Open Knowledge Innitiative (OKI), CopperCore Service Integration (CCSI),Ontology Web Language for Web Services (OWL-S)
Harnessing the Potential
Harnessing the Potential
of Accessibility Standards and
Responsive Web Design Practices
to Achieve Learning Interoperability
on the Level of the User Interface
Mohammad Al-Smadi, Vladimir Tomberg
Image by courtesy of HuffPost Education Group
Abilities of conforming to Learning
• Durability: no need for further redesigns or
redevelopments even with new versions of the system
• Scalability: can it grow from small to large?
• Affordability: is it affordable?
• Interoperability: are information and services sharable
with other systems?
• Reusability: can it be used within multiple contexts?
• Manageability: is it manageable?
• Accessibility: are the contents accessible and
deliverable from anywhere and anytime?
Lack of Interoperability at the UI Level
• Launching the learning content on the end-user
devices causes different behaviors based on the
such properties of the device and the web
• Width, height of the window,
• Resizing state
• Area of launching within the browser
The first approach addressing
mobile UI issues
Separate desktop and mobile versions of a web site
in the mobile browser
Current Best Practices –
Responsive Web Design (RWD)
• Using together several well-known
• The basic methods are:
1. Flexible images (CSS)
From RWD to Adaptive Web Design
• The “Mobile First” principle (Minimum Viable Product
• Progressive Enhancement versus Adaptive Degradation
The Missing Part
Accessible Rich Internet Applications
W3C First Public Working Draft
26 September 2013
WAI ARIA Code Example
<input type = "image"
src = "thumbnail.gif"
alt = "Effectiveness"
role = "slider"
aria-valuemin = "0"
aria-valuemax = "100"
aria-valuenow = "42"
aria-valuetext = "42 percent"
aria-labelledby = "effective">
WAI ARIA Models and Semantics
State & Properties
Advantages of using WAI ARIA
• The basic principles of Universal Design are
covered − content by default is available for
the widest audience
• Improved accessibility of learning content: all
modern browsers and screen-reading devices
already accessible today with WAI ARIA
Advantages of the Framework
1. Establishing application domain semantics for
2. Consistent learning delivery through adaptive
and flexible design of front-end, learning
content, tools, and services
3. Additional layer of accessibility specifications
enriched with semantics on the presentation
4. Combining standard-conform technologies (WAI
ARIA) with widely used best practices (RWD)