if I do not use a screen reader how do I know if my courses are accessible? You need to ask your vendor the following questions. If they don't answer yes, then you know your courses will not be functionally accessible to blind students using screen readers to access course content.

1. When a page loads, can the screen reader skip all the table navigation and go directly to title, then main content text block?

2. Can the learner use access keys to navigate page elements and move efficiently from block to block, page to page? (Try navigating your own course by keyboard without the aid of your mouse.)

3. Are there provisions for all graphics to have appropriate alt tags? (ability to provide a screen reader legible description of the graphic)?

4. Do active buttons and other interactive page elements contain informational text labels? (Be sure to incorporate associated hyperlinks to graphical page elements for ease of keyboard navigation and access.)

5. Can low-vision students adjust text size and color contrast within your course pages to meet their individual visual requirements?

Anyone who is truly interested in producing functionally accessible courses should visit Jim Thatcher's web site: jimthatcher.com. Jim is an accessibility expert. He has created an excellent, easy to follow, tutorial highlighting how to create truly accessible web pages.

Another excellent source of good information and evaluation tools you can use yourself to determine the functional accessibility of your eLearning tools is the Consortium for E-learning Accessibility/C4EA, home of “e-Learn-ViP”, (the E-Learning for Visually Impaired Persons. Tools can be downloaded from http://www.e-learn-vip.org/.