Journal 5: Five Steps to an Accessible Classroom Website (NETS-T I, III, IV, V)

Amundson, L. (2009, November). Five steps to an accessible classroom website. Learning and Leading with Technology, 37(3), Retrieved from http://www.learningandleading-digital.com/learning_leading/200911/#pg18

Creating a classroom website is a great way for a school or teacher to stay connected to students. However, navigating a website can be confusing and cumbersome especially for those with disabilities, limited knowledge of the Internet or a dysfunctional mouse. There are five steps to ensure that your classroom website is accessible. Step one is to organize your website for easier navigation by using headers, choosing colors that contrast well in gray scale and keeping the websites pages all uniform. Step two is to set up your website so that navigation can be done without a mouse by using the Tab key. In step three, use text explanations for images, sound and video. Step four is using text in your website links that makes sense. Finally, in step five, use a Web validator to evaluate your website.

Q. Why is it important to ensure accessibility of one’s website?
A. Not all users are familiar with the Internet and how most websites function. Following the five steps will allow users to easily navigate to the information they are looking for and access it more quickly. Students with disabilities may not be able to use a mouse or vision impaired (even color-blindness) can have difficulties navigating through some websites. Step two allows students unable to use a mouse to tab through headers and get to the items they need without a mouse. Even students who normally have no problems accessing the website may find they need improved accessibility when they break their arm or for some reason have only an iPhone to access the website. How many times have we gone to a website where the images are turned off? Ensuring that text is associated with the images will allow navigation even when the image is not viewable. In addition, by making following the five steps, the website is not only accessible to those with limitations (physical, temporary or technical) but it will also make the improve the utilization of the website for all students.

Q. What is a Web validator?
A. A web validator is a web validation tool that can evaluate the accessibility of your website. Tools such as Cynthia Says at www.contentquality.com, WAVE at http://wave.webaim.org, and Test Accesibilidad Web at www.tawdis.net/ingles.html?lang=en are applications that you can use to assess the accessibility of your website. In addition, a Web validator can be a person you select such as someone with a disability to test how well they can navigate your website and provide you with feedback. And, of course, you can also test the website yourself by turning off the sound or images or use a gray-scale setting to see if navigation is still reasonable.