Amundson, L. (2009). Five steps to an accessible classroom website. Learning and Leading with Technology, 37(3), Retrieved on February 15, 2010, from http://www.iste.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=November_No_3_5&Template=/MembersOnly.cfm&NavMenuID=4436&ContentID=24615&DirectListComboInd=D.
Reflection/Summary:
This article discusses five steps to make a classroom website accessible to people who may have visual, hearing, movement, cognitive, or speech disabilities. The article outlines these five steps as the ones to make the website navigable for those with the previously mentioned disabilities; organize for easier navigation, navigation without a mouse, text explanations for images, using text that makes sense, and web validators. The article recommends achieving easier navigation by using headers to identify new sections on the website. The article also states that choice of color for fonts and backgrounds should not be red or green because those with color-blindness cannot distinguish them, and to not choose colors that are hard to distinguish when the page is set to gray-scale. The next step for making a classroom website more accessible is to make it navigable without a mouse. The article recommends using the tab-key as the navigational tool. The article also points out that drop down and rollovers are hard to use without a mouse so consider this when making one's website easily accessible. The next step is to include text explanations for images, videos, and audio. This will help those access the website who may be color-blind or deaf or cannot make sense of images. The next step to making the website easily accessible is to use text that people can understand, for example, instead of saying "click here" to a link write what about what the link actually is. The final step to making a classroom website more accessible is to use a website validator to check the accessibility of your website.
I found this article to be something of great value to someone like me who is a future teacher. I am not very tech savvy to begin with so something as simple as making a website will be challenging for me. I am sure when I make my own class website I will be thrilled that I actually accomplished the task of "making a class website" that I may not have actually thought about whether or not my website is easy or difficult to navigate? I would like to use these five steps so that students with disabilities will be able to access my website and feel they are included and belong!
Question#1:What happens if the teacher building the website does not know how to complete all of these steps to making his/her website accessible?
I think for many teachers completing all of these steps may be overwhelming at first. It may be good for teachers who are not super tech savvy to focus on making the website accessible for one disability. If a teacher has a deaf student and s/he utilizes a lot of audio clips on the site s/he can make sure to add text descriptions of all of the audio clips to make sure deaf students can access the website with ease. If teachers are really struggling with making a website most schools or district offices have tech support people who can help with putting the finishing touches on the website.
Question #2: Where can teachers find individuals with disabilities to test their websites?
Many teachers probably feel their websites are easily accessible even when they are not. Teachers may ask students or parents to practice navigating their website. If there are concerns from the students or parents then teachers can make changes to their website. Teachers may also seek out help from students or adults with disabilities that way teachers can make sure people with visual, hearing, movement, cognitive, or speech disabilities are able to navigate the website with ease.
No comments:
Post a Comment