Alongside curb cuts, engineering has many examples of universal design such as automatic doors and sloped entrances that allow a wheelchair user to access spaces with physical barriers like door handles and stairs. While they’re a necessity for this group of individuals, they simplify the process of entering buildings for other people whose hands aren’t free or can’t safely climb stairs, such as people with walkers or crutches. This universal design is also seen on public buses in Victoria, B.C., as the driver can lower the bus’s entrance to the curb level, as well as extend a ramp to cover the gap between the vehicle and the sidewalk. In digital learning environments, it can be difficult to navigate a course outline and understand exactly what is expected of your participation. Acting as an entrance to the content, an accessible course outline needs to be easy to find and follow, as technology can sometimes inhibit an individual’s ability to navigate learning outcomes. If the course outline is designed specifically for participants who aren’t well-versed in technology it will also be more accessible to other individuals. For example, if one of the learners grew up with limited exposure to modern computers, the course would be accessible if the outline was linearly designed with categorised steps and fewer pages to open. A simple but clear course outline, along with modules and tasks that are designed to be completed with directionally driven steps would also simplify the learning process for other learners.
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