Accessibility

Guidance on making your ThingLinks accessible.

We encourage you to consider accessibility implications when designing ThingLink projects, as you would with any other resource materials you produce. This advice is in line with the University's Accessible and Inclusive Learning Policy. Please visit Learning Technology and Accessibility webpages for more information on how to use learning technology to help ensure your courses are inclusive and accessible.

Here is some key guidance and tips on creating accessible content with ThingLink.

Accessibility tips

  • Ensure the resources you add to your ThingLink are accessible. Please see the Accessibility Checklist for details.
  • Ensure that resources you link to are accessible, e.g., a video with closed captions, or a document containing images with alternative text.
  • If your ThingLink project is intended for students, please ensure that the design is clear and can be easily understood.
  • Use icons that stand out from the background.
  • Avoid flashing icons as they cannot be turned off by students.
  • If students are creating projects in ThingLink, encourage them to make their creations accessible. 

Advantages of using ThingLink

  • It allows you to make original images of text, such as infographics, or mind maps interactive by embedding voices, text and media tags, or audio.  
  • You can use your device’s accessibility features to dictate your text into tags.
  • It gives you the ability to add video clips for sign language or additional explanation of content.
  • It can help to make online learning content more accessible by using video clips to connect with learners, add verbal and visual clips.​

Accessibility features in ThingLink

  • ThingLink has a built-in Accessibility Player giving the user greater control over how they interact with content (See example).
  • The viewing mode available to the end viewer meets WCAG 2.1 standards at AA level. Please see the links below for more information. 
  • ThingLink has integrated Microsoft's Immersive Reader, which means all text descriptions, lessons, virtual tours, infographics, and videos created with ThingLink’s new editor now come with an integrated reading tool and automatic language translation capability.
  • ThingLink has added basic keyboard accessibility for viewing content. You may want to include this in instructions for your students. See keyboard accessibility for details.

We would love to hear how you are making your ThingLinks accessible so we can collate and share them as good practice. Please reach out to us at course-production-team@ed.ac.uk with your ideas, examples and suggestions.

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