Test Accessibility
A barrier-free structuring of websites at universities concerns two different aspects: (1) the websites of higher education institutions, information pages on study organisation, enrolment, and so on, as well as pages of faculties and chairs; (2) the direct context of teaching and learning, e.g. the learning management system (LMS), digital examination forms and learning materials, as well as barrier-free or inclusive didactics. The following introduction deals with this second topic area.
According to Article 3 of the German Constitution, no one may be discriminated because of a disability. The group of persons affected includes the blind, visually impaired, deaf and hard of hearing, motor and cognitive impaired. In 2002, the Federal Act on the Equal Treatment of Disabled Persons came into force. In the following years, state equality laws were also enacted in the federal states to ensure that people with disabilities have equal access in all areas of life; this also applies to the university laws of the federal states.
Digital services designed to be barrier-free - websites, learning materials, event recordings, etc. - can make a considerable contribution to compensating for disadvantages and to the inclusion of students with disabilities. Depending on the disability, different assistive technologies are used, such as screen readers, voice input, enlargement software or on-screen keyboards. When designing digital learning opportunities, care must be taken to ensure that these tools are supported. Inclusion therefore also requires the development of competences to assess and avoid barriers. This concerns the following central areas at universities:
- Learning Management System (LMS): At most universities, LMS are the technical platform for e-learning offerings; however, for a long time no attention was paid to making them barrier-free. This has changed in the meantime: There are platforms that have been developed specifically for accessibility (e.g. A-Tutor or the BFW online platform for the blind) as well as LMS that have been further developed for accessibility (e.g. ILIAS, Moodle or OPAL). However, the use of individual functions by assistive technologies such as screenreaders or magnification aids can be very divergent, and many LMSs still have barriers (cf. Weber/Voegler 2014: 6f.).
- Lerning materials: Learning resources can be made available in various formats, e.g. as text, graphics or multimedia in audio or video format. Basically, the presentation in different modes (visual, auditory) increases the probability that impaired students can process information according to their capabilities. Nevertheless, different barriers can occur depending on the disability. For example, texts for the blind have to be clearly structured so that screen readers can distinguish between different levels and elements of structure. Graphics have to be described verbally; for mathematical formulas there are special suitable forms of representation. For people with hearing difficulties, videos must be provided with subtitles that explain not only the spoken text but also, for example, sounds (cf. Weber/Voegler 2014: 8).
- E-Assessment: Web-based assessments are now used at many universities, both in the form of (usually time- and location-independent) self-tests and as e-tests for examination purposes. For inclusive e-learning, it must be ensured on the one hand that both, the assigned questions and the feedback are displayed barrier-free. Identified barriers are, for example, the missing indication of alternative texts for pictures or that interaction via keyboard is not possible. In examination situations such types of assignments should therefore be avoided; it must also be ensured, among other things, that disabled candidates can use additional applications, e.g. for the preparation of auxiliary calculations, if necessary (www.e-teaching.org/didaktik/konzeption/barrierefreiheit, accessed on October 30. 2018).
Dr. rer. pol. Steffen Puhl is Coordinator for Barrier-free Study Information Systems and Inclusive IT at the JLU University Computer Center. Phone: 0641 99 13093, e-mail: Steffen.Puhl@hrz.uni-giessen.de. Steffen Puhl is intensively engaged with the accessibility of web presences and is happy to help you with the topic "Accessibility".
Weiterführende Begriffe können Sie im Glossar noch einmal nachlesen.