You’ve designed your course. It’s looking sharp, runs smoothly, and maybe even has a cat onboarding demo. But is it accessible?
Testing is where your good intentions meet reality and where a lot of authoring tools drop the ball.
Let’s dig in.
First, the Bad News: SCORM is Complicated
If your course is SCORM-packaged, congratulations, you’ve entered the dark forest of inaccessible file structures.
Automated accessibility tools like axe, WAVE, and Lighthouse don’t play well with SCORM. They can’t open the file, see the content, or tell you what’s wrong. They shrug and walk away.
That means you need to go further. Manual testing isn’t optional. It’s essential.
What to Test and How
Here’s a basic checklist that actually makes a difference:
1. Screen Reader Testing
Use real tools like JAWS, NVDA, or VoiceOver. Don’t guess. Navigate through your content and ask:
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Are all interactive elements announced clearly?
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Is the focus moving where it should?
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Can users complete tasks without visual cues?
2. Keyboard Navigation
Unplug your mouse and try completing the course using only Tab, Enter, and arrow keys. Is it:
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Navigable?
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Logical?
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Exhausting?
If you’re tabbing 47 times just to start a quiz, something’s broken.
3. High Contrast Mode
Turn on a high contrast setting and see what happens. If text disappears or icons vanish, your visuals aren’t coded with accessibility in mind.
4. Error Handling
Enter something wrong on purpose. Do you get helpful feedback? Or just “Oops”? Accessibility means giving users guidance, not just red text.
5. Involve Real Users
Whenever possible, test with people who use assistive technologies in real life. Not simulated users. Not guesses. Real people.
They’ll spot what tools can’t, and tell you where the pain points actually are.
Authoring Tool Limitations Are Real, Acknowledge Them!
The most popular tools (Rise, Storyline, Moodle, Blackboard) are making progress. But none of them are perfect. Some struggle with focus order. Others don’t expose enough information to screen readers.
Document those limitations. Talk about them openly. Don’t pretend your tool does it all.
And if you can’t fix something? Flag it. Advocate for it. Work around it until better options are available. But don’t ignore it.
The Golden Rule: Cross-Check Everything!
Accessibility testing isn’t one and done. It’s:
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Tool checks
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Manual tests
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Human feedback
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Documentation
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Retesting
Double check. Cross-check. Then check again.
This is the only way to turn a flashy course into a usable, inclusive one.
Accessibility in eLearning isn’t about perfection. It’s about care. It’s about building something that doesn’t just function, it welcomes.
Start testing like someone’s experience depends on it. Because it does.
