Course Accessibility Checklist

Owned by Karen Park
Last updated: Nov 30, 2021 by Former user (Deleted)
2 min read

Table of Contents

Overview

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are developed through the W3C process in cooperation with individuals and organizations around the world, with a goal of proving a single shared standard for web content accessibility that meets the needs of individuals, organizations, and governments internationally. WCAG 2.0 AA level compliance has been recommended by the Department of Justice as the guidelines for creating accessible content while standards for section 508 were being developed. Since January 2017, WCAG 2.0 AA has become the standard.  

ETM has put together a course checklist based on these standards to help faculty improve accessibility in their courses and work to meet these new standards.  

Perceivable

  1. Do images and tables have alternate text?
  2. Text can be selected/highlighted - copy & paste?
  3. Have you tried to avoid reliance on visual characteristics to communicate information (e.g. click on the grey button to the left, required fields are in red)?
  4. How scalable is your text - if enlarged up to 200%?
  5. Is the reading order of your document logical?
  6. Do videos and audio have captions and/or a transcript?
  7. Does your text/documents have structure - (headings, lists, and other semantic elements)?
  8. Is there sufficient color contrast between text and background or on images used?

Operable

  1. Can you navigate through your course materials using a keyboard only?
  2. Does your page have a title that explains its purpose and/or topic?
  3. Is there more than one way to find content - navigation menu, search or a site map?
  4. When you created links were the descriptions meaningful, independent of context?

Understandable

  1. If you're using multiple languages, have they been defined?
  2. Have you avoided or offered additional explanation for unusual words, abbreviations, idioms, jargon, or pronunciation assistance as needed?
  3. Have you been consistent in your navigation and identification?

Robust

  1. If you input HTML into your course did you use valid code?

Information for this page was pulled from the WCAG 2.0 Quick Reference Guide provided by the Web Accessibility Initiative group.


Additional Resources