Ensuring that online education is inclusive and accessible to all

In line with the UN Sustainable Development Goal 4, which states: “ensure and promote inclusive and equitable quality education lifelong learning opportunities for all”, everyone has the right to quality education. To make this happen online, teachers, instructional designers, and programming experts must work together to create online learning environments that promote equity and full participation.

So, what did we do? Monterrey Institute of Technology to promote inclusion and ensure the accessibility of our digital content? Firstly, we promote a culture of inclusive language in all our educational materials using a inclusive language guide which is available to all teachers and instructional designers within the institution. The guide defines inclusive language as a set of expressions, written or oral, that combats discrimination and promotes equality. One of the objectives is to eliminate stereotypes about gender, sexual orientation, disability, ethnic and cultural origin and age.

Second, we created a course template for our learning management system that complies with the World Wide Web Consortium‘s accessibility and usability standards to ensure that every student, regardless of physical, visual or hearing condition, can easily navigate and interact with all course content and that the content is compatible with assistive technologies. The course template includes formats for activities and quizzes. Each format has a predefined graphic style and relevant sections to complete, such as objective(s), instructions, delivery specifications, criteria and forms of evaluation and feedback, to help teachers design their courses.

How to develop inclusive and accessible online course materials

Use inclusive language in your content: stay informed about inclusive language practices to promote a respectful learning environment. For example, it is essential to use gender-neutral terms and avoid assumptions based on the appearance of a person’s gender, sexual orientation or cultural background.

An important recommendation is to use collective nouns instead of specific gender-related terms. Choosing appropriate nouns that are inclusive and neutral is also important (for example, avoid using ‘he’ as the default pronoun) to ensure that the language is not gender exclusive. In some contexts it can be helpful to say “students of all genders” instead of just “students.”

Add alt text for images: for visually impaired users: add text that describes what can be seen in the images you use. This means writing a description of up to 120 characters for each image, which can be read by a screen reader (assistant software that allows students to listen to the text and thus understand the added value of the images).

If you can’t keep the wording within the character limit, you can create a downloadable document that explains the same information in text form as the image. For example, a process explained through a flowchart might include a text document version that details how the process works, detailing how each part of the process is connected.

Provide subtitles for audio and video: Videos that you include in the course materials must include subtitles so that students can listen or read the content.

Adjust the contrast between the text and the background: The course color palette should have a minimum of 25 percent contrast between the background and the text to improve its visibility for students with visual impairments. You can use tools like the WebAIM site to check this contrast.

Use cups properly: Creating a logical hierarchy for your documents and web content through the proper use of headings and subheadings facilitates efficient navigation. This allows users with screen readers to easily navigate through the different sections.

Use only tables to present tabular data: the tables you use in your courses must have a defined table header row and/or column, as well as a short and descriptive title of their contents. This makes it easier for a screen reader to read. Tables should not be used to house content and provide visual structure.

Use the correct font: for PowerPoint presentations we recommend using a font size of at least 20 to make it easier to read. Images with text should match the rest of the text as closely as possible.

Select photos that promote diversity and inclusion: use images that represent the diversity of the student community in terms of race, disability, culture, and gender, among others.

In addition to the above actions, it is important to hold sessions with your colleagues to share and complement our online teaching practices. Listen to your students too! Their online course experience allows us to truly understand what students need to improve their knowledge and skills.

Mayela Beatriz Rodríguez Romo and Martha Fabiola Espinosa Mata are project leads for digital experiences and Abraham Esteban Gómez Coss is functional lead for web programming, all at the Monterrey Institute of Technology.

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