Approaches to Inclusive eAssessment

transcript

David Sloan 5th September 2012

eAssessment Scotland 2012

http://www.flickr.com/photos/purecaffeine/5399530443/

David Sloan: Inclusive eAssessment 2

Today’s presentation• The role of e-assessment in an inclusive

learning and teaching environment– Primary focus is disability, but also relevant to

distance learners, mobile device use• The learner perspective: creating an inclusive

assessment environment• The teacher perspective: creating an inclusive

electronic assessment• Focus on general principles and best practice– No platform- or tool-specific information

David Sloan: Inclusive eAssessment

1 MOTIVATION FOR INCLUSIVE E-ASSESSMENT

The inclusivity potential of e-assessment

• Overcoming accessibility limitations of the physical world– Simulation– Remote access via video or audio

• Flexibility of presentation of assessment– Customisation of appearance and behaviour– Reuse potential/maintenance over time

• Meeting organisational legal and social responsibilities

2 ASSESSMENT ACCESSIBILITY FROM THE LEARNER’S PERSPECTIVE

Learner -- Accessibility

What does a learner with accessibility needs require from an e-assessment?

1. An accessible assessment environment2. Fairness in the nature of the assessment

instrument

Making the assessment environment accessible

• Physical accessibility of venue• Accessibility of the assessment’s host

platform: appropriate accommodations for a learner’s accessibility requirements– Is the required assistive technology (AT) that a

learner needs available?– Or can the learner use their own AT?– Does the environment enable a learner to

make necessary adjustments to display or input device behaviour?

Fairness in nature of assessment

• A balance between pedagogic aims of the assessment and sensory, physical and cognitive demands placed on a learner

• For example, think carefully about questions where the format demands:– High visual acuity– Colour perception– Fine mouse control– Reading text in a particular format– Filling in a complex form

3 ACCESSIBILITY FROM THE TEACHER’S PERSPECTIVE

Teacher -- Accessibility

• Key principles:– Anticipate and accommodate diversity in learner

needs– Design each e-assessment to be as accessible as

possible• Enabling an individual learner’s own assistive

technology to do its job

– Consider aggregating multiple assessment methods to accommodate diverse needs

Accessible Assessments

• For accessibility solutions to work as they should, digital content must be designed in a way that allows them to do so

• Basic principles (from W3C Web Accessibility Initiative):

1. Allow people to perceive assessment content2. Allow people to operate assessment content 3. Allow people to understand assessment content4. Provide assessment content that is robust across

different environments

Principle 1. Perceivable• Provide alternatives to graphical content for people

who can’t see it:– A text alternative for an image (the HTML alt attribute)– A longer text description for a complex image such as a graph– Audio description for a video

• Make content easier to see– Avoid low contrast text/background colour schemes– Use animated content with care

• Provide alternatives for audio content for people who can’t hear it:– Captions (better) or transcript– Signed translation (if possible)

Principle 1. Perceivable

• Provide alternatives to textual content for people who have difficulty reading or processing it:– Static images: photos, graphs, diagrams– Video, animations– Signed content

• Provide alternatives to audio content for people who can hear it but have difficulty understanding it– Subtitles

Principle 2. Operable

• Support keyboard operation– All functionality accessible via the keyboard– No keyboard ‘traps’– Alternatives to drag-and-drop

• Give learners enough time to respond– Be very careful about time-limits on requiring actions

• Support efficient navigation through the assessment– Clear links, headings, ‘skip links’– Logically labelled and positioned form controls– Be careful with “multiple multiple choice” questions

Principle 3. Understandable

• Make sure content is comprehensible:– Language appropriate to the target audience– Changes in natural language identified

• Apply predictable design and behaviour– Consistency in page layout, terminology, actions

• Give input assistance– Help in providing correct input to forms (where

appropriate)– Appropriate error handling

Principle 4. Robust

• Provide content that is available and usable across different browsing platforms - legacy and future– Valid HTML and CSS markup– Using ‘accessibility-supported’ technology

• Watch out when copying content into an assessment authoring tool from another source

Evaluating Assessment Accessibility• Check principles of accessibility have been met

before piloting an e-assessment• Act on results by amending the assessment

before use - and if you can’t…• …try to deal with accessibility shortcomings– Understand location, nature and impact – Understand if you/a colleague can fix them or

whether it’s a vendor issue with the delivery platform– Developing and implementing a strategy for dealing

with shortcomings (short term workaround, long term fix)

Resources• W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines

(WCAG): http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/wcag.php

• WebAIM - general advice on web accessibility: http://www.webaim.org

• Techdis: Accessibility in e-Assessment: http://www.jisctechdis.ac.uk/techdis/pages/detail/floating_pages/Inclusive_E-Assessment

• Sheffield Hallam University: Accessible Assessments: http://www.shu.ac.uk/services/lti/accessibleassessments/

THANKYOU!

email: dsloan@computing.dundee.ac.uktwitter: @sloandrblog: www.58sound.comwork: www.dmag.org.uk --- www.computing.dundee.ac.uk