Designing Courses With Accessibility and Usability in Mind

Accessibility, Usability and Flexibility

Here are some simple ways to make instructional materials more accessible, usable and flexible. This topic is deep and will only be touched on lightly here. Please visit the resources to explore these topics further.

Accessibility in design requires that you consider all types of disabilities when designing online course materials. Further accommodation is often needed in addition to this.

Usability, when applied to instructional design, seeks to improve the learning experience. Often it is said that the best user-interface is so transparent that it goes unnoticed.

Flexibility in instructional design centers around the fact that all people learn differently. Flexible instructional materials give learners multimodal options to choose from.

[508] represents Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, §1194.22. Educational instututions must be compliant with this law. Under Section 508 (29 U.S.C. ‘ 794d), agencies must give disabled employees and members of the public access to information that is comparable to the access available to others.