Brightspace Accessibility
General Course Accessibility
Creating and choosing accessible content is important to including all learners. Organizing content in user-friendly and accessible ways is also important. Deliberate efforts to improve the organization, navigation, and clarity of your Brightspace content will help your learners:
- Find what they need.
- Understand what they find.
- Use what they learn.
Making intentional choices with your online course material enhances the learner experience by promoting efficiency, fostering independence, reducing anxiety and confusion, and improving communication.
Assume learners have a wide range of skills and confidence navigating the internet and using computers. A well-designed course reduces the effort required to understand and navigate your course so learners can focus on course material, activities, and assessments.
To create an accessible course:
- Create a welcome with essential information including class schedule, contact details, and links to first steps.
- Centralize Essential Information in a course information module for easy access.
- Create logical structure by chunking content into blocks using modules and topics.
- Put up signposts to highlight the route learners should take through your course.
- Consider your choice of file types when sharing content.
Create a Welcome
Use the course homepage to welcome learners and provide key information such as:
- Class schedule.
- Meeting details (room number/Zoom link, etc.).
- Contact information.
- A reminder about and link to the course information module.
- Direct calls to action via links to content and activities via announcements.
- Use the Brightspace Editor (and the Accessibility Checker) in the Announcements widget to create engaging, interactive, and accessible messages.
Use announcements throughout the semester to reminder learners about important events, dates, and resources.
Centralize Essential Information
Make communications and information easy to find. Create a “Course Information” module to centralize important information about the course. Make this module the first module at the top of the table of contents. In addition to the information in your welcome message (schedule, meeting and contact details) include:
- Course outline/syllabus.
- Contact information.
- Set expectations about how students should contact you and what a reasonable response time is.
- Office hours and details.
- Provide links to contact for support (wellness, technical, academic, peer, etc. as available).
- Include links to library resources and research guides.
In Brightspace, the Overview displays automatically the first time a student visits a Brightspace course. However, the Overview does not display automatically on subsequent visits and as the Overview is separate from the course table of contents, students may not know where to look for the information in the Overview.
Any essential information, such as contact information, course outline/syllabus, office hours, or important links, included in the Overview must also be available elsewhere, such as the “Course Information” module. You do not have to use the Overview. If there is no content added to the Overview it will not display.
Clear communication, particularly instructions, helps learners work through material and activities without having to repeatedly ask for clarification. Remember, your course may be only one of several a student is in. Unclear, vague, or confusing communication will lead to learners feeling overwhelmed and disengaged. Open SUNY Course Quality Review offers additional information about instructions.
Create Logical Structure
The organization of your content is essential to student success. Making deliberate efforts to improve the organization of your Brightspace content will help your learners:
- Find what they need.
- Understand what they find.
- Use what they learn.
Well-organized content allows learners to focus on the material you want them to learn, not spending excess time locating information or interpreting what they are supposed to do. Better organization is key to an accessible, inclusive, and useful online experience.
Use modules
Choose a deliberate, consistent course structure before beginning to add and create material. A Brightspace course is typically organized into modules, which function like folders. Create modules to mirror your course outline, for example each week, unit, topic, theme, or other clear grouping of course material should have a module with all the relevant readings, links, media, information, and activities learners need. Provide multiple ways to reach content by including activities in the flow of content by adding them at the module level.
Try to avoid submodules as they interrupt the flow of content. Submodules are subfolders of modules; each submodule is nested inside a module. Try viewing your course as a student and use the Next and Previous buttons to navigate through your course. Consider how submodules affect flow of information.
Keep your module structure as flat (i.e. without submodules) as possible to create a consistent flow for learners. Where necessary, include clear instructions that additional material is in a submodule.
Keep module structure as consistent as possible throughout a course. Consistency helps students find information in predictable patterns, understand expectations, and complete tasks efficiently. Consistency saves you and your learners time spent searching for material.
Scaffold and Chunk
Organize content in a logical sequence that scaffolds understanding.
Chunking information into logical groups helps learners manage working memory and cognitive load. Logically and consistently organizing content in Modules and Topics (pages, files, links, etc.) helps learners manage material and time. Each module should include everything learners need for that period or topic including instructions, readings, content, videos, presentations, and activities.
Create Rhythm
An effective way to make your learning material accessible is to make consistent choices in format, layout, and tool use.
Use the same format for similar materials. For example, assignment instructions should always have the instructions, rubric (if available), guidance on how and what to submit, and the due date. By keeping material consistent, students will always know how to find important information.
Check-ins, summaries, and checklists help students track progress and manage their time.
Choose fewer tools and tasks and use them consistently. Don’t overburden students with multiple platforms and software products unless they are specifically related to the learning outcomes. For example, choose one communication tool and use it consistently. Provide clear instructions and expectations for communications. Create forums for specific topics and themes.
Using modules to scaffold and chunk learning material will create clear and consistent navigation which helps learners find and engage with the materials you want them to focus on.
Put up Signposts
Signposts are cues that help students to quickly find the content they need.
Naming Convention
Clearly labelled material provides obvious cues to learners about what to expect without having to search, guess, or open poorly named files until they locate what they need. Properly named content helps learners find learning material efficiently, reduce confusion, and save time for you and your learners.
Use a consistent naming convention. All content including, links, files, activities, and web pages should have names and titles that are:
- Easy-to-understand.
- Self-describing.
- Meaningful and unique.
For modules, consider adding a module number and beginning and end dates before a descriptive and unique topic name. For example “1. Brightspace Structure Feb 24 – Mar 1.”
Do not include bare URLs; write descriptive text that describe the link destination and insert a hyperlink.
Instructions
Use topic and module descriptions to provide learners with instructions and overviews. For modules, consider including what will be covered, learning objectives, and how the module fits into the overall course structure. Descriptions can be used to remind learners of important dates and upcoming deadlines. Consistent use of descriptions helps students understand the significance of each module and its content as well as locate information efficiently which helps with time management and task completion.
Use clear, concise language for introductions, instructions, and other messages. Learning material will likely be written in more complex language but be sure to spell acronyms, define new terms, and avoid idioms and unnecessary jargon.
Ensure instructions come before an interaction, not after it. Provide brief instructions about Brightspace features, such as how to navigate the course, how to submit an assignment, and how to post to a discussion. Add instructions in the module introduction as well as the individual tools and pages where activities occur. Ensure students know what to do, how to do it, and where to submit it.
Use the Brightspace Checklist tool to provide a list of deliverables for each week/module. This, as well as other reminders, is an excellent aid to help students manage their time and meet important deadlines.
Multiple Ways
Providing multiple ways for learners to move between content, participate in activities, and find assessments helps learners work autonomously, reduces confusion, and ensures they are less likely to miss something important. The simplest way to do this is by adding activities in sequence at the module level and providing links to activities. These connections create obvious pathways through the course. Consider adding links to content in multiple places, such as announcements, descriptions, and content pages. Internal links are excellent navigational waypoints to help learners find content and engage with relevant material. Use the Insert Quicklink tool to link to activities and content within a Brightspace course.
Do not modify the default appearance of links. Only use underlined text for links.
Consider File Formats
Brightspace can host material in a variety of formats. Be deliberate and thoughtful with the type of content you create and share.
If creating content, consider creating it directly in Brightspace as a web page.
When to use web pages
Linking to existing content (such as articles, databases, or external web resources) makes sense, but when creating content, a Brightspace web page may be the most efficient way to share it. As an example, instead of writing and uploading a Word document create the content (or copy from a Word document) in a Brightspace web page. Web pages are the easiest and most accessible method to provide a combination of text, supported by images and graphics, and complemented by audio or video content. Combinations of formats offers material that appeals to more than one sense, generates interest and helps retention by offering choice, and reinforces important concepts. Get started creating content in Brightspace.
Create web pages using the Upload / Create menu and select Create a File.
Ensure uploaded Word or PowerPoint files are accessible and avoid PDFs where possible.
Why avoid PDFs?
Accessibility best practices recommend avoiding PDFs[1] and using more accessible formats in addition to (or better, instead of) PDFs.[2] PDFs are not designed to be read on screen and present significant accessibility and user experience barriers. Consider the Province of British Columbia’s policy to provide material in an accessible format such as HTML with a PDF available only as a secondary source of information.[3]
In place of uploading scanned PDFs, consult the Library and use a Reading List to organize your content. The library can assist to find more accessible, copyright compliant readings.
Avoid uploading video and audio directly into Brightspace.
- Host content on Kaltura MediaSpace and embed media in Brightspace web pages.
- If you are not using web pages, add media at the module level for easy access.
- Ensure videos have closed captions and audio files have text transcripts.
Reduce visual distractions such as decorative images, coloured backgrounds, and unnecessary graphics. While aesthetic design is important, excessive decoration will only distract learners from material.
No matter the content type, ensure files, documents, pages, links and activities have unique, descriptive titles.
Expertise
You don’t need to be an expert in accessibility or using Brightspace. When you have a question, ask. Search the web for resources and engage with your educational technology or teaching and learning centers.
Review
Your course:
