Creating Accessible Online Learning Content Using Microsoft Word Eoin Campbell, Technical Director,...

Creating Accessible Online Learning Content Using

Microsoft WordEoin Campbell,

Technical Director, XML Workshop Ltd.

23 May 2003 © 2003 XML Workshop Ltd. 2

Overview

• Online learning material should be accessible to people with disabilities…

• …but making content accessible is not easy with current tools

• Microsoft Word material can be converted directly into highly accessible HTML, with a little work and cheap software


What is Accessibility?

• National Disability Authority: Irish IT Accessibility Guidelines

– “An accessible product or service is one which can be used by all its intended users, taking into account their differing capabilities.”

• http://accessit.nda.ie/


Accessibility Characteristics of eLearning• Online learning content

– Facilitates those with mobility, hearing and vision impairments

• Online discussion facilities

– Facilitates those with speech and language impairments

• Rich media content

– Facilitates those with literacy impairments


Accessibility Characteristics [2]

• Online assessments/interactions

– Facilitates those with manual/writing impairments

• 24/7 content availability

– Facilitates self-paced, student-centered learning


Accessible Content

• Should be browser- and platform-independent

• Should not require commercial or platform-specific client software for viewing

• => Valid HTML 4.01

– Not Word, PDF, PowerPoint, etc


Accessible HTML

• Web pages can still be inaccessible if badly marked up

– E.g. missing alt text for images

• Web Content Accessibility Guidelines defines accessible markup

– Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI), W3C

– Widely recognised as the standard, but not yet widely adopted


Inaccessible HTML Markup

<p class=“sechead”>Unmarked heading</p><p class=“Blist”>Lists without list tags<p class=“Blist”>Unexpanded acronyms: XML.<p class=“Blist”>Unmarked language changes: <i>Cúpla focail as Gaeilge</i>


Accessible HTML Markup

<h1>Marked up heading</h1><ul><li>Lists with list tags</li><li>Expanded acronyms: <acronym title=“Extensible Markup Language”>XML</acronym>.</li><li>Marked language changes: <i lang=“ga”>Cúpla focail as Gaeilge</i>.</li></ul>


Current Situation

• Online learning material is a mixture of files in various formats

– HTML, Word, Flash, Powerpoint, PDF etc.

• Many reader disadvantages

– Inaccessible

– Inconsistent appearance

– Hard to navigate

– Requires 3rd-party viewing applications


Current Situation: Authoring

• Many different authoring tools

– Some commercial, proprietary, expensive

• Content is hard to edit/maintain in HTML

• HTML expertise essential

• Publication process is slow, error-prone


Types of eLearning Content

• Text-book material

– Texts, maths, tables

– Static images, diagrams, etc.

• Interactions

– For online testing and self-evaluation

– Multi-choice and other question types

• Rich, dynamic content

– Flash, TenCore, video, etc.


Current HTML Editing Tools

• HTML editors

– FrontPage, Dreamweaver, etc.

• Text editors

– Notepad, EditPlus, PFE

• Through-the-web interfaces

– E.g. WebEditPro, WCMSs


Tool Limitations

• Require HTML knowledge

• Poor facilities for importing content from other formats

• No support for ensuring accessibility

• May be relatively expensive

• Learning curve to use well

– May be used too infrequently to become proficient


Ideal Scenario

• Accessible HTML

• Easy to maintain and update

• Consistent appearance

• Little web skills required

• Cheap to implement

• Single source for print and online versions


Achieving the Ideal

• It is possible to achieve ideal for text-book and interaction content

• But probably not (yet) possible for richer media such as Flash, video, etc.

• General principle: design a suitable content creation process


Design Accessibility In

• Design a web page generation process which creates and retains accessible HTML by default, without rework

• Authors are the most important resource, so design the process around them

• Streamline the process, to minimise cost and effort


Benefits

• Improve quality

– Better accessibility, consistency, timeliness

• Shorten publishing cycle

– Enable staff to publish directly

• Reduce costs

– Use existing software


Process Description

1. Create/edit content in Word, using styles

2. Convert to XML

3. Convert XML to accessible HTML, adding appropriate HTML template wrapper

4. Publish to website


Basic Architecture


Architecture Components

• Authoring interface

• XHTML templates for graphic design

• Word to XML converter

• XSLT code for HTML generation

• Other optional extras


Authoring Interface

• Word template designed for authors to insert markup

– Toolbar

– Menu

– Shortcuts

– Styles and macros

• Training/guidelines required to use template


Applying Markup

• Marking up content can be done in Word, not just in a structured HTML editor

• Instead of HTML tags, use Word styles

• Convert styles to equivalent HTML tags


Styles-Tag Mapping

• For HTML, there is a good mapping between Word styles and tags, e.g.

• Title, Heading 1, 2, …

– <h1>, <h2>, <h3>

• List Bullet, List Number

– <ul><li>…, <ol><li>

• Word tables map to HTML table tags

– (but extra styles needed for better accessibility)


XHTML Template

• Provides common branding and navigational aids for all web pages

• Critical: Design to be as accessible as possible

– Use XHTML 1.0 Strict DTD

• Contains placeholders for content from Word document


XHTML Template Placeholders

• Document content

• Metadata fields

– inside <head> tag

• Content of <title> tag

– Used in browser history, bookmarks

• May include other placeholders for e.g.

– Breadcrumb trail, last modified date, other dynamic info


Word to XML Conversion

• Any Word to XML converter can be used

• Many converters available (> 20)

• Basic requirements

– Low-cost (<€500)

– Configurable

– Fully automatic


Converter Selection Issues

• Platform and version requirements

– E.g Word 98 (Mac), Word 95/97 support

• Level of integration

– E.g Word plug-in or stand-alone application

• Conversion location

– PC-based, central server, 3rd-party ASP service

• Customisation cost

– XSLT scripts for XML to HTML conversion


PC-based Converters

• Integrated with Word for Windows

– XMLW YAWC Pro (Word 97 or higher)

– Schultz eXportXML (Word 2000)

– Schema MarkupKit (Word 2000)

• Stand-alone

– Docsoft W2XML (Windows/Word 2000)

– LogicTran RTF to XML converter (Win/Mac)

– UpCast RTF to XML converter (Java)


Central Server Model

• Pros

– No local software installation, configuration and support

– Lower support costs

– Supports multiple platforms (Win/Mac) and Word versions

• Cons

– Higher initial setup cost

– Internet connection required


Server-based Converters

• Central server

– Logictran RTF Converter

– UpCast Enterprise

• 3rd-party ASP model

– XMLW YAWC Online

– Metaverse


YAWC Online

• YAWC Online Word to HTML converter

• http://www.yawconline.com/

• Configurable for any website

– Multiple configurable HTML templates

• Built-in publication service based on DC.Identifier and FTP

• Fixed monthly fee based on website size


Examples

• Structural elements

– Headings, lists, etc.

• Complex markup

– Tables, MathML equations

• Interactions

– multi-choice questions


Graphics

• Can use linked or embedded images

– Linked images must be in web-compatible format (GIF, JPEG, PNG)

– Embedded images can be in any format (Bitmap,

• Automatic image conversion

– Bitmaps, Microsoft Picture, etc.

• Automatic insertion of ALT text from caption


Tables

• Headings and bodies

• Spanned (merged) rows and columns

• Captions and summaries

– For maximum accessibility


Interactions

• Use a pre-defined Word table

• Fill in the blanks

– Question

– Right answer

– Wrong answer

– Feedback

• Can support IMS QTI XML, WebCT text format too


Equations

• Some support for embedded MathML markup

• Still difficult to display in a browser-independent way

• Ideally could convert Microsoft Equations automatically into MathML using MathType Equation Editor plug-in


Summary: Good news

• Creating and maintaining accessible online learning material is:

– Easy

– Cheap

– Fast


Summary: Bad news

• The excuses aren’t valid any more

– “It’s too hard”

– “It’s too slow”

– “It’s too expensive”

Creating Accessible Online Learning Content Using

Microsoft WordEdTech 2003, Waterford

Q&A

www.xmlw.ie

Creating Accessible Online Learning Content Using Microsoft Word Eoin Campbell, Technical Director,...

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