HOW ACCESSIBILITY IMPACTS YOUR STUDENTS

When thinking about accessibility, it can be easy to lose sight of the very real human impact that accessibility has on students. On the previous page, we discussed the idea that accessibility is the right thing to do. One of the reasons it is the right thing to do is that it respects and values every human being, and it seeks to create positive experiences for all students.

If you've ever used a smartphone to try to navigate a website that wasn't designed for mobile devices, you understand how frustrating it can be to use something that was designed in a way that presents significant barriers to your use. Perhaps you powered through the frustration, or perhaps you gave up and pulled out a tablet or went to your laptop to do what you were trying to do.

For many students with disabilities, there is no other option. They must use your course the way it is structured. If it presents significant barriers to access, they will have to figure out ways around those barriers. On the other hand, if it is designed to reduce those barriers, they are more likely to have a positive experience and be able to do what they are there to do: learn.

The unfortunate reality is that far too much of the world puts up barriers to users with disabilities, including the world of higher education. The National Center for Education Statistics found that 70% of major U.S. universities had poor web accessibility. When a student consistently has to push through barriers and frustrations to complete their coursework, a well-designed accessible course can be more than just a breath of fresh air: it can be a transformative experience that gives them hope for their education.

A DEEP DIVE INTO SCREEN READERS

To illustrate this impact, let's examine one specific assistive technology that is central to much of digital accessibility: screen readers. A screen reader is software, usually controlled by a keyboard, that interprets the contents of a page and outputs it as speech or braille. Screen readers are commonly used by people with vision disabilities to navigate the web. It's also worth noting that Canvas includes the Microsoft Immersive Reader, a text-to-speech program that may be used by students who cannot currently read (such as while walking) or who prefer to learn through audio.

Screen readers take a prominent role in any discussion of digital accessibility. This is because most websites are designed around visual interaction, from browsing through content to clicking on links to navigating the structure of a site. While a user with a hearing disability may only face issues with video content, a user with a vision disability is more likely to encounter barriers to a wide variety of web content.

NVDA Elements List for Ball State University Website — One feature of a screen reader is an Elements List, which allows users to navigate a page by its links, section headers, and more.

Students who use a screen reader can have two very different experiences accessing content, depending on how well the creator of the content has made it accessible. For example, a page with poor accessibility may make it completely impossible for a screen reader user to navigate the sections of the page in order to locate specific information, such as a due date for an assignment. On the other hand, a page with excellent accessibility will make its structure clear to these users so that they can quickly and easily navigate the page just as a sighted user would navigate it. (For an example of this in action, check out W3C's before and after demo website.)

Understanding how screen readers work and how people use them to navigate the web can help you understand both what steps to take for accessibility and how it impacts your students. Watch this video demonstration of a screen reader in action, and as you do, note how these uses of a screen reader could affect students accessing your course materials.

Now that you've learned how a screen reader works, a few things you may have noted include:

Section Headings are used for navigating the page, which means that how you set up Section Headings is critical for accessibility.
Images are interpreted through alt text, which means that proper alt text can make the difference between knowing what an image is and completely missing the image's importance.
Tables can be tricky to navigate for screen reader users, and proper formatting of a table can make the information in them much clearer.

While this list of impacts for screen reader users is by no means exhaustive, each of these items will be covered later in this course.

We want to encourage you to always come back to this core idea: Your accessibility efforts have a profound impact on your students and their ability to access your course to its fullest extent. When you get into the weeds of accessibility, it can be easy to feel like you're following a process in order to meet a particular standard. Remember that accessibility isn't a checkbox to complete: it's an approach to your course and your teaching that values, recognizes, and addresses the experiences of every human being who is taking your course.

Quick Recap

Accessibility has a significant impact for students in your course, and understanding this impact can deepen your approach to accessible course design.

Further Reading

How People with Disabilities Use the Web
Web Accessibility Perspectives (Video Series)
Accessible PDF Screen Reader Demo (Video)