Feedback request
eli...@codeintheschools.org
Hello!
I am writing as a recipient of a Blockly accessibility grant and would like your feedback and suggestions. I know many of you through CSAccess and was fortunate to meet some of you at the Blockly Summit in June. I just posted this message to the Blockly Teaching and Learning group, so apologies if you receive this twice.
A group of educators has spent the past few months exploring keyboard navigation, with a specific focus on how best to provide teachers and their students guidance in using keyboard shortcuts if they are new to using keyboard navigation.
The educators had many thoughts about what should be introduced, in what order, and in what format. We would like to share those insights with you as you make your platforms keyboard navigable and would also welcome your feedback.
We created a 2 page printable "cheat sheet". Please see it here and provide feedback, suggestions, edits, questions, etc.
This was developed because most students use Chromebooks with very little screen “real estate” and the teachers felt it would be helpful to have a print out so students didn’t have to lose screen space or switch tabs to easily locate information.
This is only a getting started guide, with the elements teachers thought would be most helpful in the order they thought most helpful.
This is designed to be appropriate for students in grades 3-8 as well as for their teachers.
One thing that all educators agreed on, is that the more consistent the navigation and the support materials are across platforms the more useful they will be for everyone. To that end, please share your thoughts and feedback and we can work together to make the accessibility features as accessible as possible to educators and their students. The “cheat sheet” was based on the micro:bit MakeCode interface. For reference, the equivalent micro:bit MakeCode “cheat sheet” is here. Please note that this is our creation, and not Micro:bit’s or MakeCode’s.
Other resources are in development. We will share them when they are further along, but would appreciate your thoughts:
GIFs/short videos demonstrating some of what is on the “cheat sheet” as well as some other more complex tasks. These are meant to provide guidance about what educators think would be most useful.
A template for a more comprehensive document, primarily for educators, with more extensive guidance on how to use keyboard navigation.
Basic keyboard shortcuts on Chromebooks, not limited to a CS platform
We want to thank MakeCode and micro:bit, since they made their keyboard navigable platform available to us before it was public. They have created a wonderful array of support resources and we used those as the foundation for what we are creating.
We did ask educators what students they thought would benefit from the easy availability of keyboard shortcuts. In addition to students who have mobility issues (both temporary and permanent) and those using screen readers, teachers thought that almost all students would use shortcuts sometimes. They specifically mentioned broken trackpads, students who were serious about coding, and students with fine motor issues as those who would be most likely to appreciate the availability of keyboard navigation.
Thanks so much!
Elissa
