There are many examples of educational courseware packages in the mar- ket. Academic institutions typically adopt a commercial courseware package or develop one in-house. Courseware packages organize information in sections, so it is easier for instructors to upload their own documents and to interact with students. Some of the leading companies, such as Blackboard and WebCT, have made a concerted effort to comply with accessibility guidelines. On its website, Blackboard explains how its web designers have implemented Section 508 (see http://products.blackboard.com/cp/bb5/access/ section508.cgi). For example, they have added row and column headers to tables within its platform. Because they have added a description field, complex images or media can receive a more detailed description when uploaded onto the platform. WebCT has also done considerable work on the first priority
level of WAI guidelines. They have also created help files on accessibility for their online help (Harrison, 2000). However, there are still issues to be resolved before these platforms will be in total compliance. For example, Blackboard alerts users that the chat tool in Version five is not yet in compliance. Although students can go back to read the archives of any given chat, they may not be able to participate in one with other students if they are using a screen reader. These advances are exciting and show commitment from some of the courseware companies in developing truly useable products.
But even if these companies fully comply with all accessibility guidelines, there are issues that are beyond their control. For example, although they can make sure their courseware pages are in compliance, they cannot automatically transform a page added by the instructor to the “documents” or “links” sections of the courseware package. If an instructor creates word documents with pictures or tables, he or she should not assume that the platform has the power to add markups to the html code to provide for accessibility. The html code from the original document will transfer onto the platform. It would be unreasonable to expect that the courseware developers would add mechanisms for the product to “guess” what the instructor wishes to say with a given picture, math equation, music notation, or video clip. It is very important, therefore, for instructors to check the pages they develop before uploading them.
If web-authoring software such as FrontPage® or Dreamweaver® are used, it
is possible to go into the html code to include alt tags or other accessibility markups. Increasingly, web-authoring software includes features that check accessibility. The following statement was taken from the University of Iowa site, referring to Dreamweaver’s® accessibility extension:
This new Dreamweaver evaluation tool allows web pages to be “accessibility- checked” much in the same way as you “spell-check” a Word document. The extension covers Section 508 and level 1 W3C guidelines and a report can be run on one page, a complete website, selected section or any folder. The user can select sub-groups of the guidelines to customize tests to run on different web pages. The extension allows the user to collect answers to manual tests and includes content that explains how to perform tests, why the problems found could be accessibility issues and explains with examples how the problem can be fixed. In addition to the free extension, the user can link through to LIFT Online a service from UsableNet that allows tests to be automatically scheduled on live public websites (University of Iowa, 2002, p. 4).
This extension can be downloaded from the Macromedia site by down clicking on “accessibility” and then on “508 Accessibility Suite” (http:// dynamic.macromedia.com/bin/MM/exchange/main.jsp?product=dreamweaver) Similarly, FrontPage® can be checked for accessibility through a new tool
called AccVerify® SE™. Microsoft and HiSoftware have partnered to
develop this tool. According to HiSoftware (2002), this tool provides verification and reports all errors /non-compliance with accessibility policy and standards for websites under the WCAG 1.0 P1-P3 Guidelines and the Section 508 standards.” This software also provides a complete checklist for standards that the website designer has to verify manually in order to achieve complete accessibility. This checklist is available on the HiSoftware’s website (http://www.hisoftware.com/msacc/).
One of the advantages of using authoring software such as FrontPage® is the
existence of built-in features that facilitate compliance with accessibility guide- lines. For instance, it is possible to import a file into FrontPage® and manually
insert alt tags without having to go into the html code. By right clicking on an image and going to “image properties,” it is possible to fill in the blank tag for text under alternative representations. By doing so a brief description of the image is created and added to the html code as an alt tag. Those using a screen reader can read the description, but sighted viewers can also see it when the mouse is on the image.
Similarly, a PowerPoint presentation may be edited to include alternative descriptors. However, according to WebAIM (2002b), the html code generated is not accessible to screen readers. Saving the file as a web page does not assure accessibility either. Some web technicians suggest that the outline version be used as a solution; however, the outline does not include features such as textbox, graphs, pictures, or multimedia. If used in the presentation, instructors still need to describe them along with the rest of the text. A new plug-in is being tested at this time and can be downloaded from the Division of Rehabilitation, Education Services of the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign. According to its website:
This PowerPoint Accessibility Wizard offers an alternative to PowerPoint’s Web Publishing feature. The standard Power Point Web Publishing option creates XML-based web content that can only be used by Microsoft Internet Explorer. Even if non-XML options are selected, users cannot easily add information that is required for accessibility. This PowerPoint Accessibility Wizard simplifies the task of converting PowerPoint presentations to text pure html through an easy-to-use user interface, and automates much of the
conversion of PowerPoint Presentations to an html format that includes required accessibility information (Division of Rehabilitation, UI, 2002, p. 1).