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Evaluating accessibility in learning software

Check learning software accessibility across course discovery, content, assessments, media and reporting with practical user tasks.

Editorial responsibility: Cooper Anderson · · 2 min read

This is an editorial pen name used by the publication, not a claim of an independently verified personal identity. Original editorial credit: Desk People Systems.

Evaluate accessibility across the learning tasks people must complete: find an assigned course, use its content, take an assessment and read the result. Include media, uploaded and third-party material, mobile use and administrator reporting. A vendor statement or automated score cannot establish that the complete path works.

Set the scope

List each platform and content source in the proposed arrangement. An accessible platform interface does not make an uploaded document or purchased course accessible.

Identify who can fix each part. Ask the supplier for current accessibility documentation: product version, interface, content formats, standard assessed, known gaps and remediation route. Check its scope against the configuration and material offered.

WCAG 2.2 provides testable criteria for web content, including keyboard access, focus visibility and media alternatives. Use it as a technical reference for web-based learning. The employer’s applicable legal duties and project target need separate assessment; this article does not assign every Australian employer a particular WCAG conformance level.

Test representative tasks

Prepare a short course containing the formats the employer expects to use. A proposed evaluation can ask a learner to:

  1. Sign in and find an assigned item and its due date without relying on colour alone.
  2. Navigate the course and assessment by keyboard, with visible focus and understandable controls.
  3. Enlarge text and use a small screen without losing an essential action.
  4. Use a screen reader to find instructions, answers, errors and the final result.
  5. Use captions for relevant video audio and an appropriate text or descriptive alternative for the information conveyed by the media.

W3C explains that captions, transcripts and description of visual information meet different needs. Check the actual course: a player that supports captions does not establish that the supplied video includes them.

Include an administrator assigning a course and reading a result. Use realistic role permissions and synthetic data. An inaccessible report can obstruct follow-up even when a learner completes the course.

Combine methods and record barriers

Automated tools can flag some issues, but W3C says no tool alone can determine accessibility. Arrange knowledgeable manual evaluation and, where practical, involve people who use relevant assistive technology.

Record the task, product and content version, browser or device, method, barrier and effect. A successful task does not establish conformance across a whole product.

Ask who fixes platform defects, purchased content and employer-uploaded material. Give serious barriers an owner and a condition for checking the fix.

If required learning is inaccessible, arrange a suitable alternative route while the issue is resolved and record its outcome accurately. Accept a proposed arrangement only when essential paths have been checked to the agreed scope and remaining barriers have a workable response.

Further reading: Involving Users in Evaluating Web Accessibility (w3.org).

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