Skills for Access

Our Philosophy

An approach to ensuring optimum accessibility of multimedia

It's essential to remember that there are two levels to multimedia accessibility:

1. On the one hand multimedia developers should strive to use techniques of best practice, standards, guidelines, and features of multimedia technology to maximise the accessibility of a particular piece of multimedia content.
2. But on the wider scale, never forget that the use of multimedia itself is an enabler, a way of making educational information and concepts more accessible to more people.

By supplementing information presented in a spoken lecture or in a textbook with rich media, such as animation, video or audio clips, information presentation and the learning process can be greatly enhanced. Where you find it's just not possible to make a specific piece of multimedia accessible to some people, think in terms of 'how can I provide an alternative?', rather than thinking 'I'd better not use it'.

Ask yourself:

• What are the aims of this piece of multimedia? What are the pedagogic goals? How does the resource fit in with the rest of the learning environment?
• Is it absolutely necessary that all students use it - for example, is it used for assessment purposes?
• Where is the resource intended to be used - in an environment like a lab or classroom, where the range and capability of technology available, including assistive technology, is known? Or could it potentially be used anywhere by any browsing set-up, such as at home? In other words, what assumptions can you safely make about the browsing and access technology available to intended users (and their knowledge of that technology)?
• What are the potential barriers to using the multimedia? What level of sensory or motor abilities is required? How might a specific learning difficulty or other cognitive impairment affect the ability to use the resource?
• What alternatives already exist and what alternatives can be reasonably created? How has the subject or topic previously been taught?
• What is the best way that the information can be presented or learning objectives reached so that:
  • As many people as possible can get the most out of the multimedia resource?
  • those affected by unavoidable accessibility barriers can achieve the same learning outcome in an alternative way?

Answering these questions clearly and honestly makes the job of planning accessible design much easier - and it also helps to decide how multimedia can best be used to achieve the desired end goals.

Knowing the role, aims and objectives of a multimedia e-learning resource in overall teaching an learning environment helps you to decide how best to follow a specific accessible design guideline, where interpretation can often be subjective. If a multimedia resource is supporting other methods of teaching, then so long as an equitable learning experience can be had by as many people as possible, the existence of unavoidable accessibility barriers in one specific resource can be justified.

This approach should not be confused with promoting segregation by providing a separate, less acceptable resource for someone on account of their disability. Instead, it advocates using the power of multimedia to enhance learning to its full capacity, while being aware of the consequences and dealing with them accordingly.

Ultimately the Skills for Access philosophy is to encourage developers and teachers to treat multimedia in learning environments as an enabler - as an 'assistive technology' in its own right.