Accessibility tools for course developers

1. WCAG Contrast checker

It checks the color contrast between the foreground and background of the elements that are on the page according to the WCAG 2 (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2).

Tutorial video: 

2. Colour Contrast Checker

Contrast and color use is vital to accessibility. This tool checks the contrast between different colors to meet the Level AA WCAG standards.

3. WAVE Evaluation Tool

WAVE facilitates human evaluation and educates about accessibility issues. It evaluates web accessibility within the Chrome browser.

4. Accessibility Insights for Web

This tool helps developers quickly find and fix accessibility issues. Click here to learn more.

5. Silktide - Screen Reader Simulator

You can use this Web browser plugin to see how a screen reader would behave on your website. It will help you identify areas to improve the user experience of your website for people who use screen readers. 

6. Designing accessible content:

If you are adding images to your content, you must define alternative (alt) text for them. If an image is a diagram that conveys more complicated information, a long description or textual format of the material is required.

If you are adding a video or other multi-media content to your course, you must include descriptive captions for the content to ensure users with hearing impairments can consume it.

Format the attached documents with appropriate headings to ensure they can be properly consumed by screen readers. When creating your documents, use the Formatting and Style options available in Microsoft Office, Adobe, or other word processing tools to define appropriate headings and lists. For detailed information on how to making accessible Office documents, see Create accessible Office documents on the Microsoft website.

Properly tag attached PDF files to ensure their structures can be read by screen readers. To learn more about making accessible PDF documents, see Meet PDF Accessibility Standards on the Adobe Acrobat website.

Provide your students with clear expectations, instructions, and directions for all assignments and tests, which can help them focus, making them much more likely to succeed.

Finally, here is one-page accessibility “cheat sheets” from The National Center on Disability and Access to Education (NCDAE).