Lesson planning

Accessability in digitalised teaching

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Need for accessible learning materials

“No one shall be disadvantaged because of their disability.”
(Constitution Article 3, Paragraph 3, Sentence 2).

In recent years, in addition to the Constitution, other laws and regulations have strengthened the rights of people with disabilities.
One example is the international UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (e.g. §24) - which enshrines equal access to education and information for all people in law. This requirement relates not only to the physical accessibility of education (e.g. buildings), but also to access to information in the digital space.
Digitally provided learning materials (such as videos and scripts) should also be accessible.

Learning materials can be considered barrier-free “[...] if they can be found, accessed and used by people with disabilities in the usual way, without particular difficulty and in principle without outside help. The use of disability-related aids is permitted.” (§ 4 BGG)

Creating an accessible file includes, for example, structuring a PDF with so-called tags. These also give people with disabilities access to the information with the help of assistive technologies (e.g. screen readers for reading screen content aloud). Nevertheless, all readers benefit from the preparation and structuring of a file.
Subtitled videos also benefit not only people with hearing impairments, but also non-native speakers and mobile users without headphones.

What it's all about

Digitally provided learning materials such as videos and scripts should be accessible. All learners benefit from accessible learning materials.

Low-barrier files (e.g. scripts)

Our Download file:checklist explains how to make your Word file as accessible as possible and export it to an accessible PDF.
You can get started straight away with our Download file:template! Feel free to use our Download file:example as a guide.

Low-barrier videos

Think about accessibility.

  • Use sufficient contrast (e.g. complementary colors, but no red/green)
  • Sans serif font such as Arial Narrow
  • Subtitling for people with hearing impairments, non-native speakers and mobile users without headphones
    To the "Create subtitles and add them to the media portal" HelpCard
  • Audio description for people with visual impairments: Explain visual content in your video that is essential for understanding.

Sources and further information:

Legal basis

The legal basis for accessibility applies to both federal and state public bodies.

As a state institution of the state of Baden-Württemberg, Furtwangen University must comply with the State Disability Equality Act (L-BGG). Requirements for barrier-free media offerings are defined in §10 of the L-BGG on the basis of the Barrier-free Information Technology Ordinance (BITV 2.0).

This is based on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (now known as WCAG 2.1), which were published back in 1999.
According to BITV 2.0 §2a, “[i]ntegrated content in different formats, for example documents, videos, audio files, as well as integrated functionalities, for example forms, authentication, identification and payment processes, [are] components of websites.”
This means that videos and scripts, for example, must be designed to be accessible.

Perceptible, operable, comprehensible, robust

According to BITV 2.0, content should be “perceivable, operable, understandable and robust” (§3 BITV). These principles are based on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and are explained as follows:

  • Perceivable means that all users can perceive the information. For example, there must be alternative text for visualisation and subtitles for videos to meet the perceptibility requirement.
  • Operable means that “all functionalities are accessible via the keyboard”. This also means, for example, that the purpose of the link should be immediately recognisable and links should therefore have a clear title.
  • Comprehensible means that, for example, English words should be made recognisable as such and non-standard abbreviations should be explained.
  • Robust means that the content is accessible from many devices and with the help of assistive technologies (such as screen readers, magnification software).

Further information

Digital accessibility - an introduction. Video by the University of Potsdam. Available on Youtube: youtube.com/watch?v=zWx4VsbLK9M

Your contact persons

Are you also active in teaching and would like support and exchange?

Please get in touch with our Learning Services team: Email application is started:learning-services(at)hfu.eu