Federal Agency 508 Compliant Training Captivate 2019

[CharliBarley]

Hello everyone,

I'm working for a tribal agency and was tasked to develop/hire some online training. I'm just getting started with this, so I'm a total newbie.

Tribal agencies fall under federal law and I'm learning that online training developed in Captivate can be difficult to make 508 compliant, especially since federal law is more strict than state law (I worked for a state agency before). Now, our state uses only Adobe products, so I know we want to avoid paying for another product. Do you have any tips?

In my previous state agency we would create our online training without much regard for accessibility in Captivate and then provide an accessible PDF from scratch to go along with the course. Would that still be possible by federal law?

Are there people here in this forum who specialize in creating online training courses in Captivate for federal agencies? 

[Eric Dumas]

Hi,

I would prepare my courses in the same detailled way as any other course with the addition of the mapping of your Accessibility requirements.

You can add audio voice (I prefer a less talented human voice than a really good electronic one) and you can include the text from the script you will write so all learners can hear, read with your course.

Regarding the interactions, you will need to plan for mobility issues (varied abilities to use the mouse or equivalent to control the cursor); the challenge here is similar to using the computer itself.

My starting point would be to create a small sample, something short that uses all aspects of your lesson/course plan once. Captivate is well equiped to handle it all.

[Creamer Training]

You can start by checking out these:

https://elearningindustry.com/508-compliant-elearning-tips-tricks

https://community.articulate.com/e-books/6-best-practices-for-designing-accessible-e-learning

https://www.section508.gov/accessibility-training

Some guidelines I follow...

• On screen captions should generally follow audio and vice versa; they don't have to be identical, but major concepts need to be the same
• Add alt text to images and graphics; if major descriptions are necessary, link to an online description webpage
• Watch contrast for graphics and text (color on color objects)
• Avoid video; Closed Captions may not be enough (check out a newer Blu Ray movie with descriptive narration as an example)
• Keep mouse-driven interactions to a minimum; assign keyboard shortcuts to events
• Keep quizing simple  (multi-choice; multi-answer) 
• Avoid tables

Watch the presentation with the audio muted--does it make sense?

Watch the presentation with the screen off and the audio on--does it make sense?

[Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com]

A good resource for you is the international forum www.WebAIM.org, which focuses on accessibility issues in education. Very helpful information on topics like yours from pros in education.