OSCQR Accessibility Standards

Spears Online Accessibility Expectations

Accurate captions & transcripts

Alternative text for all images

Formatted titles & headings

Sans-serif standard-size fonts

Assigned table titles, header rows, & columns

Content designed for color filters

Descriptive hyperlinked text

High-contrast texts & backgrounds

OSCQR Online Standards

OSCQR is a research-based rubric endorsed by the Online Learning Consortium and SUNY Online for online education. Spears Online provides students with high-quality courses when by applying OSCQR standards.

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OSCQR Standard # 18 Summary: Students need help reading the course material to succeed, so the contrast between the text and background must be sufficient for viewing content. The empirical evidence indicates that dark text on neutral light backgrounds is optimal (Duebel, 2003). Conversely, low contrast increases visual complexity, making it more challenging for the brain to process information (Harper et al., 2009). Therefore, consider the devices learners will use to access the online course and the font colors you incorporate on any page.

OSCQR Standard # 37 Summary: Educators should use descriptive text instead of "click here" in online courses. Not all students click on course links with mice or other devices. Additiounally, students using screen readers may find "here" unnecessary because screen readers only read hyperlinks to students. Students must then read the entire page to access a link if a page uses "click here" for each link. Therefore, links should explain their destination using concrete (or proper) nouns and action verbs. Concrete nouns describe objects that can be seen, smelled, tasted, or touched. For example, if you want to link to the OSU library without using "click here," you can hyperlink "OSU library." Finally, be sure to use action verbs alert to online students to essential learning activities. For example, "Subscribe to the Harvard Business Review" is more informative and precise than "click here to subscribe."

OSCQR Standard # 36 Summary: Educators need to consider students with low vision or who are colorblind, especially when online course texts may serve as the primary mode of information delivery. They require high contrast between the text font and background to read. In an accessible course, students can view these texts, as well as images, and graphics without color. Therefore, avoid using color as a highlighter since only some students could read it.

OSCQR Standard # 35 Summary: Colleges and universities must prepare to deliver courses through accessible means, which includes consider students' accessibility devices and software. Since screen reader do not read images, the images may be inaccessible to learners with visual impairments. Furthermore, ALT (alternative) text is enough for some images. However, visually impaired students need more descriptive text, including a narrative that explains clearly what the image is and what it represents. Likewise, video-only content should include closed captioning for deaf and hard-of-hearing learners, and video-only content should provide audio descriptions.

OSCQR Standard # 25 Summary: Good online courses have tables with titles and summary descriptions when courses require tabular data. Therefore, educators should provide titles and summary descriptions to guide students using screen readers through the topic prior to the screen reader accessing the actual data in the table. They should also ensure that the title appears first, followed by the description, and then the table. The description should include the word "table" so that users of screen readers will be aware that a data table will be displayed next. You can explain the data to your students, explain why it is significant, pose open-ended questions, or summarize each category. In either case, you must provide an introduction and context to aid all students.

OSCQR Standard # 23 Summary: Excellent online courses utilize a sans-serif font with a standard size of at least 12 pt. Although learners can adjust their screen resolution and font sizes within their browsers to various font sizes and types, following this guideline will help to ensure readability. Educators want to ensure the effectiveness of an online courses' layout and design elements such as headings, spacing, and images. When online courses do not have these features, they may not catch the student's eye, causing them to miss important information. Therefore, implementing these design principles can lead to improved engagement and material retention.