Get help

• Contact the DoIT Help Desk for general assistance. Reach the Help Desk by phone at 608.264.4357, email at help@doit.wisc.edu or visit their KnowledgeBase.

• For accessibility or usability assistance for Atomic Assessments, please contact learnuwsupport@wisc.edu.

Additional resources

• Atomic Assessments Overview, UW-Madison (KnowledgeBase document)

Accessibility and usability barriers 

The following information is provided to help people with disabilities know what potential barriers may exist and to help people who support them. This is not an exhaustive list of barriers. The Center for UX finds patterns of accessibility barriers and shows examples of the types of barriers we find. We test common user flows, not the entire application.

Screen reader barriers limit access for individuals using screen readers, such as people who are blind or who have a learning disability.

Some pages in Atomic Assessments have no headings, while other pages have some headings but they skip. Skipped and missing headings on the pages can make it difficult for screen reader users to navigate the page. 

Some question types are not functional for screen reader users. As an example, the hotspot question type labels elements as “checkboxes.” This question type is announced to the screen reader user and a user can check or uncheck a hot spot. However, it’s not functionally accessible. A person listening with a screen reader would be very confused as to what they are meant to do with the checkboxes in the context of the heat map.

Figure 1 caption: A "Hotspot" question type. While the screen reader announces it as a checkbox, it is not functionally accessible because the context is unclear to a screen reader user.

Figure 2 caption: A "Label image with drop down" question type. Similar to the Hotspot question type, these don’t offer context for the screen reader user. The alt text “Map of the US” doesn’t help the user know what they should be selecting from the drop downs.

Keyboard navigation barriers may limit access for people with motor disabilities.

When navigating by keyboard, sporadically the keyboard focus indicator will disappear.

Magnification and reflow barriers exist, creating barriers for people with low vision.

For an instructor creating a quiz, at 175% magnification, horizontal scrolling is required. WCAG 2.1 AA standards require reflow to 400% magnification. In edit mode, some questions are completely cut off and a user can’t even use horizontal scrolling to see content. 

Figure 3 caption: The Reports page magnified to 300% cuts off options and requires horizontal scroll.

Figure 4 caption: A fill in the blank question drag and drop question that is magnified and that does not reflow or have horizontal scroll; the content is just cut off.

Some color contrast barriers exist, creating barriers for people with low vision or who are color blind.

Some keyboard focus indicators lack strong contrast, making it difficult to see when navigating by keyboard.

Figure 5 caption: The keyboard focus indicator is on the blue “Authorize” button, but since the indicator is also blue, a user cannot see it easily. It doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 AA contrast standards.

Very small text might be a barrier for some users.

Instructors are asked to assign a due date through a calendar, and even when it is magnified, the calendar and times are hard to read.

Figure 6 caption: The dates and times on the calendar are very small, and magnifying the page does not get the text to a standard that meets WCAG 2.1 AA.

Questions that use images must include alternative text.

Faculty/instructors need to include alternative text (alt text) when they upload an image for varied question types in Atomic Assessments. These include (but are not limited to): Cloze Chemistry with Images, Images with Classification, Label image (Dropdown Fill in the Blank), Label image with Drag and Drop, Label Image with Text