The online learning environment should be accessible to all learners.
This begins by providing learners with a proper orientation to the online environment and support to move easily through the online learning sequence. Where there are different learning paths, learners should be clearly presented with their options for engaging with the materials. They should be aware of the overall course structure, including all assessment due dates, and they should have a clear sense of how the online activities fit into the overall structure.
To meet this guideline:
- Ensure site navigation is clear and consistent.
- Provide an online welcome area, such as a page or book with appropriate orientation materials and a welcome video.
- Provide visual aids — such as a timetable or course map — to help learners visualise the structure of the course.
- Organise the online materials so that they are easy for students to understand and navigate.
- Provide informative and consistent titles that are specific and unique for all activities and resources.
- Provide signposts and instructions to help guide students through the online materials.
- Adopt a weekly format with a consistent structure or learning sequence for each week.
- Provide avenues for support, such as moderated help forums.
Did you know?
Screen readers will generally provide users with a list of all the hyperlinks on a web page. If the linked text is generic (e.g. "click here!") it will be difficult for the user to understand the meaning of the link. Instead, you should make the link text the same as the title of the item being linked to, such as Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (opens in new tab) or UNSW Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Policy (PDF). Alternatively, the link text can state the purpose of the link, in a verb-the-noun format (eg., “Begin your test”, “Download the sample”).
This guideline encompasses the following WCAG 2.0 checkpoints: