How do I make my course more accessible to Learners?

Learners come to FutureLearn with a variety of needs. FutureLearn takes a learner-centric approach to design, and we ask our partners to do the same. The following guidelines are to help you build courses with these learning needs in mind.

 

Learners on the autistic spectrum

Autism affects about 1 in 100 people, according to The National Autistic Society.

To make your course accessible:

Write in plain language

Write in unambiguous, plain language, and avoid jargon or figures of speech where possible. See FutureLearn’s Style Guide.

Design audiovisual content carefully

Beware of visuals and sound which are likely to cause sensory overload [Source]. You should use background music sparingly, and only if there is a clear pedagogical justification. Visuals in images or videos should use simple colours, instead of bright, contrasting colours. Whilst background music is suited to media such as TV programmes, different rules apply to educational video.

Useful tools and resources

1. Use our Readability Tool to identify any difficult to read sentences or passages of text
2. Read this interview with Jamie Knight, a web designer who also has autism: http://www.iheni.com/an-interview-with-jamie-knight-autism-and-accessible-web-design/
3. See the UK Home Office’s poster designing for users on the autistic spectrum from accessibility:https://github.com/ukhomeoffice/posters/blob/master/accessibility/posters_en-UK/autistic-spectrum.pdf

 

Learners with low vision or blindness

“This course is full of graphs and other visual materials. I am blind and I can’t follow many of the steps, but I really want to finish the course.”

“Next time you run the course, I would really appreciate if the academic team could add alt tags to images – they’re so important for me as I have a visual impairment. It was really frustrating not to be able to understand the images.”

To make your course accessible:

Structure Article steps and documents

Some learners will be studying your course with the assistance of a screen reader. By structuring text with clear headings and subheadings, learners will be able to navigate to different sections of the document quickly via their screen reader.

Accessibility checker tools:

Both Microsoft and Adobe offer accessibility checker tools:

Microsoft’s Accessibility Checker Tool works in MS Word, Excel and PowerPoint: https://support.office.com/en-gb/article/Use-the-Accessibility-Checker-on-your-Windows-desktop-to-find-accessibility-issues-a16f6de0-2f39-4a2b-8bd8-5ad801426c7f

Adobe also offers an accessibility checker for PDF documents: https://helpx.adobe.com/uk/acrobat/using/create-verify-pdf-accessibility.html

Bear in mind that, although these tools are helpful, they have limits. For example, they can’t sense check alternative text.

See FutureLearn’s guidelines on creating accessible documents.

Add alternative (“alt”) text to all images

Alternative text is required for learners using a screen reader.

You must provide a text alternative for all visual course elements, including images, diagrams, graphs and charts. (See Course Criteria 9.1)

How do I write alt text?

Alt text is typically a short phrase or sentence which succinctly and accurately describes the contents of that image.

The following article contains good guidance on writing alt-text: https://axesslab.com/alt-texts/

Leicester University has a good article on writing effective alt text in an educational context: https://www2.le.ac.uk/webcentre/plone/build/basics/add-images/alt-text

If you need to describe more complex images, such as those that may contain a lot of data, you may find these guidelines useful: http://www.ukaaf.org/accessible-images/

Where do I add alt text?

If you are uploading an image to a step in Course Creator, add this to the field ‘Image description (alt text) for screen readers’, below the image module.

If you are adding in-line images, you must include the alt text within the markdown for each image. Find the markdown in our syntax guide.

Alt text can be delivered as a separate document if it is too long for alt text. If you are providing a separate document, make sure it follows our accessibility guidance.

Write descriptive hyperlinks

When referencing elements of the user interface of FutureLearn, include a textual description to indicate what you’re referring to. For example, write:

See how much you’ve completed on your progress page.

Not:

Click here to see how much progress you’ve made in the course.

Make graphs and charts accessible

You must provide text alternatives for all graphs and figures – see the section on adding alternative (“alt”) text.

A common problem in graphs and charts is that they use colour on its own to convey information, and this can disadvantage learners with colour blindness. Colour blindness or colour vision deficiency (CVD) affects around 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women worldwide. [Source]

To make your graphs and charts colour-blind friendly:

• Use patterns and textures to show contrast
• Keep colours minimal – this will help reduce confusion
• Choose colour combinations carefully – for a list of colour combinations to avoid see this post on theuxblog.com.

Allow time for Exercise step QA

If you are embedding an external tool into your course via an Exercise step, this must first pass a technical and accessibility QA. Exercise steps should be just as accessible as other steps on FutureLearn. If you would like to embed an external tool in your course, please complete this Exercise Step Submission Form and one of our developers will review it for you.

If there are any inaccessible elements in the external tool, please provide a separate Word or PDF document with equivalent text used in interactive exercises. For example, if you are embedding an interactive timeline which cannot be easily read by a screen reader, you should also provide an alternative, accessible document containing the same information.

Two frequently used external tools are Typeform and Padlet. See our guidelines on providing accessible fallbacks in Typeform and Padlet Exercises. 

Useful tools and resources

1. User test your material using a screen reader: For Windows, NVDA Screenreader is popular. For Mac, the VoiceOver screen reader is already built in.
2. FutureLearn’s guidelines on creating accessible documents: https://partners.futurelearn.com/course-creation/accessibility-index/creating-accessible-documents/ 
3. YouTube video on how the NVDA (NonVisual Desktop Access) screen reader works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jao3s_CwdRU
4. UKAAF guide to describing images: http://www.ukaaf.org/accessible-images/
5. Article describing the correct way to use alt-text: https://axesslab.com/alt-texts/

 

Learners with dyslexia

10% of the UK population are dyslexic, and 4% have severe dyslexia, according to the British Dyslexia Association (BDA). [Source]

To make your course accessible:

Avoid large blocks of text

“I’m dyslexic and tend to ‘miss’ or ‘skip’ words, which makes reading lots of text difficult. I’m trying to get around the problem by using a TTS (Text To Speech) system so that I can hear instead of reading, that often helps me work out the words I’ve accidentally missed.”

Learners with dyslexia may struggle with long blocks of text in Article steps. Please follow our guidelines on structuring article steps and documents. 

You could also consider using images and diagrams to support text, or providing the material as video or audio to support those who struggle with dense reading.

Calculate study time realistically

“I’m struggling to keep up with the course – it says it takes three hours a week, but I have dyslexia so reading long articles takes me much longer to do. I’m feeling really behind the other learners.”

When you are calculating the study time per week for your course, consider learners who might need more time than others to complete the material.

See Course Criteria 7.1, Hours of Study.

Useful tools and resources

1. See this simulation for an idea of how dyslexia can affect reading online: https://www.wired.com/2016/03/internet-looks-like-someone-dyslexia/
2. Step 1.7 from the University of Southampton’s course Digital Accessibility: https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/digital-accessibility/3/steps/220990

 

Learners with physical or motor disabilities

The UK government cites that in the UK there are over 11 million people with a limiting long term illness, impairment or disability 1. The most commonly-reported impairments are those that affect mobility, lifting or carrying 2. The prevalence of disability rises with age. Around 6% of children are disabled, compared to 16% of working age adults and 45% of adults over State Pension age 3. 

People with poor manual control may use an alternative input method called switch access scanning. Switch access allows the user to activate a button with the head, finger or other means to choose individual items rather than using a keyboard or touch screen.

To make your course accessible:

Design with mobile and touchscreen in mind

31% of our learners study on a smartphone, and 10% on a tablet. As many smartphones have in-built accessibility features, they are often preferred by people with physical or motor disabilities.

Design for learners with limited dexterity

If you are planning to include an external tool as an Exercise step, please consider that activities such as drag and drop exercises, which require precise clicking or a lot of mouse movement, will be difficult for learners with dexterity problems. Learners should be able to complete the exercise using only their keyboard – it shouldn’t require a mouse.

Make physical activities optional

Consider any physical tasks you may ask learners to participate in, for example doing a science experiment or making a recipe. These sorts of activities should be optional, or otherwise an equivalent activity should be provided for those who cannot participate due to a disability or injury, or who cannot afford to purchase special equipment.

Useful tools and resources

1. Step 3.4 from the University of Southampton’s course Digital Accessibility, on built-in accessibility features on mobile devices: https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/digital-accessibility/3/steps/221024

 

Learners who are deaf or hard of hearing 

It is estimated that there are about 9 million people in the UK who are deaf or hard of hearing, according to the British Deaf Association. [Source]

“I’m starting a course next week and I’m looking forward to it. I have poor hearing and I read that the course has lots of videos. Do these have transcripts and subtitles? I will struggle otherwise.”

To make your course accessible:

You must provide a text-based equivalent to all content in a given step.

Provide video subtitles

You must provide subtitles for all video content. FutureLearn works with a transcription company called 3Play, who offer discounted subtitling services. Please see our guidelines on creating subtitles using 3Play.

Subtitles and transcripts do not just benefit learners who are deaf or hard of hearing. Everyone will benefit from subtitles and transcripts because:

• It’s much quicker to read than listen or watch – learners can get to information faster
• Learners can search the text of the subtitles, whereas you can’t search the video
• You need strong connection/ bandwidth to play a video. If you have the transcript, you’re not reliant on a good connection – you can read that at any time.

Please ensure you do not cover any important information with your captions by either keeping that section clear for captions or not including captions for that specific section where possible.

Provide audio transcripts

You must provide accessible PDF text transcripts for any audio used in your course.

For videos, you should also include a downloadable transcript alongside the subtitles if the video includes images which are integral to its understanding.

Please follow these principles when formatting your transcript:

• Include identifying information (at top): Video Title, University Partner, Date.
• Use headings and subheadings to divide information into logical groups.
• Split text into short paragraphs for better online reading.
• For lists of information, use bulleted lists.
• Indicate who is speaking. The first time someone speaks, identify the person by Full Name and Title/Type of Person. When that person speaks thereafter, identify them by Full Name or an Abbreviated Name. Example: First time: “John Johnson, Ohlone College student transferring to UC Berkeley”; then: “John”.
• Describe the meaning of simple non-decorative images, graphs, charts.
• Describe activities in video, especially if important for transitioning from section to section (such as: Driving to the airport).

(based on advice by Ohlone College)

Use background music sparingly

Background music is a frequent problem for learners who are hard of hearing. When producing audio-visual content, please ensure that it:

• Does not contain background sounds
• Contains background sounds that can be turned off; or
• Contains background sounds that are at least 20 decibels (or four times) lower than the foreground speech.

Useful tools and resources

1. Creating video subtitles using 3Play
2. UK Home Office poster on designing for deaf users

 

Learners with low bandwidth or poor internet connection

Learners come to FutureLearn from almost 200 countries worldwide, and 2/3 of learners live outside of the UK.

To make your course accessible:

Don’t go overboard with video

Always ask yourself, “does this really need to be a video?”. If your video is simply someone talking for several minutes to camera, with no other visual elements, it might be better as a reading or audio recording. Remember that video is an expensive way to present information – it’s costly to produce and consume (consider the data costs to the end user).

Provide transcripts

You need strong connection/ bandwidth to play a video. If you have the transcript, you’re not reliant on a good connection – you can read that at any time.

Make audiovisual content downloadable

Where possible, all video and audio content should be made available to download so that learners are not reliant on a good internet connection, except where there are rights reasons preventing this.

Additional links and resources

1. Step 2.10, Video Do’s and Don’ts, from How to Create a Great FutureLearn Course: https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/create-futurelearn-courses/2/steps/259302 (you may need to ask courses@futurelearn.com for access.)

 

Learners with English as an additional language

Learners studying on FutureLearn come from over 200 countries and territories.

To make your course accessible:

Write in clear language

All course materials should be written to accommodate people who are not native English speakers, for example, by expanding acronyms. Please avoid terms and examples which depend on a knowledge of Western culture, eg the UK/US education system.

Course Creator has an in-built Readability Checker, which you can use to check whether the level of writing in your articles matches your target audience.

Avoid background music

Background music can be problematic for learners who have English as an additional language. With this in mind, please use background music sparingly.

Provide transcripts

Video and audio transcripts are also useful to learners who are not native English speakers, particularly if the person speaking in the video has an accent, or if there is lots of background noise.

Additional links and resources

1. FutureLearn Course Criteria section 7.3: Approach to global learners

 

Acknowledging accessibility issues

It is best practice to acknowledge upfront any steps or learning material which may present accessibility challenges for learners. Please make this clear to learners:

1. In the course description (under the section which is most relevant to the accessibility restraint.)
2. In the relevant step(s) of the course.

In both cases, you should offer an accessible alternative, such as a PDF or Word document equivalent of the learning activity.