Accessible eLearnings from the Cabinet Office

The Web Usability Podcast

Summary

In this episode, Lucy Collins interviews Dave Martin, Digital Learning Design Lead for the Cabinet Office, about the importance of accessibility in e-learning. They discuss the scale of e-learnings in the civil service, the accessibility requirements for compliance activities, and the challenges of applying WCAG guidelines to e-learning. They emphasise the need for choice and options in e-learning design, as well as the importance of involving people with disabilities in testing. They also highlight the collaborative approach between suppliers, authoring tool providers, and the cross-government accessible design network in improving accessibility in e-learning.

Keywords

web usability, podcast, accessibility, e-learning, civil service, compliance activities, WCAG guidelines, choice, options, testing, collaboration

Takeaways

• E-learning in the civil service reaches a large audience, with over 600,000 users and 300 e-learning modules.
• Accessibility is important in e-learning to ensure compliance activities and provide choice for learners.
• Applying WCAG guidelines to e-learning can be challenging, but it is necessary to make the content accessible.
• Collaboration between suppliers, authoring tool providers, and the cross-government accessible design network is crucial in improving accessibility in e-learning.
• Involving people with disabilities in testing is essential to ensure the accessibility of e-learning.

Titles

• Challenges of Applying WCAG Guidelines to E-Learning
• The Need for Choice and Options in E-Learning Design

Sound Bites

• "Accessibility is important because the amount of people who want to access and use these products, and some of these products are used by departments as part of their compliance activities."
• "Accessibility isn't just about disability. It's this concept of universality. It's about making things useful and usable for people, regardless of any limitation, any barrier that exists."
• "You can still be energising and interesting within your e-learning, and keep people's attention without having to go down a route where what you're doing is making design choices, which means that many people are denied access to that particular part of your course."

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Overview

00:40 The Scale and Importance of E-Learning in the Civil Service

07:24 The Need for Choice and Options in E-Learning Design

14:04 Collaboration in Improving Accessibility in E-Learning

29:17 Conclusion and Takeaways