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W
writer-61
Participant
May 31, 2012
Question

Can interactive training in Captivate 5.5 be 508 compliant?

  • May 31, 2012
  • 2 replies
  • 6316 views

For governement agencies, all electronic trainings must be 508 compliant, i.e., able to be used by those with disabilities, including deafness, low vision and blindness. While I believe screen capture can be 508 compliant, I am unsure of whether to take on a proposed job to create an interactive learning module in Captivate 5.5, which will require adherence to 508 rules.

Can an interactive training course, using rollovers, buttons and the like, be created as 508 compliant? Have any of you done this?

Thanks. Please reply ASAP. I'm in a pinch here.

This topic has been closed for replies.

2 replies

RodWard
Community Expert
RodWardCommunity Expert
Community Expert
June 1, 2012

This is a very interesting topic.  And I want to thank RWL for the presentation on the link above that explains very clearly how to implement Captivate's accessibility functions.

It seems to me that complying with Accessibility severely limits the creative scope of what an e-learning course can deliver. 

For example:

  • If you have objects animating on the timeline (fading in and out) you are forced to pause the timeline in the middle of the animation for each and every object to enable users with screenreaders to explore the accessibility text.
  • You must provide all slide navigation on the slide, not in the TOC (because it's not accessible).
  • Setting the presentation to Auto Play is not permitted because it would mean users with disabilities were hearing the normal voiceover as well as their accessible text reader audio at the same time.
  • Quizzing features are limited to only a few question types (True/False, Multi-choice, Likert).  Drag and drop quiz interactions are not accessible. Therefore all users would be denied these more engaging interactions because of the limitations of users with disabilities.

Given the scope of these limitations, my questions are:

  • While I agree that disabled users should not be disadvantaged, should ALL users be limited to content that is built specifically for the needs of those with disabilities?  Does this not disadvantage NON-disabled users?
  • Is there a case for having TWO versions of training courses?  One for users without disabilities that allows designers to use the full range of creative possibilities, and another more limited presentation that focuses solely on maximising accessibility while still delivering the learning objectives? 

What are your thoughts on this?

C
Cherstinane
Participating Frequently
June 1, 2012

This is always an interesting discussion.  Because I do 508 testing for several government agencies, I know they are shying away from two versions.  But of course you do not want to 'dumb it down' either.  And I do not mean that in an academic sense, more a functionality sense...

As I work with groups to create accessible learning, there are a lot of 'non technical' things you can do make a course accessible.  One of the easiest ways to do that is to create a narrative.  I know this is hard to understand without seeing it in action but so many issues can be overcome by including the content in a narrative and created shortcut keys to information, which you can do it Captivate.

If you want, I am happy to take some time and show you some examples.  They don't make sense to just view them, I need to explain them.  So, if you want, I can take some time to show you.

RodWard
Community Expert
RodWardCommunity Expert
Community Expert
June 2, 2012

I really liked the way you explained how to implement 508 using Captivate's standard features in your tutorial. I thought that did an excellent job.

Maybe I've been fortunate not to encounter this issue very much.  I work in the corporate sector (outside the USA) and none of my clients have made a big issue of 508.  But I realise other people's mileage may differ.

According to internet sources about 508, there are several levels of compliance, and not all are mandatory. Since you specialise in this area, I'm interested to know if you can shed some light on which levels of compliance clients are forcing e-learning developers to adhere to.

C
Cherstinane
Participating Frequently
May 31, 2012

Yes, I have a tutorial that shows you how to do it.

www.readwritetechnology.com/resources 

renovator99
renovator99
Known Participant
July 1, 2012

Hi,

the readwritetechnology web site seems to be down.

I found this video from  them on youtube with sample 508 compliant drag and drop course

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgdQ1UHb0nQ

C
Cherstinane
Participating Frequently
July 2, 2012

My apologies for the site being down.  The power went out for a few days and the ISP was down as well.  We are back up and running.

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