MOOCs are kind of like an all-you-can-eat buffet. If you put something on your plate and you don't like it, you don't have to eat it or feel like you've wasted your money.
I was really excited about Google's Introduction to Web Accessibility. Although I already know a lot about accessibility, it promised to teach about ARIA and some of the coding tricks, which is an area I need to learn more about.
(Note: There was a heated discussion about calling the course "Introduction to Web Accessibility" when it focused only on accessibility for those with vision loss, but I won't beat that poor horse again here.)
I learned a lot in there, at least for the first half or so. But as I got further into the course, I became frustrated because the coding became more complex, and they did not provide examples of the syntax, or show you what the finished code should look like (after you tried it, of course!). It also required you to edit some JavaScript, which I am very much a novice with. I found myself getting very frustrated with it, and it's just not worth it.
While I learned tons and I don't regret starting it, I think it would be better suited to someone who has more coding experience, especially in JavaScript, than I do. I'm not turned off, if anything it makes me want to go learn more about ARIA, but perhaps in a more basic course.
I will say, however, that they are not providing any sort of certificate, badge, or any other verification that you completed the course. If they were, I would probably stick with it. And I know I should just learn it for my own benefit, but having something I can put in my portfolio would have been nice, a recognition of my struggle through the content!
I'm leaving this food on my plate, and going back to the buffet to see what else grabs my attention.
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I'm taking a MOOC from Google called Introduction to Web Accessibility. Although I know a lot about web accessibility, this is on a level I don't know that much about, getting into the code, HTML5 and ARIA. I'm really excited!
The course doesn't technically start until next week (at least that when Google folks will be around to help and answer questions) but you can go ahead and see the Unit 1 information and activities.
To get started, I downloaded ChromVox and Accessibility DeveloperTools into my Chrome browser. (Of course it's centered around Chrome, it's a Google course!) Then I used them to take a look at my own website, bethcase.com. I built it using Drupal and have not paid special attention to the accessibility. I'm still learning how to customize Drupal to do what I want. So I was a little scared to see how it did...
It actually did better than I expected! Using ChromeVox, it read everything, except for the picture, since there was no AltText provided (and yes, I do know better than that!). It also wasn't clear that there are two columns, or a way to skip the navigation. But still, not too bad.
Using the Accessibility Developer Tools, there were 5 errors. One was about the AltText (ok, ok! I'll go fix it!) but I have no idea what the others mean, or how to fix them. Good thing I'm taking this course!
On a personal side note, this course is not offering a badge, certificate of completion, or anything to recognize that you participated and completed the course. Of course, knowledge should be it's own reward, but it would be really nice to have something I could put on my website as evidence of my efforts.
