A&M’s Learning Management System (Canvas)
Blackboard Ally is an accessibility tool that can be used by Texas A&M Faculty in Canvas. Please note that Ally does not make content accessible automatically; however, it will flag some content if it is not accessible enough. From there, it is up to the faculty member or the instructional design consultant to make the necessary changes. Watch our tutorial linked below for a walkthrough of things to consider when creating content in Canvas’ rich content editor.
AgriLife’s Learning Management System (Brightspace)
Watch our tutorial linked below for a walkthrough of things to consider when creating content in Brightspace’s rich content editor.
Accessibility Tutorials LMS Text Version
Articulate Storyline
Storyline 360 was updated in early 2021 to support the use of screen readers, keyboard navigation, and visible focus indicators. For any new projects created in Storyline in or after 2021, the following accessibility settings will be automatically added to the player: zoom to fit, accessible text, and keyboard shortcuts. In addition to these automatically added player settings, there are steps you should take during development to ensure accessibility. When designing a course in Storyline, keep the following in mind (adapted from Storyline 360 How to Design an Accessible Course):
- Design for hearing impairments by adding closed captions, providing a transcript, and avoiding timed tests.
- Design for mobility impairments by providing alternatives for drag-and-drop interactions, providing keyboard-accessible alternatives for hover states, and avoiding timed tests.
- Design for visual impairments by adding alternative text, customizing focus order for each slide, using tables to structure text, identifying the course language for screen readers in your player properties, customizing text labels, allowing learners to skip repetitive player navigation elements, increasing player font size, providing text-based alternatives for animations, providing alternatives for hover states and drag-and-drop interactions, and disabling video autoplay.
- Notify users about successful task completion by providing consistently presented feedback, rather than requiring a user to navigate to confirm if the action was completed successfully. For example, if a learner fills in and submits a quiz or knowledge check, there should be a response that informs them that their input was successfully submitted, such as a feedback box using triggers. Detailed examples can be found in the resource section linked below.
- Design pointer hover or keyboard focus triggers that are dismissible, hoverable, and persistent. Detailed examples can be found in the resource section linked below.
Storyline 360 Supports WCAG has a variety of accessibility how-to articles available, including importing closed captions, using tables to organize content, customizing the focus order of slide objects, and identifying the course language for screen readers, among others.
Instructional Design Resource Links
- Accessible or Interactive Webinar (1:01:21 minutes)
Universal Design for Learning
- The UDL Guidelines
- Universal Design for Learning Faculty Guide by A&M Disability Resources
- Universal Design for Learning Resources
- Universal Design for Learning Implementation
- TED talk by Michael Nesmith (10:29 minutes)
- “Accessibility in Aggieland” webinar series
Articulate Storyline
- Storyline 360 How to Design an Accessible Course
- W3C Providing Success Feedback When Data Is Submitted Successfully
- W3C Content Hover on Focus Examples
- Adding a Tooltip to an Image in Storyline 360
- Storyline 360 Supports WCAG