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Design Best Practices

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eLearning Design

Web Accessibility for Designers. The focus of web accessibility is often on web development – the things that happen in HTML, CSS, or JavaScript after a site has been designed visually. Optimal accessibility should start much earlier, as part of the visual design process. We have created an infographic that highlights a few important principles of accessible design.

Text Version Plan Heading Structure Early Ensure all content and design fits into a logical heading structure. Consider Reading Order The reading order should be the same as the visual order. Provide Good Contrast Be especially careful with light shades of gray, orange, and yellow. Use True Text Whenever Possible True text enlarges better, loads faster, and is easier to translate. Watch the Use of CAPS All caps can be difficult to read and can be read incorrectly by screen readers. Use Adequate Font Size Font size can vary based on the font chosen, but 10 point is usually a minimum. Remember Line Length Don't make it too long or too short. Design Link Focus Indicators. Wikify Your Course: Designing and Implementing a Wiki for Your Learning Environment (EDUCAUSE Quarterly. Key Takeaways Wikis help engage students in their learning while providing social interaction with their peers in the learning process.

A wiki assignment should enable students to work at the conceptual level of understanding on authentic projects where they can solve problems, discover relationships, discern patterns, and develop a deep understanding of content. At the heart of a wiki project is collaborative knowledge building by students mediated by user-generated design, as explained in this article. Getting Started Numerous companies offer wikis, many of them free of ads, at low or no cost to the individual educator.

WikiMatrix provides a comparison of wiki features for 21 wiki packages for those just getting started. Issues to consider include: Privacy, which is particularly important in academic settings. It might help to visit wiki sites similar to the one being contemplated from each of the providers under consideration. Designing Wikis for Learning Long-Term Designs Figure 1. Coursemap.pdf (application/pdf Object) Course Planning - Teaching Tips. All courses should contain course objectives, a textbook or reading materials, a well-articulated course syllabus, a course schedule, and lesson units or modules that are offered in digestible content chunks.

This is a flow chart depicting a one-page syllabus as a flow chart. Students have found it very helpful to have the visual version (syllabus at-a-glance version). It can be created as a word document or using Inspriation.com software. Inserting about how much time is takes to do assignments makes this helpful for both the learner and the course designer. Permission to adapt with acknowledgment to the authors: Dr. This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it . Course Objectives The online course objectives should be clearly identified in the beginning of the course. Many free resources are available online, or learning objects can be developed specifically for each course. Adult Learning Activities - Textbook. WAVE - Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool.