Tonight we watched the Open Ed 2021 short session by Tenley Sablatzky entitled “How to Create Engaging Open Educational Resources without Sacrificing Accessibility.” Sablatzky is a Medical Librarian at Prairie View A&M University. They defined the term accessibility and introduced universal design: “to create a resource that can be accessed, understood, and used to the greatest extent possible by all people regardless of their age, disability, race, or culture.” Their slide had the terms: perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust as defined by the National Center on Accessible Educational Materials. Sablatzky went on to describe each of the terms. Perceivable refers to content that “makes it possible for all users to see and hear the information.” Perceivable includes alternative text, closed captions and transcripts, high contrast color combinations, large bold font, and avoiding cluttering. Sablatzky shared that “closed captioning, the visual display of the audio component of a video, allows people to read spoken dialogue, as well as non-speech information.” Sablatzky suggested the website Color Safe and color ratios from Katie Riley’s 2019 article for appropriate color combinations. A good accessibility score is anything above 3.0. Operable content helps learners navigate the content, and Sablatzky listed descriptive headings for improved keyboard-only navigation, descriptive links, avoiding flashing text, and disabling time limits. Operable content helps provide options for learners for how they navigate and interact with the content. I thought that anything that flashes more than three times per minute may lead to an onset of a seizure. Understandable “allows users to focus on understanding the information rather than on working around barriers in the design.” Sablatzky listed plain language, clear instructions, consistent formatting throughout the document or website, and identifying when the content changes between languages. The example was using parenthesis to explain foreign words. Robust content “works for learners on a variety of web browsers and devices and is tested before distribution.” Sablatzky mentioned Funkify and Site Improve tools to identify accessibility issues. Funkify simulates the experience for several learners and disabilities. This was a quick overview packed with examples and suggestions. I hope to keep in mind the four words: perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust as we design new materials and experiences.
