Grasple’s Math and Stats Tool is now WCAG 2.2 AA Compliant!

Accessibility has been one of Grasple’s core values from the very beginning; it’s why we’ve built our platform to support the collaboration and co-development of quality open educational materials, and offer our platform to individuals as a free-to-use product. We believe in the power open education has to change students’ lives by giving them the opportunity to learn STEM subjects, contribute to our pool of knowledge, add new and innovative insights and, ultimately, change the world for the better. 

But accessibility is about breaking down barriers of all kinds and valuing diversity. To achieve true accessibility, we must include everyone, regardless of socio-economic status, location, or ability. We aim to design our platform with everyone in mind and strive to meet the needs of all our users.

That’s why, here at Grasple, we’ve spent the last several months updating our learning platform to be Web Content Accessibility Guideline (WCAG) 2.2 AA compliant. These guidelines are designed to make web-based applications  accessible for people with varying abilities and needs for accommodations. Some key requirements for accessible web content include: 

• Having content and information available in multiple formats when applicable
  • Ex. Providing captions on video content for those with hearing loss and described video or alt-text for those with visual impairments
• Making web content navigable using multiple input methods 
  • Ex. Users can use a keyboard or a mouse to navigate web content. Selected elements on the webpage must be visible to users to show what has keyboard focus. 
• Limiting flashing elements to avoid triggering seizures
• Organizing text and other elements so they can be easily read by screen readers
• A range of additional accessibility features. 

Grasple has made strides to make our learning platform WCAG 2.2 AA compliant for students, which requires additional accessibility features and is one level below the highest possible accessibility level. This undertaking is a reflection of Graple’s commitment to open education for all. 

“Our mission is to make math, stats, and STEM education accessible for everyone. We achieve this by ensuring individuals can access our platform for free and that the content is openly licensed. But we can’t stop there; our commitment to accessibility also means we want the platform to be usable by all types of learners. We want everyone to be able to learn math and statistics, independent of their abilities.” - Thijs Gillebaart - CTO, Grasple Co-founder

ADHD-Accessible Features

Grasple’s innovative feedback system and our tool’s full-screen design can be a game-changer for students with ADHD. Grasple is designed to limit distractions and its innovative feedback and AI-assisted learning paths take the guesswork out of studying, allowing students with ADHD to focus on the problem, rather than navigating the website or thinking too much about what they should study next. Grasple’s exercises are designed to appear one by one. removing unnecessary clutter from the interface and putting the exercise front and center. This removes the distraction of navigating between exercises and prevents students from jumping ahead when they encounter a difficult problem, keeping their learning journey on track. Grasple also gives immediate and actionable feedback, allowing students to try again with additional information to help them succeed. This combination of immediate feedback and focused interface design  allows students to build resilience by encouraging them to focus on the task at hand and continue to grapple with problems they may find difficult.
Once students have successfully grasped a concept they’ve been grappling with in a given exercise, Grasple’s personalized learning program automatically suggests the next question that will build on their learning and encourages them to take the next steps towards mastery of a subject. This automation removes the guess work and decision making around studying, saving time and maintaining the focus on the problems the student is solving.

While these kinds of features help all students overcome the challenges of solving difficult math problems, they are especially valuable for students with ADHD, who may have more difficulty focusing on one task at a time, and may have less resilience when faced with challenges they feel they are not capable of overcoming quickly. However, this design also makes sure that all learners can focus on learning and are not distracted by the platform itself.  Our user-friendly and accessible design philosophy is very important for effective learning. We don't want learners spending energy and focus on learning how the platform works, we want them to focus on learning knowledge and new skills.

By building a platform with all students’ needs in mind, we have created a platform that optimizes every student's learning journey. 

“As the CEO of Grasple, I might be biased. But as someone with ADHD and dyslexia, I remember using a similar tool during my studies. There was no Grasple or its more advanced features yet, but for me, this kind of tool with a similar design philosophy worked wonders! Having a simple interface with limited colouring and one exercise at the time significantly improved my learning outcomes.” - Elisabeth Schmoutziguer - Grasple CEO

Accessibility for People with Visual Impairments

According to the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness, 1.1 billion people globally were living with some form of vision loss in 2020. Many of those with severe visual impairments rely on screen readers to navigate the internet. That’s why having a platform that is not only accessible for those using a screen reader, but carefully planned with screen readers in mind, is essential for us to meet our goal of an accessible platform. It’s especially important for our tool to be screen-reader-accessible, as screen readers often struggle with communicating math notation effectively. That’s why our team has designed our tool to provide a user-friendly experience for students who use screen readers. Our approach focuses on having well-organized text with clear headers to announce the key information on a page, while ensuring students can continue to concentrate on the mathematical challenges they’re working on.

No one likes feeling like they’ve been left in the dark. That’s why we’ve designed our platform to provide as much information as possible to the students who rely on screen readers. Our website is designed to focus on the title of or headers on a page automatically. This allows students using screen readers to understand where they are in our tool, where they can navigate to next, and which actions they can take. Additionally, we ensure that we inform the student when they need to wait. For example, when a new exercise is loading, the screen reader will automatically focus on the loading spinner element on the page and announce “main content loading” to the student. These features keep the student informed about the ongoing processes and enable them to navigate the content in an informed and effective way. 

We also recognize, however, that frequent disruptions can cause students to lose their focus when grappling with difficult math problems. Therefore, we also tailored our approach to be minimally invasive in key moments. For example, during timed tests, a student using a screen reader will have their remaining time announced to them at three set intervals. We designed this feature to communicate information only when necessary to let the students focus on their work while managing their time effectively.

To further aid users with visual impairments, our platform uses a high contrast ratio between text and background elements to improve readability for everyone. We also strive to use colours that are accessible for those with colour-blindness and provide additional textual context when colour is used to convey information. These accessible design choices aim to make Grasple easier to use for all of our students. 

Accessibility Features for a Wide Range of Abilities

Thanks to our latest updates, Grasple is now also fully navigable by mouse, keyboard, or a combination of the two. This is a game-changer for students with a range of disabilities, from those with limited mobility in their hands, to those with visual impairments. Paired with our new approach to screen reader integration, which focuses automatically on the key information displayed within our tool, Grasple is easy to navigate with just a few keystrokes. Additionally, the selected elements are always highlighted with visual cues so users know exactly where they are on a page and where they can go next, facilitating seamless navigation between elements.

While these features are essential for students with a wide range of disabilities, they can also benefit those who may have technical issues preventing them from using a mouse or track pad, or those who simply prefer to use keyboard navigation when convenient. This design also helps to reinforce our focused platform design. When using keyboard navigation, we made the design decision to focus back on the answer input box on "retrying" a question instead of focussing on the start of the question description. This should allow learners to immediately try a new answer after reading the specific and personalized feedback, rather than having to navigate to the answer box before trying again. This streamlines the student experience and allows them to focus on the math problem at hand first and foremost. 

Accessibility Features in Action

Check out this short video to see these ADHD accessible, keyboard navigation, high contrast, and colourblind-friendly features in action!

Our Commitment to Accessibility

Accessibility means making sure that everyone has access to the best educational resources available and valuing diverse viewpoints. Grasple remains committed to ensuring everyone can access the best open math and stats learning, regardless of financial status, or ability. Our core belief is that education has the power to change the world and that lowering barriers to access will allow for new insights and innovations that will benefit students and the world at large. Accessibility benefits everyone, and by including more people, we open the world up to more new ideas and new ways of navigating the world (or just a webpage). 

Grasple is also committed to evolving to meet the needs of our users to provide a seamless experience on our platform. We don't believe our platform is ever finished and always welcome feedback to help the platform improve. If you (or your university) are interested in testing and providing feedback, please reach out to us. We'd love to hear your experience with the platform's usability and accessibility features.

If you have any feedback regarding our accessibility updates, please email us at accessibility@grasple.com.

Related Articles

For our full slate of accessibility features and compliance criteria, see: Help - Accessibility

For an overview of our accessibility features and policies, as well as information about how to request accessibility compliance documentation, please see: Grasple - Accessibility

To learn more about our vision of open and accessible education, see: Grasple - Our Vision