Accessible eLearning Design Essentials for Course Authors

Brittany Hochstaetter does it again! Check out her latest article. "Design for eLearning means architecting spaces both invisible and visible where learning happens without the usual signals for time, place or presence, but with tremendous need for all three." https://lnkd.in/eivMisEt

Most eLearning courses fail accessibility before a single learner with a disability opens them. Here's what I audit first when reviewing a course for accessibility: Color contrast Text needs a 4.5:1 contrast ratio minimum against its background. "It looks fine to me" is not an accessibility standard. Alt text on images Every image that carries meaning needs a description. Decorative images need empty alt text (alt="") so screen readers skip them. Most courses I audit have one of two problems: no alt text at all, or alt text that just says "image." Keyboard navigation Can a learner complete the entire course without a mouse? Tab through every interaction. If you get stuck — so will they. Closed captions on video Auto-generated captions are a starting point, not a finish line. Review them. Fix the errors. Add speaker labels when there are multiple voices. Reading order Screen readers follow the underlying content order, not what you see on screen. A visually beautiful slide can be complete chaos for someone using assistive technology. Click targets Buttons and interactive elements need to be large enough to tap on mobile and easy to activate with a keyboard. Accessibility isn't a checklist you run at the end. It's a design decision you make at the beginning. If you're building in Articulate or Rise — both have built-in accessibility settings most designers never turn on. Save this for your next course review. What's the accessibility issue you see most often in eLearning? #Accessibility #InstructionalDesign #eLearning #A11y #InclusiveDesign #LearningAndDevelopment

🚀 Instructional Design Strategies for Course Creation for Real Estate Investors in New York Real estate investors often want to sell their expertise via e-learning courses; however, their efforts are often ruined when these courses turn out to be long, boring monologues. Through instructional design strategy, they can: ✔️ transform their expertise into clear learning modules ✔️ create courses that retain learners' attention ✔️ turn their experience into scalable online courses Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/dXtDUs5U #InstructionalDesign #CourseCreation #RealEstateEducation #eLearning

Proven Storyboarding for eLearning: The Only Practical Template + Real-World Examples You Need to Build Brilliant Online Courses Faster. https://lnkd.in/ewjUG5fY #eLearning #storyboards #storyboarding #onlinecourse

Before you create your online course… pause for a second. Think about where your course will live. Your LMS matters more than many course creators realize. Different platforms have different layouts, tools, and limitations. What works smoothly on one platform may feel stressful on another. I have seen beautiful courses struggle simply because the platform was an afterthought. For example: If your LMS does not support quizzes easily, your assessment plan may become messy. If the interface is not user friendly, your learners may lose interest quickly. If the platform cannot handle videos well, your content delivery suffers. This is why I always tell course creators: 👉 Do not design blindly. 👉 Do not pick an LMS last minute. 👉 Do not assume all platforms work the same. Instead, ask yourself: Can this LMS support my learning goals? Will my learners find it easy to navigate? Does it allow the level of interaction I want? Your course is only as smooth as the platform hosting it. Are you creating an online course and not sure where to start? Send me a DM.

Our team at Education Northwest partnered with the North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services to create a comprehensive online training series for early child care providers. I served as the lead instructional designer and developer for this project. Here are a few of my biggest takeaways that I believe helped contribute to the project’s success. -- Always share clear design and development guidance early so that your team has a consistant approach to storyboarding and Storyline development. -- Build a robust template library your team can rely on to maintain consistency and support strong quality control across all modules. -- Create and use detailed accessibility and QA checklist that every module must meet before final delivery. That way nothing slips through the cracks. If you are interested in learning more about how we approached this work and what it takes to build professional learning in multiple languages at scale, you can read the full project story here: https://lnkd.in/e5YAYf9P

I think most eLearning isn’t designed for learners. It’s designed to protect someone. Protect the company, protect leadership, protect compliance, sometimes even protect the designer. Think about it. Why do we force people to sit through content they already know? Because what if they skip something and something goes wrong? Why do we lock every screen? Is it because we need proof they saw it? Why do we add 12 objectives at the start? Is it because it looks professional? Why do we turn a simple concept into 45 slides? is it because no one wants to be accused of leaving something out? Is that why we overbuild, we over-explain, we over-control, and call it learning?.... Or is it just fear in a well-designed interface? The uncomfortable part is that as Instructional Designers, we participate in this. Not because we’re bad at our jobs, but because we want to keep them. Real learning requires trust. Trust that adults can skip what they know. Trust that performance matters more than seat time. Trust that fewer slides won’t get us in trouble. Until we design from trust instead of fear, we’ll keep building safe courses, not effective ones. Be honest, and ask yourself this: "How much of your last course was built for learning, and how much was built for protection? #InstructionalDesign #ElearningDesign #LearningExperience #WorkplaceLearning #LearningStrategy #CorporateLearning #LearningAndDevelopment #DesignForPerformance #AdultLearning #LearningCulture #IDLife #DigitalLearning #PerformanceDriven #LearningInnovation #LNDProfessionals

Leveling Up For several years, the LodeStar eLearning authoring tool helped instructors create engaging, form-based learning experiences. With LodeStar, instructors could develop presentations, quizzes, crosswords, flashcards, games, and other highly formatted activities. In many ways, it felt like magic -- because with minimal technical expertise, instructors could quickly create content and share it on platforms like Microsoft Class Server, Blackboard, Moodle, and later D2L. Over time, however, a new opportunity emerged. An instructor might begin with a presentation -- but what if they wanted to extend it into a crossword? Or evolve it into a decision-making scenario? Often, great learning ideas don’t stay fixed -- they grow. What starts as something simple can become something far more interactive and meaningful. That evolution became the focus. My original inspiration for LodeStar came from early tools like Authorware. With just nine simple icons and a flowline, instructional designers could build almost anything. It was a true blank slate—a creative canvas that supported not only content presentation, but branching, decision-making, and scripting. That idea of flexibility stayed with me. So, in 2013, we began to reimagine LodeStar. Instead of creating narrowly defined templates, we focused on building a tool that could grow with the instructor. A tool that supports starting simple—but doesn’t stop there. Today, LodeStar allows instructors to begin with straightforward present-and-check exercises and then expand into branching activities, leveled challenges, decision-making scenarios, geolocation stories, interactive photospheres, case studies, and even full simulations. In short, it’s a tool designed to help instructors level up—at their own pace, and in alignment with their ideas. Today, LodeStar reflects that vision. It invites instructors to start where they are, explore new strategies, and build increasingly rich learning experiences. This short presentation highlights some of those possibilities and offers a simple way to think about progressing from foundational activities to more advanced designs. #LearningExperienceDesign #LXD #LearningDesign #CurriculumDesign #LearningAndDevelopment #LND #HigherEducation

After 10+ years quoting projects, I've learned one truth: most clients—and many designers—wildly underestimate the hours. But for eLearning Development Time estimates, here's what the data actually says. https://lnkd.in/e7dngyRi #eLearning #eLearningProjects

eLearning Course Accessibility Audit and Testing Services With the ADA Title II web accessibility deadline approaching (2026 for many public entities in the U.S.) and the European Accessibility Act (EAA) coming into force on June 28, 2025, organisations must ensure their eLearning courses comply with EN 301 549 and WCAG standards. Why Product Owners Should Prioritise Accessibility Audits? As a Product Owner, you own the roadmap. That means you also own compliance risk. An eLearning Course Accessibility Audit and Testing Service helps you: 1. dentify WCAG and EN 301 549 gaps in existing courses 2. Detect issues affecting screen readers, keyboard navigation, captions, and colour contrast 3. Reduce legal exposure under ADA Title II and EAA 4. Plan structured remediation instead of last-minute fixes 5. Integrate accessibility into your Definition of Done What a Structured Accessibility Audit Delivers A professional audit goes beyond automated testing. It includes: a) Manual expert review b) Assistive technology testing (screen readers, keyboard-only navigation) c) Detailed compliance reporting d) Remediation guidance aligned with EN 301 549 e) Ongoing validation support This transforms accessibility from a compliance checkbox into a measurable product quality standard. If you’re preparing your roadmap for 2026–2027, now is the strategic window to evaluate your learning ecosystem. Learn more about eLearning Course Accessibility Audit and Testing Services here: https://lnkd.in/gFAMdFwZ Ready to Start? Connect with accessibility experts at Enabled.in - a digital accessibility services initiative by TenthPlanet Technologies: Email: sathasivam@enabled.in Mobile: +91 9840 515 647 (whatsapp) #ProductOwner #eLearning #Accessibility #ADATitleII #EAA #EN301549 #DigitalLearning #Compliance #InclusiveDesign #EnabledA11y #EnabledIn