are clear, findable, consistent, well written, free of ambiguity or error. Online course instructions are the voice of the instructor and set the tone for course interactions.
Clear instructions help learners to function in the online environment without having to repeatedly ask for clarification. Instructions can be communicated in many different forms in an online course, including orientations, introductions, announcements, guidelines, examples, and rubrics, etc.
Instructions contextualize course content, interaction, activity, and assessment by guiding learners through course materials, activities, interactions and assessments. Well written instructions address what, where, how and when learners need to do, why they need to do it, how it relates to course, module, or program objectives, how they will be assessed, and when they can expect feedback.
Instructions provide learners with the necessary guidance and confidence to successfully complete specific tasks, activities, assignments, interactions, or assessments in the course.
Regular and Substantive Interaction (RSI)
How This Standard Supports RSI
Online course instructions can support regular and substantive interaction by providing specific explanations, instructions, and details on how, when, where, and by whom course tasks, assignments, interactions, and assessments will take place. Learner questions can be anticipated in the course instructions by including examples, models, rubrics and associated information, such as how to ask for help, get questions answered, and how and when feedback can be expected. Directing learners to ask questions and interact with the instructor about course instructions, such as in an online discussion forum, further supports RSI, and is a good general practice. Scheduling a specific instructor-facilitated discussion on these topics demonstrates compliance with RSI.
Refresh Your Course with These Ideas
General Suggestions
Provide instructions for all assignments, activities, tasks.
Review your instructions taking the perspective of the learner. If there are steps to follow, go through each one to be sure they are easy to follow.
Create short screen-casted videos (or audio files) that ‘walk learners through’ assignment details and/or showcase exemplary example submissions.
Provide a forum or anonymous place to ask questions about course assignments, and make sure that course participants know how and where to find and engage in this area of the course for this purpose.
Create an open discussion forum and link to it from within assignment or activity instructions for learners to connect and communicate any questions or issues they may encounter.
Hold “Office hours” (synchronous or asynchronous) devoted to answering questions on upcoming assignments with follow up announcements and/or “FAQs” for all learners on common assignment-related questions and clarifications.
Create and automate course announcements reiterating/reinforcing course instructions where appropriate.
Include links to troubleshooting or help resources.
Write instructions across all assignments using consistent language, format, and fonts for ease of use.
Position instructions in consistent locations throughout the course.
Use consistent naming conventions for assignments, activities, tasks and provide contextual titles as advanced organizers to convey a summary of the content.
Consider how instructions tie back to learning objectives and use consistent language that refers back to those objectives.
Provide an estimate of how long the assignment is estimated to complete.
When appropriate, provide a link to a rubric, or information on how a learner will be evaluated.
When appropriate, provide examples or models of exemplary assignments.
Explore Related Resources
Lorenzetti, J. P. (2008). 14 Ways Faculty Can Improve Online Student Retention. Recruitment & Retention in Higher Education, 22(12), 6-7.
Share What You Know
OSCQR has been developed by a community of online practitioners interested in quality course design. There are numerous opportunities for community members to offer suggestions, donate resources, and help with future development.
