The Context
Text-based content is something nearly everyone creates, whether it be emails, Word documents, PDFs, web pages, or course materials. However, the structural choices behind that content like heading hierarchy, chunked information, and accessible lists have a real impact on cognitive load and whether that content is usable by everyone.
This scenario was designed to make that impact tangible by putting learners inside the experience of three different personas navigating poor structured content in higher-ed environments.
What I Built
A non-linear, scenario-based activity in ThingLink built around three personas: a student, a professor, and a staff member. Each persona represents different roles on a higher education campus and each experiences disabilities and accessibility barriers to varying degrees.
Learners choose which person to help and in what order, with the freedom to engage with one, two, or all three. Since the activity is ungraded and functions as a knowledge check, learners can explore without the pressure of performance.
Design Decisions
The three-persona structure was a deliberate choice to reflect the diversity of the target audience, UCF faculty and staff, and to make the relevance of accessible structure clear across different roles and contexts. A professor’s course page, a staff member’s email, and a student’s document all present different scenarios where the same principles apply.
Originally, the activity was planned to include video and audio elements similar to the Leading Through Burnout scenario. Given time constraints and a commitment to depicting these personas accurately and respectfully, that direction was set aside, but remains a goal for a future iteration.
Where it Lives
The activity is embedded in Module 4 of the Introduction to Digital Accessibility course, available to UCF faculty and staff through Canvas LMS.
