Spring is the season for growth and renewal—and your online course designs are no exception. Here are some fresh tips for building inclusive online courses. Why not use some time this winter to “spring clean” your courses and ensure they are inclusive and accessible to all students? Here are three quick, actionable tips to brighten your course’s visual designs, refresh your content accessibility, and cultivate more inclusive engagement in your digital classrooms.
1. Brighten Your Visual Design
Updating your course’s visual layout can make it both more appealing and accessible for your students:
Structure with Purpose: Break up text with headers, lists, and white space to reduce cognitive overload.
Prioritize Contrast: Use high-contrast color combinations (e.g., black text on a white background) to improve readability. Avoid pastel-on-pastel, even if it looks cute.
Choose Accessible Fonts: Stick to sans-serif fonts like Arial, Verdana, or Tahoma, and keep font sizes at 12pt or larger. Skip decorative scripts that are hard to read.
2. Refresh Your Content Accessibility
Accessible content ensures that all your learners can engage fully with your course:
Review Alt Text: Check that every image has descriptive alt text explaining its purpose, not just “photo of a tree.”
Caption Media Files: Add captions or transcripts to all videos and audio content. Tools like Kaltura’s auto-captioning request system can be a great place to start, but make sure to always review these captions for accuracy!
Fix PDFs: Ensure PDFs are tagged and screen-reader compatible. Tools like Adobe Acrobat’s accessibility checker can simplify this process.
3. Cultivate Inclusive Engagement
Spring into a more dynamic, inclusive learning environment with accessible interactivity:
Leverage Accessibility-Friendly Tools: Choose discussion boards, polls, and quiz platforms that work with assistive technologies like screen readers.
Diversify Participation Options: Let students choose how to participate—through video, text, or even drawing tools.
Simplify Instructions: Provide step-by-step directions for tasks to eliminate confusion and ensure everyone has the same starting point.
Conclusion
This upcoming Spring semester, a few thoughtful updates to your course designs can blossom into a more accessible and inclusive environment for all students. Start small, focus on one area at a time, and watch your efforts grow. Let’s make this season one of fresh beginnings and better learning experiences for everyone!
Upcoming Events
Decreasing Cognitive Load Through Canvas Course Design
Wednesday, December 11, 1:30-2:30pm
Join this training to learn more about how to decrease your students’ cognitive load through your Canvas course design! These organization techniques will help your learners focus on retaining course content, rather than course navigation. If you have a specific question you want covered during this training, please enter it when you register.
Facilitated by Millie Tullis, Digital Learning Strategist.
Registration: Decreasing Cognitive Load Through Canvas Course Design
Clemson Online Fall 2024 Events Calendar
Review our Fall 2024 Events Calendar to see what Online Instruction Development opportunities await!
We have a robust lineup of topics and live training formats to support your use of Canvas and other e-learning tools. Topics cover demonstrations of using Kaltura, engaging your students, and workshops to get your Canvas site ready to teach!
All of our live training is recorded. Registrants will automatically receive a link to that day’s video after it has been processed.
Contact Millie Tullis with any questions regarding these sessions.
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