As you are developing your online course and/or a Web page that will be used by your students you will want to be aware of Section 508. On December 21, 2000, the U.S. Access-Board released standards for Section 508 that include information on designing Web pages for accessibility. These Standards went into effect on June 21, 2001. There are a number of areas that are covered in Section 508, however, the area that may be of the biggest concern is making Web pages accessible.
The Internet has been described as the great equalizer because it allows people with disabilities to access materials on the Web without others "seeing" their disability. When you are teaching face-to-face, a student's disability may be more obvious to you. For example, a student with a hearing impairment may come to class with an interpreter. A student who has a visual impairment may be accompanied by a seeing-eye dog. However, in the online environment, a student's disability may not be as obvious. There are also some individuals with disabilities, such as a learning disability, that may not be obvious in either the face-to-face or the online environment. A student with this type of disability may have difficulty if materials are not well organized in either learning environment.
As you are designing and creating the Web pages for your course, keep the Section 508 standards in mind. There are a number of areas that are covered in Section 508; however, the areas that may be of biggest concern to you are making Web pages and videos accessible. The following items may be most applicable to you:
To help give you a better idea of what a student with disabilities may experience with online components in your course and things you can do to assist students in accessing your materials, please go to the following Web site and review the streamed video, Real Connections: Making Distance Learning Accessible to Everyone. (Note: Many formats for viewing this video are provided. Choose your format preference for accessing this streaming video presentation.) After viewing the video, think about what materials you are considering adding to your course and how providing multiple formats to present content addresses the needs of students with a variety of learning styles.
WebAIM provides a checklist for compliance of your online content.