Designing Accessible Learning Content: A Practical Guide to Applying best-practice Accessibility Standards to L&D Resources

Designing Accessible Learning Content by Susi Miller is a strategic guide for senior HR leaders, L&D directors, and organizational development executives to build inclusive, high-performance learning ecosystems. It provides tools for integrating accessibility into design, creation, and testing of digital learning, embedding it into governance, strategy, and measurement, and delivering measurable ROI.

Format: Hardback
Length: 408 pages
Publication date: 03 January 2025
Publisher: Kogan Page Ltd

Designing Accessible Learning Content by Susi Miller is a comprehensive guide for senior HR leaders, L&D directors, and organizational development executives who are dedicated to creating inclusive and high-performance learning ecosystems. Written by leading accessibility experts, this book offers practical tools for integrating accessibility into the design, creation, and testing of digital learning. It highlights how to embed accessibility into governance, strategy, and measurement to drive business results, strengthen culture, and meet regulatory requirements.

The book covers a range of topics, including the latest Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and nine new standards. It provides guidance on how to integrate accessibility into enterprise L&D governance and compliance frameworks, use inclusive design to improve usability and learner outcomes, and leverage case studies from industry-leading brands to deliver measurable ROI.

Backed by evidence-based research and practical models, Designing Accessible Learning Content equips senior leaders with the skills and knowledge needed to deliver inclusive, scalable, and future-ready learning strategies that meet organizational goals and enhance employee performance.

The book's themes include inclusive learning strategy, accessibility governance, ROI in L&D, compliance standards, enterprise learning design, and more. It provides a comprehensive overview of the challenges and opportunities associated with creating accessible learning content and offers practical solutions for addressing them.

One of the key themes of the book is the importance of inclusive learning strategy. Inclusive learning strategies recognize the diverse needs and abilities of learners and strive to create learning environments that are accessible, equitable, and engaging. This includes providing accommodations for learners with disabilities, offering language translation services, and creating content that is culturally relevant.

Accessibility governance is another critical aspect of designing accessible learning content. It involves establishing policies, procedures, and standards that ensure that learning content is accessible to all learners, regardless of their ability or disability. This includes ensuring that learning content is accessible to people with visual impairments, hearing impairments, cognitive impairments, and other disabilities.

ROI in L&D is another important theme of the book. ROI in L&D refers to the return on investment that learning and development programs can provide to an organization. Designing accessible learning content can help to increase the ROI of L&D programs by making learning content more accessible to learners with disabilities.

Compliance standards are also a critical aspect of designing accessible learning content. Compliance standards such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) require that learning content be accessible to people with disabilities. Designing accessible learning content can help to ensure that learning content meets these standards and avoids legal liability.

Enterprise learning design is another important theme of the book. Enterprise learning design involves creating learning content that is tailored to the specific needs of an organization. This includes creating content that is relevant to the organization's business goals, culture, and industry. Designing accessible learning content can help to ensure that learning content is relevant to learners and meets their needs.

In addition to these themes, the book also provides practical solutions for designing accessible learning content. These solutions include using accessible design principles, such as using clear and concise language, providing alternative text for images, and using audio descriptions for videos. The book also provides guidance on how to test learning content for accessibility and how to make adjustments to learning content to improve its accessibility.

One of the strengths of the book is its practical approach. The book provides step-by-step instructions for designing accessible learning content and includes case studies from industry-leading brands that have successfully implemented accessible learning strategies. The book also includes a glossary of accessibility terms and a list of resources for further learning.

However, the book also has some limitations. One of the limitations is that it may be too general for some organizations. While the book provides practical solutions for designing accessible learning content, it may not provide enough detail for organizations that have specific accessibility requirements.

Another limitation is that the book may be too technical for some readers. While the book provides practical solutions for designing accessible learning content, it may be difficult for readers who are not familiar with accessibility principles and practices.

Despite these limitations, Designing Accessible Learning Content is a valuable resource for senior HR leaders, L&D directors, and organizational development executives who are committed to creating inclusive and high-performance learning ecosystems. The book provides practical tools for integrating accessibility into the design, creation, and testing of digital learning and highlights the importance of inclusive learning strategy, accessibility governance, ROI in L&D, compliance standards, and enterprise learning design.

In conclusion, Designing Accessible Learning Content by Susi Miller is a comprehensive guide for senior HR leaders, L&D directors, and organizational development executives who are dedicated to creating inclusive and high-performance learning ecosystems. Written by leading accessibility experts, the book provides practical tools for integrating accessibility into the design, creation, and testing of digital learning and highlights the importance of inclusive learning strategy, accessibility governance, ROI in L&D, compliance standards, and enterprise learning design. While the book has some limitations, it is a valuable resource for organizations that are committed to creating accessible learning content.

Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781398618220
Edition number: 2 Revised edition